Tag: Politics

May 27

2021

The politics of Doug Jemal

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Douglas Jemal may be an unconventional developer in some ways, but he also engages in a practice common to many in the real estate business: giving money, sometimes lots of it, to politicians in position to support his projects. Jemal is unusual in another way: He’s the recipient of a presidential pardon. His political contributions in Buffalo began when he started purchasing local property. Records show Jemal or his company, Douglas Development, have made $39,160 in donations to local Republicans and Democrats alike. Jemal’s WNY campaign contributions Candidate Contributions State Senator Tim Kennedy $11,000 Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul $10,000 Erie[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 28

2021

Byron Brown’s sorry track record

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India Walton is running for mayor, seeking to dethrone Byron Brown, who is seeking a record fifth term. She is far from the ideal candidate, lacking experience in government you’d like to see in a candidate seeking executive office. I mean, it’s one thing to be an inexperienced legislative backbencher, another to be managing a city with a $500 million budget and a workforce of nearly 2,700. Walton, then, is a bit of an unknown. On the other hand, we know all about Brown.  Consider his sorry track record:  Mismanagement of city finances: Brown inherited a hard control board that[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Apr 14

2021

Paltry donations to Cuomo from WNY

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 Governor Andrew Cuomo has invested a lot of political capital — to say nothing of state tax dollars, starting with the Buffalo Billion — in Western New York. But an analysis by Investigative Post has found he’s not getting much love in return from local campaign donors. As first reported in our Money in Politics, and reported Wednesday on WGRZ, Cuomo’s campaign committee has raised $38.4 million statewide since 2017, which includes his last run for governor. Only $576,945 came from donors in Western New York. That’s only 1.5 percent of total donations. Investigative Post found one donor —[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Feb 15

2021

Politicians pocketing their campaign cash

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Elected officials, aside from judges, are allowed to keep what’s left in their campaign treasuries when they retire. For some, it’s a lot of cash. For example, State Senator Michael Ranzenhofer left office in January with $824,083 in his campaign account. Assembly Member Robin Schimminger retired with $410,665. Our Money in Politics researched the campaign accounts of 10 retired politicians; details, and a podcast, can be found here. Geoff Kelly expanded on the research for WGRZ.

Posted 4 years ago

Feb 4

2021

Kelly talks political donations on WBEN

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By law, most elected officials are entitled to keep the money in their campaign treasuries when they retire. Investigative Post, in our latest Money In Politics, tracked the funds retained by 10 retired lawmakers who, between them, have more than $2 million in the bank. Geoff Kelly discussed our findings in an interview Thursday on NewsRadio 930WBEN.  

Posted 4 years ago

Jan 23

2021

Brown’s campaign finance woes

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As he prepares to seek a fifth term, Mayor Byron Brown’s latest campaign finance report illustrates three things: Brown has never been so financially under-equipped entering a reelection year. His donations the past six months overwhelmingly came from folks who owe him their jobs and firms seeking city contracts and project approvals. The mayor’s campaign continues to violate state law governing how donations from limited liability corporations are disclosed. The mayor’s campaign committee, Brown for Buffalo, recently filed its latest campaign finance disclosure with the state Board of Elections, covering donations and expenses from July 11, 2020, to January 11[...]

Posted 4 years ago
Investigative Post