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Seneca Nation Calls Cigs Seizure Illegal
Aug 11th - 4:55 pm
The Seneca Nation is calling Monday’s seizure of a truck carrying cigarettes to their territory an illegal act.
Seneca Nation President Barry Snyder held a news conference late this morning to present the Nation’s side of the story. They say they had proper stamps for their cigarettes, under Nation guidelines. But yesterday, a spokesman for the Taxation and Finance Department claimed that the cigarettes didn’t bear a New York State tax stamp, and that is why they were seized.
All this comes as the Seneca Nation is actively fighting against the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act. A recent court decision found it illegal for the Nation to mail out cigarettes, but also ruled that the state cannot collect taxes on the cigarettes.
President Snyder issued a stern warning against the state in a press release that was handed out at today’s news conference.
“The Nation does not take lightly this overt act of State aggression against the Nation and its people,” Snyder said. “We will weigh all of our options and determine what steps to take to protect and preserve the sovereign right of the Nation and the Seneca people.”
Schumer: ‘Nothing New To Add’ On The Mosque
Aug 11th - 1:47 pm
Sen. Chuck Schumer continued today to keep his comments on the controversial mosque proposed for construction near Ground Zero to a bare minimum, refusing to weigh in on the so-called “compromise” plan floated by Gov. David Paterson (and rejected by the developer) that the project be relocated.
“Ok. I’ve already issued a statement on that. I have nothing new to add, and so I’ll get that to you,” said Schumer during a stop earlier today in Syracuse.
“I’d have to know more details. We’ll have to see. I’ve issued a statement and you can call my office and get it, OK?”
I called Schumer’s office to receive a copy of said statement and was told the senior senator has been saying he is “not opposed” to the mosque, and those two words comprise the whole of his position on this issue.
(And, for the record, I believe AG Andrew Cuomo’s LG running mate, Rochester Mayor Bob Duffy, was the first to suggest that while the mosque has a legal right to be there, it might be best to move it to a less sensitive site – a position he is trying to clarify today).
Turning ‘Tea Party’ Into Dirty Words In WNY
Aug 11th - 11:24 am
The primary battle between Buffalo Assemblyman Sam Hoyt and his challenger, Common Councilman Joe Golombek, is taking a negative turn, with a mailer landing this week that slams Golombek for speaking at a Tea Party rally in June.
Here’s some video footage of the rally in question, at which Republican Assemblyman Jack Quinn, who is challenging Democratic Sen. Bill Stachowski, also spoke.
Standing in front of a large orange-and-black “Paladino for Governor” banner, Golombek joked that he wasn’t the only Democrat in the room, noting Rus Thompson, a WNY Tea Party activist and state comptroller candidate on Paladino’s Taxpayers Party line, is, too.
The mailer links the Tea Party to 2008 VP candidate/former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, and says it holds “ultra-conservative views like banning abortion, privatizing Social Security, and abolishing the Department of education,” adding: “If Joe Golombek wants to be a Tea Party candidate so badly, he’s not a Democrat we can trust.”
There’s no “paid for” label on the mailer, but it was forwarded to me by Hoyt’s campaign. This is an interesting approach, especially since Buffalo Democrats tend to be on the more conservative side. Hoyt, for example, is very pro-charter school, which won him the support of Mayor Bloomberg.
There’s also a Republican in the race, Brian Biggie.
Maffei On Rangel: ‘Deplore The Sin, Still Love The Sinner’
Aug 9th - 5:25 pm
Here’s Rep. Dan Maffei, a former staffer on the House Ways & Means Committee, explaining yet again why he is neither abandoning Rep. Charlie Rangel nor returning the $82,000 worth of campaign contributions he has received from the embattled Harlem Democrat over the years.
Maffei has refused to join his upstate House colleague, Rep. Mike Arcuri, in calling for Rangel to resign rather than go forward with his fight of the 13 ethics charges he faces.
He also hasn’t heeded calls – including one from his GOP opponent, Ann Marie Buerkle – that he give back Rangel’s cash. (Maffei explains in the clip below that the money is already spent).
“People say: ‘Well, you should have nothing to do with Charlie Rangel.’ But he’s a friend of mine. Clearly he did something wrong. I don’t condone that. But I’m his friend. You deplore the sin but love the
sinner.”
As noted on MonroeUprising last Monday, this isn’t the first time a Republican has sought to use Maffei’s connection to Rangel against him.
Koch, The Forgiving
Aug 6th - 1:24 pm
Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch is clearly enjoying himself on his upstate NY Uprising tour, during which he is calling out so-called “enemies” of reform and praising the “heroes” who have signed his PAC’s budget, ethics and redistricting pledges.
