| A FORMER ASST. US ATTORNEY WHO HAS ALREADY HOUNDED WALL STREET MISCREANTS, COFFEY PLEDGES TO ALSO FIGHT ALBANY CORRUPTION BASED ON A “READY, AIM, FIRE” APPROACH TO LAW ENFORCEMENT
While all Attorney-General candidates talk about fighting Wall Street evildoers, front running AG contender, Sean Coffey is the only one who can say he’s done it, as an Asst. US Attorney who knew how to hit the Gordon Gechos of the world where it hurt them the most. “I made the members of the board of directors of companies that had cheated ordinary investors pay out of their own pockets, not just out of the corporation’s funds,” he recalled recently in an exclusive interview with NewWNYPolitics and NiagaraFallsPolitics. “I forced them to pay out 20% of their net worth and that was a good thing because if they are only being forced to pay out of the corporation’s funds, that isn’t much of a disincentive not to cheat people. But, if they have to pay out their own money, they’ll think twice about doing it again.” Already labelled “The New Nemesis of Wall Street,” by a prominent Big Apple paper years before he launched his AG campaign, Coffey has enjoyed a rich and diverse career that began with graduation from the Naval Academy and proceeded through service as a Naval aide to then Vice-President George W. Bush and careers as both a successful private attorney and a tough as nails federal prosecutor. As a youngster, he spent some time as a resident of Niagara Falls while his father worked on the Niagara Power Project. “Protecting small investors from being cheated has always been a major concern of mine,” he says. “That’s why my TV commercials say that as attorney general, the only special interest I will work to protect is the interests of the average hard working New Yorker.” Still, when an interviewer brings up potential targets of his prosecutorial wrath such as that infamous WNY paragon of carcinogenic pollution known as Tonawanda Coke, this veteran of many a courtroom struggle projects admirable professional caution. “I am very familiar with the Tonawanda Coke case,” he notes. “It is definitely something I would want to look into, but my first job would be to gather the facts before I did anything as your attorney-general. The proper approach to being a prosecutor is never ready, fire, aim but always ready, aim, fire.” On the issue of rooting out Albany political corruption, Coffey has some ideas that would involve public financing of, at least certain election campaigns and a non-partisan plan for legislative redistricting. “I am for public financing of campaigns,” he declares. “But, I think it would be a pretty heavy lift to get it passed for all elections so I would, at least advocate it for elections for attorney general and state comptroller, since the decisions made by the holders of those two offices make decisions about prosecuting people and about investing our pension money respectively and should always act in a totally non-partisan manner. I am also in favor of non-partisan redistricting so that we have real competition for seats in the Assembly and Senate, rather than all of them being guaranteed safe seats.” As for his fortunes in the current campaign, Coffey is encouraged by the support his campaign is attracting from all over the state, including gaining the backing of Niagara County Democratic Chairman Dan Rivera just recently. “My campaign is gaining a lot of support upstate and also on Long Island and in Brooklyn and Queens in New York City,” he reports. “If people want an attorney general who has worn the uniform of his country, who has a proven record as a tough but fair prosecutor, who has recovered millions of dollars from Wall Street crooks for ordinary New Yorkers, then I know that I am that candidate and I’m going to win.” |
Sean Coffey, Democratic candidate for New York Attorney General has announced endorsements from numerous Upstate New York Democratic leaders and organizations, including that of Niagara County Democratic Chairman Dan Rivera.. Coffey also picked up endorsements from the North Country and Hudson Valley areas..
said, “Sean Coffey lived in Western New York and it shows in his values. He has been the only candidate for Attorney General who has pledged to fight for stopping burdensome property taxes and helping returning jobs to New Yorkers. He plans to do this by combating the public corruption that forces state spending to soar and property owners to pick up the tab. Once Sean Coffey starts cracking down on corrupt politicians, we’ll finally have a chance to control costs and bring real reform to our government. I trust the office of Attorney General to Sean Coffey because I know he will use it to help fight the public corruption that has lumped taxes on residents in Niagara County. That’s why I support Sean Coffey for Attorney General.”
