Tag: Politics

Mar 23

2022

Ex-con councilman turned pot lobbyist

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A decade ago, former Ellicott District Common Council Member Brian C. Davis pled guilty to stealing $48,237 in anti-poverty funds from the city. He was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and ordered to pay restitution.   Davis served his time. But he hasn’t finished paying back what he stole, according to a March 2021 court filing. Happily, at least for the taxpayers he still owes, Davis has a new gig that might help him settle the bill: as a lobbyist for a proposed South Buffalo marijuana farm run by the southern California-based son of a politically wired[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Mar 8

2022

Who is Congresswoman Claudia Tenney?

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Redistricting will make U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney’s 22nd District more friendly to a Democratic Party challenger. So the Utica native — who won squeakers in 2016 and 2020, and lost to Democrat Anthony Brindisi in 2018 — is looking west. Tenney, 61, will run this year in the 23rd District, currently represented by Republican Tom Reed, who is retiring after being accused of sexual misconduct. The 22nd District Tenney represents now runs through the middle of the state, from the eastern end of Lake Ontario to the Pennsylvania border, including Utica, Rome, Cortland and Binghamton. The new 23rd District, like[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 12

2022

Giambra tests run for State Senate

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It looks like Joel Giambra, the former Erie County executive, is once again kicking the tires on a run for elected office. This time the Democrat-turned-Republican seems to have his eyes on the 60th District State Senate seat, currently occupied by Democrat Sean Ryan. Last week a poll began popping up on the cell phones of likely voters in the district, one of whom shared the link with Investigative Post. The poll begins with a handful of questions meant to determine where on the political spectrum the respondent resides: Is New York State headed in the right or wrong direction?[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Feb 10

2022

Hochul donors hiding behind LLCs

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Gov. Kathy Hochul was New York’s most successful political fundraiser last year, according to campaign finance disclosures filed last month with the state elections board. Her campaign committee raked in $21.6 million in just five months. But Hochul’s campaign “flouted the law,” according to an analysis by New York Focus, by failing to identify the owners of 130 limited liability companies, or LLCs, that gave money to her committee. Since 2019, candidates running for office have been required to identify the owners of LLCs that donate to their campaigns. An LLC’s donation is divided among the owners; each owner’s share[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jan 31

2022

Councilmen violating campaign finance law

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Three of Buffalo’s Common Council members are behind on filing campaign finance disclosure statements, the latest of which was due Jan. 18. Or, rather, they were behind.  When Investigative Post started asking about their missing filings last week, at least two of them began trying to catch up. When we checked the state election board’s online records shortly after the Jan. 18 deadline, we found two city legislators — Rasheed Wyatt and Ulysees Wingo — hadn’t filed since 2019.  That was the last year Buffalo Council members were on the ballot. A third, David Rivera, hadn’t filed since July 2020.[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Nov 10

2021

Heaney discusses mayor’s race on ‘Pressroom

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Jim Heaney fielded questions from David Lombardo, host of The Capitol Pressroom, about the race between Byron Brown and India Walton. Heaney offered an assessment on the strengths and shortcomings of each candidate’s campaign. Give a listen.  

Posted 3 years ago

Nov 3

2021

Modest turnout for Buffalo’s mayoral election

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The contest between India Walton and Byron Brown looked like it could be close. It wasn’t.  Though it’ll be a while before the write-in votes for Brown are validated and absentee ballots are counted, the outcome is clear: Brown won a fifth term resoundingly, according to unofficial returns from the Erie County Board of Elections. The first hotly contested general election for Buffalo mayor in 16 years — a showdown between ideologies and personalities, drawing national attention and massive infusions of campaign money to both sides — was predicted to drive massive turnout in the city.  It didn’t. In all[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Oct 27

2021

Obfuscation from the Brown camp

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Tuesday, The Buffalo News reported the departure of Byron Brown’s campaign manager, Conor Hurley, earlier this month. Hurley told The News that Brown’s deputy mayor, Betsey Ball — who ran the mayor’s primary campaign — would “carry the mayor across the finish line” as next Tuesday’s vote drew closer. Ball was blamed by many — Brown donor Carl Paladino, among them — for Brown’s primary loss in June. We decided we’d better find out if Ball was taking time off from her job at City Hall to call the shots on the campaign. So, we reached out to the mayor’s[...]

Posted 3 years ago
Investigative Post