Here’s some footage of his event in Rochester yesterday, (he started out in Buffalo). At the very end he makes a bit of a joke about being willing to accept repentant enemies who change their minds and want to jump belatedly on the reform bandwagon. They’ll be welcomed like “the Prodigal Son”, Koch says.
I only hope to have as much energy when I’m 85.
Koch’s Buffalo ‘Enemies’ (Updated)
Aug 4th - 4:25 pm
Former NYC Mayor Ed Koch kicked off his upstate NY Uprising tour in Buffalo today, and, true to his word, called out the so-called “enemies” of reform who declined to sign his trio of pledges to support nonpartisan redistricting, GAP budgeting and an ethics overhaul.
Koch’s team is also posting periodic video dispatches to YouTube. He’s also scheduled to stop in Rochester and Syracuse and sat down with me for a “Capital Tonight” interview in NYC yesterday before heading for the airport.
UPDATE: One of Koch’s enemies, Republican Assemblywoman Jane Corwin, issued a lengthy response to the former mayor’s press conference, which she called “misleading and factually inaccurate.” The statement appears in full after the jump.
Dept Of There But For The Grace Of (Insert Preferred Deity Here)
Aug 2nd - 3:07 pm
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown released the following statement today:
“My son Byron was arrested this past Saturday, charged with petit larceny and issued an appearance ticket. My wife and I are greatly disappointed by this extremely poor judgment by our son.
“Although this is a private family matter, I want to make it clear that my son Byron will cooperate fully with the authorities throughout the ensuing legal process.”
The Buffalo News has more, reporting that Byron Brown Jr., 19, was accused of trying to shoplift items from the A.J. Wright store in Delaware Consumer Square in North Buffalo. He was accused of attempting to take clothing and an electronic device.
Also, there’s some history here, the News reminds us:
Silver: Koch Is Too Old To Criticize
Jul 29th - 4:17 pm
Here’s Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver taking a swipe at Ed Koch in response to the former NYC mayor’s recent remarks that his fellow Manhattan Democrat is an enemy of reform and a “bum” who should be ejected from office by the voters this fall.
“I’m not going to glorify his statements,” Silver told me during an interview this afternoon that will air in full this evening on Capital Tonight.
“I respect the elderly and I think it is, as my former congressman and my former mayor, someone who supported him many times, I respect his position in life now.”
(For the record: Koch is 85. Silver, by comparison, is a spring chicken at the ripe old age of 66. The two have exchanged verbal barbs several times now on the subject of the speaker’s refusal to sign the trio of reform pledges sent out by Koch’s NY Uprising PAC).
Koch is embarking on upstate tour next week to celebrate lawmakers and challengers deemed “heroes” of reform for their willingness to sign his pledges and slam the “enemies” who, like Silver and Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson, declined to do so.
He’s hitting Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, but has chosen to avoid Albany. Odd, particularly since the Legislature is expected to be in town for another extraordinary session – what better backdrop against which to engage in a little healthy lawmaker bashing?
This is Koch’s first campaign-like upstate swing since his failed 1982 gubernatorial bid during which his anti-upstate statements are now widely viwed as having cost him the primary race against Mario Cuomo.
Koch Fires Back
Jul 23rd - 9:42 am
In response to the snarky statements released yesterday by legislative leaders who landed on his “enemies of reform” list – Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson – former NYC Mayor Ed Koch had this to say:
“Chasing headlines, no. Dreaming yes. Dreaming of headlines like ‘Albany No Longer Corrupt’ and ‘New York No Longer Dysfunctional’.
“Unfortunately, until New York has new leadership more interested in helping the people and less interested in helping themselves and their cronies, that dream will remain a nightmare.”
I’m sure there will be lots more where this came from when Koch embarks on his upstate tour in early August to build support for his PAC, New York Uprising.
It will be his first campaign north of NYC since his failed bid for governor in 1982 in which some disparaging remarks in a Playboy magazine interview about people who live in what my colleague Jimmy Vielkind refers to as “Upstate America” helped seal his primary loss to Mario Cuomo.
Coffey To Drop Another $1M On His Campaign
Jul 19th - 9:06 am
In case you missed the second item in my DN column today:
One of the five Democrats vying to replace Cuomo, Sean Coffey, is poised to dump another $1 million of his own fortune into his campaign, bringing his self-funding tally to $3 million.
Coffey said he’s making the investment so he can bring his on-hand tally up to almost $4 million, which is what the perceived Democratic AG front-runner, Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice, has available. (To be exact, she’s got $4.1 million on hand).
“I think she sees that the race is going to end up a horse race between her and me, and I want her to know I accept the challenge and am looking forward to it,” Coffey said.
I spoke to Coffey at some length yesterday afternoon, and couldn’t fit all of what he told me into the column. So here are some outtakes:
Coffey hopes to emulate Mario Cuomo’s successful 1982 campaign for governor by doing well upstate.
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