Sean Coffey said, “I’m deeply honored to have the endorsement of so many Upstate groups and leaders. As the son of a union carpenter who spent time growing up in Niagara Falls, I will be an Attorney General for the entire state. Upstate New Yorkers can count on me to crackdown on public corruption and wasteful spending, hold corporate executives personally accountable for misconduct, and continue to champion for a much-needed property tax cap for all New Yorkers. As Attorney General, I’ll make sure everyone plays by the rules and get government working again – for people, not special interests. We need a healthy and functioning state government in order to attract industry and create jobs. That’s what Western New Yorkers need and that’s what I will deliver.”
AG CONTENDER SCHNEIDERMAN OFFERS HIS SUPPORT FOR HANDGUN MICRO STAMPING, IAN’S LAW AS EXAMPLES OF HIS LEADERSHIP STYLE IN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
What can we do to stem the tide of gun violence in the wake of the recent Main Street Massacre at the City Grill? Is there anything average people can do to end HMO abuses while safeguarding the rights of policy holders?
NYS Senator and Attorney General candidate Eric Schneiderman insisted that something CAN be done, while pointing to his own record of trying and sometimes succeeding in doing so in a recent exclusive interview with NewWNYPolitics and NiagaraFallsPolitics.
“You want to do something to stop gun violence,” he rhetorically asks. “One thing that we could do that would work is to mandate the microstamping of guns. If we could pass a law that would mandate that all guns sold in the State of New York have such an imprint, then whenever there was a shooting, we could look at the shell casings and we’d know immediately where the gun came from and could then easily find out who owned the gun at the time of the shooting. We missed passing an imprinting bill in the Senate by only two votes. But, I’m going to keep fighting for it, no matter what special interests I have to take on.”
“One thing that’s true about me is that I never walk away from a fight and I won’t back down if I believe I’m fighting for what’s right,” the Senator continues. “I’ll always stand up for justice for average New Yorker. You can count on that because I’ve done so throughout my career.”
Yet another example of the Senator’s willingness to take on powerful interests in the name of right is his successful battle to pass Ian’s Law in Albany.
“Ian Pearl is a guy who got a serious disease and then found himself cancelled by his health insurance company because of it,” Senator Schneiderman explains. “Of course, it is now against the law for such firms to cancel someone’s policies because they get sick. But this company and others like them are finding a way around the law. How they get around the law is they cancel an entire category of policy holders in order to get rid of one and then they re-write the policies of the others. We even found one inner office memo in which one of their executives referred to policy holders like Ian as ‘dogs.”
Now, thanks to a law championed by Schneiderman, passed by both houses, and signed by Governor Paterson, they won’t be able to create such horrors anymore in the State of New York.
“As Attorney-General, I will continue to fight for justice and against violent crime, and white collar crime,” he pledges. “Tough and effective crime fighting is smart crime fighting and we need to always be smart in the way we fight crime.”
Senator Schneiderman believes Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice is his strongest primary oppoent, though he is not discounting the chances of any of them.
“You’re going to be seeing a lot of me up here in WNY as the primary gets closer,” he promises. “I believe we are going to win because New Yorkers and Western New Yorkers are looking for an aggressive and fearless Attorney General who will fight every day for them and that’s the kind of Attorney General I’m going to be.”
BIG MO CLEARLY WITH CARL AS GOP GUB PRIMARY NEARS…COULD FREEDOM PARTY MAKE ANDREW NERVOUS ON NOV. 2 OR WILL PALADINO SAVE HIM
Forget about all those polls that show Buffalo developer Carl Paladino X number of points behind former Long Island Congressman Rick Lazio in the Sept. 14 GOP gubernatorial primary!…Our state-wide sources are telling us that all the momentum is with Carl and that he will beat Rick like a bass drum on primary night.
