Tag: Politics

Mar 30

2023

Podcast: Buffalo’s Common Council candidates

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One thing is certain: Buffalo’s Common Council will soon change. Two members of the current Council — Council President Darius G. Pridgen of the Ellicott District and Masten District’s Ulysees O. Wingo — will not seek re-election. Several candidates are looking to fill those seats, gathering signatures to earn a spot in the June Democratic primary election. There are other candidates looking to challenge Council incumbents, as well. Investigative Post’s Geoff Kelly took a closer look at the candidates and how Buffalo’s Common Council may change. Kelly sat down with Garrett Looker, host of Reporter’s Notebook, to dive into who[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Mar 22

2023

Not much change afoot for Common Council

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There will be a pair of new faces on Buffalo’s Common Council next year, the result of two incumbents declining to run for reelection. That’s probably as much change as Buffalonians will be permitted — or choose — to vote for. In five of the nine Council districts, the incumbents appear to face no challengers in the June Democratic primary, which generally determines the victor in this one-party town. In the two districts where incumbents face opposition, the challengers face steep odds.  The last time an incumbent lost reelection to Buffalo’s Common Council was 20 years ago. That was when[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Mar 19

2023

Monday Morning Read

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What wait until Monday? You can read WeeklyPost on Sunday morning, delivered free to your inbox. Subscribe here. ChrissieCaBoom stopped dodging the media long enough last week to talk with Charlie Specht of The Buffalo News about her off-the-wall posts on Twitter – the ones she later deleted because she’s all about, well, “accountability,” in her words. The GOP candidate for Erie County executive didn’t exactly make a convincing case, saying at one point she was simply trying to game the platform’s algorithms. Yeah, right. Chrissy Casilio-Bluhm was responding to reporting from Investigative Post and WNYMedia.net. Her endorsement by the[...]

Posted 2 months ago

Mar 13

2023

Get a load of @ChrissyCaBoom’s tweets

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As a first-time candidate for elected office, one of Chrissy Casilio-Bluhm’s biggest challenges is introducing herself to voters. But it appears the Republican challenger to incumbent Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz doesn’t want voters to know her too well. In the days prior to and since winning the GOP endorsement on Feb. 25, Casilio-Bluhm scrubbed her Twitter account of posts and retweets that amplified conspiracy theories, including the belief that COVID was the creation of “ONE Globalist Party,” which “rigged an election” and “destroyed Trump” for “exposing the Swamp.” She also promulgated the conspiracy that the Buffalo Bills covered up[...]

Posted 3 months ago

Jan 29

2023

Monday Morning Read

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You can read Jim Heaney’s recommended reading on Monday morning. Or Sunday morning, along with a wrap-up of Investigative Post’s reporting of the previous week, if you subscribe to WeeklyPost. Common Council President Darius Pridgen is not seeking re-election next year. In my dealing with Pridgen over the years I found him to be smart, charismatic and street savvy. Unfortunately, the Council under his leadership has been a rubber stamp for Byron Brown. His approach has been to go-along to get-along with the mayor. The city needs an independent and vigilant Council. Brown gathered people Friday to express their horror over the beating[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Dec 29

2022

Is Byron Brown the worst mayor in America?

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Byron Brown’s incompetency as mayor has been on full display since the blizzard hit last Friday. The city was unprepared to handle what was coming or clean up when the snow and wind finally relented.  No snow removal plan that contemplated a blizzard.  Not enough plows and drivers.  Too few warming centers — two of which had to close because when their power failed they lacked backup generators. No plan to police vulnerable commercial districts. The list goes on. Lots of common folks have been grumbling about the city’s ineptitude and the mayor’s insensitive, self-serving “I told you so” remarks. Erie[...]

Posted 5 months ago

Nov 9

2022

There was no “red wave”

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Last month, Assemblyman Pat Burke thought his reelection campaign was in trouble.  The campaign’s polling showed his Republican opponent, Sandy Magnano of West Seneca, running surprisingly strong for a first-time candidate who embraced extreme right-wing positions, ranging from 2020 election denial to Q Anon-style conspiracy theories.  A tracking poll showed fewer than 50 percent of those who responded were committed to voting for Burke, following a barrage of negative campaign ads paid for, in large part, by the state Republican party. The GOP targeted Burke — a left-leaning Democrat originally from South Buffalo, now an Orchard Park resident — as[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Sep 23

2022

Podcast: Interview with Brian Higgins

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Geoff Kelly recently interviewed U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins about a variety of topics, including national politics, the Tops massacre and the Jan. 6 insurrection. The Congressman’s response, in so many words, involved what he sees as division. You can watch the first part of the interview via our YouTube channel or listen to it as a podcast. We’ll post the second half of the interview Monday. Next up: an interview with Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Toles.

Posted 8 months ago