Tag: Elections

Sep 22

2012

Interview: Chris Jacobs

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Chris Jacobs is that rare Republican who doesn’t hesitate to label himself a moderate or express his concern about his party’s shift to the far right. He took office as Erie County Clerk in January and is one of only two Republicans holding countywide office. (Sheriff Tim Howard is the other). Jacobs previously served 7 1/2 years on the Buffalo Board of Education. Other public service includes a stint as State Secretary of State under George Pataki during his last year as  governor. Jacobs is a developer by trade and his Avalon Development is active in the city. He earned[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Jun 24

2012

Complete Lenihan interview

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Erie County Democratic Party chairman discusses his plans, upcoming elections and how long it’s been since he and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have spoken.

Posted 12 years ago

Jun 21

2012

Democracy and demagoguery

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Kevin Gaughan is challenging Sean Ryan for the 149th Assembly seat. Good. I mean this as no disrespect towards Ryan. Rather, he was essentially handed the seat last year when Sam Hoyt stepped down to head up Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s economic development and political operations for Western New York. There were no party primaries for the vacant seat and Ryan cruised over a weak Republican opponent in the September special election. Sorry, but that’s not the way it’s supposed to work. Folks other than a handful of Democratic Party insiders ought to have a say in who holds elected office,[...]

Posted 12 years ago

May 23

2012

Thompson passes on Senate bid

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Antoine Thompson said he wanted to avoid a “bitter race” against incumbent Tim Kennedy. Perhaps. Or did he conclude he lacked the political base to score an upset. Rgardless, Thompson has probably earned some good will within the Democratic ranks.

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 26

2012

Sobering stats for Hochul

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A reader forwarded a post from the Daily Kos that lays out all sorts of interesting voting patterns in the New York’s reconfigured Congressional districts that underscore just how amazing Kathy Hochul’s victory was last year in the old 26th District and how difficult a repeat performance will be in the new 27th. Press accounts have reported the edge in Republican enrollment has inched up from 6 percent over the Democrats in the old 26th to 7 percent in the new 27th. Not all that much movement and hardly insurmountable, given that Republicans do not hold a plurality. But then[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 26

2012

Handicapping a Hochul-Collins race

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There’s the matter of an almost certain GOP primary, but the announcement over the weekend by Chris Collins that he is running for the 27th Congressional District leads to inevitable speculation about a general election showdown with Kathy Hochul. Conventional wisdom holds that the Republican holds a distinct advantage because of party enrollment figures.  While precise numbers are hard to pin down, it appears enrolled Republican will outnumber Democrats by about 7 percent in a district that spans portions of eight counties. Two Republicans have announced for the seat, Collins and decorated war veteran David Bellavia of Batavia. A third[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 1

2012

Hormoz Mansouri’s political contributions

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Our second installment of Joe Friday involves the campaign contributions of Hormoz Mansouri, regarded as one of the largest financial backers of local and state politicians, including those in league with veteran political operative Steve Pigeon. Joe Friday tracked his contributions from 2005 to January of this year. Mansouri made a vast majority of contributions in his name; others were made by his wife and three companies he owns, EI Team, an engineer and architecture firm; HLM Holdings, a development company; and NPTS Inc., an engineering, design and consulting firm providing services to the nuclear power industry and the U.S.[...]

Posted 12 years ago

Mar 1

2012

My take on the Fahey-Kearns contest

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A fair number of elections for state office are stinkers. They’re over before they start because of lopsided party enrollments or one of the candidates, typically the one offered by the minority party as the sacrificial lamb, is clearly not up to the job. That’s not the case in the race between Chris Fahey and Mickey Kearns to succeed Mark Schroeder in the 145th Assembly District. No, folks, we have a real race with real candidates. Kind of a nice change of pace. The seat has longed belong to a Democrat, thanks to a big enrollment edge (43,200 to 20,000[...]

Posted 12 years ago
Investigative Post

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