“Lazio is lackluter, wishy washy candidtate who isn’t turning on anyone while Carl is clearly heating up the Republican base with all his talk about being “mad as hell,.” one of our sources explains. “Besides that, Rick doesn’t have any money. After spending eight years on Wall Street, Lazio thought he’d be able to raise some bucks as their candidate for governor, but it hasn’t worked because no one thinks he can win.”
“In a low turnout primary, it will be the “Mad As Hell” crowd who will be motivated to show up at the polls and the result will be that Carl will win,” our guy continues. “However, the general election will likely be a different story, because #1, Paladino will not do well enough in New York City, which is dominated by the minority vote and #2 the “Mad As Hell” thing can only take you so far. Most voters state-wide don’t really want a A Governor who is spitting mad all the time when it comes right down to it. So there’s a ceiling on his potential vote, which will be evident to one and all on Nov. 2.”
Still, there is no doubt that the Paladino campaign will have an impact, both locally and around the state.
“With Carl on the ballot as the GOP nominee, with accusations of racism still out there re his past e-mails and his recent comments about welfare recipients being dirty and his desire to house them in prisons, you could see an outpouring of African-American voters coming out to try and beat him, a factor which could help all Democrats, including Andrew Cuomo..”
Then there’s the Freedom Party factor now that the third party candidacy for Governor of African-American New York City Councilman Charles Barron has made the ballot, by garnering sufficent petition signtures, including at least 100 in every Congressional district in the state. Blessed with a slate that includes Bronx attorney Ramone Jimenez for Attorney General and Buffalo activist Eva Doyle for Lt. Governor, Barron could take votes away from Cuomo, based on his claim that the Dem team has dissed New York blacks and Hispanics by not including a qualified minority contender on the 2010 Dem ticket.
Then again, the presence of Paladino as the GOP’s standard bearer could drive African-Americans back to the Democrats.
| GILLIBRAND: RACE TO THE TOP A BIG WIN FOR NY
New York Schools To Receive As Much As $700 Million “This is a big win for New York. It took enormous effort, but New Yorkers came together and delivered for our children. This investment will improve our schools and help prepare students for college and the jobs of the future. I worked hard with my colleagues to secure this investment for New York, and I will keep fighting to make sure New York gets its fair share from Washington.” |
COMMITTEE TO ELECT CALVO-TORRES TO SUPREME COURT HOLDING EVENT, THIS THURS., AUG. 26
The Committee to Elect Judge Betty Calvo-Torres to the NYS Supreme Court will hold a fundraiser on Thurs., Aug. 26 at the Nixon Residence at 549 Linwood, near Balcolm in Buffalo from 5:30-7:30pm. The contribution levels will be: $50 for a Birthday Wish; $100 for a Birthday Cake; and $200 for a Birthday Party. Checks can be made out to the Committee to Elect Judge Betty Calvo-Torres to the NYS Supreme Court.
Siena College Poll:
Cuomo Holds Wide Lead over Reps; Rated Better on 7 Issues
Loudonville, NY. Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo maintains leads of more than 30 percentage points against Republicans Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino in both head-to-head and three-way match-ups, and voters think he will be more effective than either of the Republicans on seven key issues that affect New Yorkers. Paladino has closed the gap against Lazio to 13 points among Republicans, according to a Siena College poll of registered New York voters released today.
Three-quarters of voters have been following the news about the proposed Muslim community center and mosque in lower Manhattan at least somewhat closely, up significantly in two weeks. Opposition remains strong against building the mosque, 63-27 percent, however, by a margin of 64-28 percent voters say that the developers of the Cordoba House have a Constitutional right to build it. Nearly one-quarter of voters say the position of the gubernatorial candidates on this issue will have a major effect on which candidate they support.
“With less than 11 weeks until election day, Andrew Cuomo continues to be the prohibitive favorite to be elected New York’s next governor.
Neither Rick Lazio nor Carl Paladino has made a dent in the favorable view voters have of Cuomo. Nor have they made much progress in closing the large electoral gap Cuomo enjoys over both of them – individually or collectively,” said Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg.
