Jim Heaney

Jim Heaney is editor and executive director of Investigative Post. He was an investigative reporter with The Buffalo News from 1986 to 2011 and a reporter and editor with The Orlando Sentinel from 1980-86. His coverage over the years has focused on economic development, local and state government, politics, education, housing and transportation, and he was an early practitioner of computer-assisted reporting. Heaney has won more than 20 journalism awards and was a finalist for the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.

Mar 1

2012

My take on the Fahey-Kearns contest

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 13 years ago

Feb 28

2012

Bare knuckles in South Buffalo

Politics has been a blood sport in South Buffalo for, well, probably forever, certainly as far back as my memory goes. There was Jimmy Griffin, in league with the influential Keane family until hizzoner and Jimmy Keane had a falling out. A Hatfield and McCoy kind of falling out. Later there was Griffin and Dick Keane protege Brian Higgins, although they managed to maintain a detente for the most part, even when they later squared off against each other to serve in the Assembly. Higgins, of course, evolved into not only a South Buffalo political powerhouse, but arguably the most[...]

Posted 13 years ago

Feb 27

2012

High pricetag of City Hall politics

I couldn’t help but be reminded of Joel Giambra’s relationship with Jim Spano when I got through reading the profile of Adam Perry and his law firm’s dealings with Bryon Brown’s administration in Sunday’s Buffalo News. Spano, if you recall, was Giambra’s chief campaign fund-raiser when the Democrat turned Republican ran successfully for county executive in 2000. Once in office, Giambra’s administration rewarded Spano’s firm with 85 percent of the county’s office furniture business, worth $2.5 million. Spano’s company, not content with the lion’s share of business, overbilled the county by an estimated $550,000 according to an investigation I did[...]

Posted 13 years ago

Feb 24

2012

Q&A: Howard Zemsky

Howard Zemsky is co-chairman of the Regional Economic Development Council for Western New York and will play a significant role in the shaping of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plan to invest $1 billion of state incentives in the Buffalo-area economy. He’s been hailed for his company’s redevelopment of the former Graphic Controls building on Seneca Street into the Larkin at Exchange Building, which has served as a catalyst for the revitalization of the surrounding neighborhood. He’s active in the civic and preservationist community. Cuomo recently appointed Zemsky chairman of the Buffalo State College Council and is expected to soon elevate him[...]

Posted 13 years ago

Feb 24

2012

Hydrofracking contributions to state pols

Our first installment of Joe Friday involves contributions made to political candidates and parties by companies with a vested interest in New York State opening up the Marcellus Shale to drilling for natural gas through a controversial process called hydraulic fracturing. A Common Cause recently released a study that tracked contributions from 2007 to October 2011. While the Buffalo metropolitan area lies just northwest of the Marcellus Shale, the contributions have a Western New York flavor. Here are the facts: Natural gas interests made 2,340 contributions totaling $1.34 million to candidates and political parties in New York State. Four companies[...]

Posted 13 years ago

Feb 23

2012

Cuomo’s welcome break with the past

A fair number of folks I’m talking to in economic development circles aren’t entirely sold on Andrew Cuomo’s plan to spend $1 billion to jump start the Buffalo economy. For starters, a lot of the details have yet to be worked out. There’s skepticism over the governor’s motives. And there’s his apparent intent to throw a lot of money at companies willing to relocate to the region, which has the makings of good photo ops but a poor return on investment. But Cuomo is showing a willingness – indeed, an eagerness – to abandon the mindset behind the failed policies[...]

Posted 13 years ago

Feb 23

2012

Clearing up the confusion

The governor wants all the development in the city. Or not. He’s focused on just a couple of big projects. Or maybe more. The answers vary regarding Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s plans for $1 billion in state incentives to rally the local economy, depending on who is doing the talking. And a lot of people are talking. Mayor Byron Brown. State Sen. George Maziarz. Assemblyman Sean Ryan. Among others. Investigative Post interviewed the two local officials who have spoken directly with Cuomo about his intentions and who are among those charged with translating into action his $1 billion pledge of economic[...]

Posted 13 years ago

Feb 22

2012

Cuomo’s $1B economic stimulus for region: Promising vision, questionable assumptions

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to invest $1 billion of state incentives in an effort to revitalize the region’s economy is even bolder than the “B as in billion” suggests. Bold, but potentially flawed. Cuomo is alone among the nation’s 50 governors in targeting that kind of money at a regional economy. “To have a governor willing to spend $1 billion in one metropolitan area is truly exceptional these days, given states’ fiscal conditions,” said Greg LeRoy, a national expert on economic development subsidy programs and executive director of Good Jobs First. Moreover, Cuomo wants to break from current economic development[...]

Posted 13 years ago