April Baskin’s results fall short of her rhetoric

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The Buffalo News sure is fond of April Baskin, the outgoing chair of the Erie County Legislature and incoming state senator. In a profile and subsequent editorial, The News portrayed her as an effective champion of social justice. 

I beg to differ.

The Legislature under her leadership has been a rubber stamp for County Executive Mark Poloncarz. She seems joined at the hip with Democratic Party HQ, which saw to it that she ascended to Tim Kennedy’s vacant Senate seat without serious opposition.  

Baskin and her colleagues somehow decided construction of the new Bills stadium didn’t require an environmental impact statement and allowed the Bills and Poloncrz to bully them on what turned out to be an underwhelming community benefits agreement. 

Baskin was likewise hailed by The News for reviving an oversight panel for the two county jails; never mind that the Correction Specialists Advisory Board is dysfunctional. 

She joined her fellow Democrats in voting against a resolution calling for the suspension of Michael Joseph from the governing boards of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Buffalo AKG Art Museum after a former employee filed a federal lawsuit accusing Joseph’s company of “racist and illegal housing discrimination practices.” Puzzling, given that Baskin has not been shy about leveling allegations of racism against her political foes. But then again, Joseph is tight with Poloncarz and a major donor to Democratic candidates.

It’s one thing to be politically correct, another to be politically effective. Rhetoric without results means nothing.

Steve Watson of The News provided the back story regarding the closing of the Sumitomo Rubber plant, resulting in the loss of 1,500 jobs. The company took a dim view of the work ethic of too many employees, as evidenced by 228 of them skipping their shift on the day of the Bills playoff game last January against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The union argues otherwise.

A growing number of major companies are lining up to donate big bucks to the inauguration of Donald Trump, currying favor with the incoming president in the process. One million dollar donors include Jeff Bezos (Amazon and the Washington Post), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta, Facebook), and automakers Ford, General Motors and Toyota. Trump is expected to raise over $100 million for his inauguration. It’s called “pay to play.”

Speaking of Amazon, read this account of how the company blasted picketers with water in freezing temperatures and enlisted the NYPD to bully strikers. 

Speaking of Trump, Axios reports on what it termed “Media’s Suck-Up Moment.” The Associated Press concludes a growing number of Americans are tuning out political news. The Poynter Institute recaps the biggest media stories of this year. Warning: It’s kinda depressing. 

Margaret Sullivan offers advice on what a news consumer can do in light of the Trump presidency’s impact on the press, writing: “Know the importance of local news and support it.” Matt Pearce offers similar advice, writing “Donate to any nonprofit newsroom that produces high-quality investigative journalism about a subject that matters to you.” Hint, hint.

Mother Jones declared Richard Nixon its Hero of 2024. Say what?  The point of the tongue-in-cheek piece: Had Nixon enjoyed the immunity the Supreme Court granted presidents in 2023, Watergate would would have been perfectly legal. Or at least not prosecutable. 

And finally, a movie review: I approached the new Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, with hesitation. How fast and loose does the film play with the facts? A       story in the Guardian – headlined It’s full of things that didn’t happen but it feels right!  – gave me enough assurance to see it. A good decision. One gets a sense of what made Dylan tick during the 1961-65 period covered by the film – as best can be fathomed about such an enigmatic figure. The acting is good, but the real star of the film is the music. Rather than a clip from the movie, I’ll leave you with Dylan’s rendition of Like A Rolling Stone from his historic 1965 performance at the Newport Folk Festival.

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Jim Heaney