May 23
2018
Susan Arbetter quizzes Investigative Post Editor Jim Heaney on The Capitol Pressroom about a recent iPost story on gold-plated health insurance benefits provided by the Buffalo school district. Heaney also touched on the recent guilty plea involving the awarding of the contract to develop the SolarCity factory.
May 18
2018
One of three LPCiminelli executives indicted on corruption charges related to the Buffalo Billion program pleaded guilty to felony charges Friday. Kevin Schuler, a company vice president deeply involved in its political operations, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. A bribery charge was dismissed. Schuler made his plea before U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni in Manhattan. Under the plea, as reported by The Buffalo News, Schuler agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. He faces up to three years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. Two other company officials, President Louis Ciminelli and Michael Laipple, are[...]
Apr 13
2018
Former employees of Career Connection Inc., until recently the largest employer at IBM’s Buffalo office, were told Thursday that the company cannot afford to pay them for their final week of work. In response to our report on WGRZ, IBM said the company has “promptly taken action making sure the employees receive all the money they are owed for their work on the IBM account.” The affected employees will be paid by IBM. “My goal is to accumulate sufficient cash to fund the payroll for the week ended March 30, 2018,” Career Connection Inc.’s CEO, Jessica Killgore, wrote in an[...]
Apr 6
2018
Until recently, staffing agency Career Connection Inc. was the largest employer at IBM’s Buffalo office. But, last week, CEO Jessica Killgore told employees – including roughly 85 in Buffalo – they would be abruptly transferred to other companies, also IBM subcontractors. The move followed “a series of painful business challenges and unfavorable events encountered during the last two years,” Killgore wrote in an email to staff last Monday. “We feel it is imperative to take extreme action.” Gov. Cuomo lured IBM to town with $55 million from the Buffalo Billion. In exchange, state officials promised, the company would create 500[...]
Mar 12
2018
Jim Heaney and Susan Arbetter talk about the troubled IBM project in Buffalo on The Capitol Pressroom. Investigative Post in recent months has published two stories, found here and here, on the project, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo said would create hundreds of good-paying, high-tech jobs but instead has resulted in a dysfunctional call center employing low-wage workers who say they are poorly trained.
Feb 19
2018
Among a string of investments in untested companies, the $55 million grant to bring IBM to town seemed like one of the safest bets of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion program. IBM’s new Buffalo location was an obvious choice, too, when the state was looking for a company capable of handling a multi-million dollar contract to provide customer support for state agencies’ IT needs. But, so far, IBM’s Buffalo office has been mired in dysfunction and disappointment. Far from bringing “cutting-edge software development jobs” to Buffalo, as the governor promised, most of the employees here work call center jobs as[...]
Jan 8
2018
A list of hundreds of emails from a key figure in the Buffalo corruption case underscores the role of campaign contributions in the scandal. Lobbyist Todd Howe repeatedly emailed his clients – including executives at LPCiminelli who are facing charges of bid-rigging – about giving money to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his then running mate, Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul. The index of emails, submitted into evidence by defense lawyers at the end of December but withdrawn just days later, includes only their subject lines, not the full text of the messages or the dates they were sent. Still, it offers[...]
Dec 21
2017
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s original plan to redevelop the former Republic Steel site in South Buffalo included Soraa, a California based company that manufactures high efficiency lights. Soraa and Silevo, a solar panel manufacturer, were going to occupy a factory at Riverbend, built at taxpayer expense under the Buffalo Billion program. SolarCity, owned by Elon Musk, bought out Silevo and the state and Soraa decided to locate the lighting plant in Syracuse. Some $90 million in state funds were spent to build the factory in exchange for a promise of 420 jobs. Like the SolarCity project, the Syracuse plant was ensnared[...]