Cuomo leads Lazio 60-26 percent (60-28 percent in July). Cuomo’s lead over Paladino is 60-27 percent, down from 64-23 percent last month. In a three-way race, Cuomo garners 56 percent to 19 percent for Lazio (identified as a Republican) and 12 percent for Paladino (identified as an independent). In a three-way race identifying Paladino as the Republican and Lazio as the Conservative, Cuomo leads 56 percent to 16 percent for Lazio, and 14 percent for Paladino. Lazio’s primary lead over Paladino among enrolled Republicans is down to 13 points, 43-30 percent, down from a 20-point lead (40-20 percent) in July.
| Voters are Following NYC Mosque Issue Closely; Still Oppose It; Support Constitutionality of Building It, according to Siena Poll…Gillibrand Gaining Strength Vs. GOP Field
“More than one-third of voters are following the news about the proposed Muslim community center and mosque two blocks from the World Trade Center site very closely and 75 percent are following it either very or somewhat closely, up from 20 percent and 56 percent, respectively, two weeks ago,” says Steven Greenberg of the Siena College Institute. “This is clearly an issue that has received a great deal of media coverage and has attracted the public’s attention.
“The level of opposition to building the Cordoba House remains very strong, with 63 percent of voters opposing it and only 27 percent supporting it, virtually the same as the 61-26 percent opposition in the Siena Poll two weeks ago. Voters, however, can clearly distinguish their personal view on whether the community center and mosque should be built near Ground Zero from their opinion on whether the developers have a Constitutional right to build the Cordoba House there,” Greenberg said. “Nearly two-thirds of voters – 64 percent – think the developers do have a Constitutional right to build the mosque and Muslim community center near Ground Zero, compared to only 28 percent who say they do not,” Greenberg said. “A majority of every demographic group – by party, region, age, gender, political philosophy – agrees that there is a Constitutional right to proceed. Even a majority of those who oppose building the mosque agree by a margin of 51-42 percent that they have the right to build it. “The key question for Cuomo, Lazio and Paladino is how much voters will look at this issue when determining their vote for governor. Twenty-two percent say the candidates’ position on this issue will have a major effect on their vote, 37 percent say it will have some effect, and a plurality, 39 percent, say it will have no effect,” Greenberg said. “Of the 22 percent of voters who say the candidates’ position will have a major effect on their vote, opposition to the proposed mosque dwarfs support 92-7 percent. Among those voters, Cuomo currently has the support of 38 percent, compared to 33 percent who support Lazio and 17 percent who support Paladino.” |
“I”ve been very honored to get the endorsement of the Sierra Club for my leadership role on environmental issues,” Senator Thompson says. “Also I’ve been endorsed by the Public Employees Federation as well as New York State United Teachers to add to a number of other union endorsements I”ve received. I feel that I have attracted this support because people know that I’ve been a progressive voice in the Senate who has spoken out for the interests of working people and for the environment in this state.”
Perhaps even more important than his long roster of labor endorsements is Senator Thompson’s lengthy record of legislative accomplishments during his brief three and a half year tenure in Albany’s upper house.
“We’ve been able to pass legislation to protect the environment as well as children with my bill to outlaw baby bottles which contained toxic materials,” he points out. “We’ve passed legislation to protect farm workers from abuses and also to make sure that prison inmates are counted in the census as residents of the cities from which they came, not as residents of the counties where they are incarcerated. This will mean more representation for city residents in the Legislature in the future.”
Still, there is much more the Senator wants to accomplish in a new term in Albany.
“I want to see Global Warming legislation passed in my next term as the Chairman of the Senate’s Environmental Conservaton Committee,” he declares. “I want to see legislation passed for housing development zones that would facilitate rehabilitation of housing in cities such as Buffalo and Niagara Falls. I also want to secure money to enhance the Underground Railroad tourist areas in the Falls.”
“I want to be able to offer more help to small business through the Empire State Development Corporation,” the Senator continues, “and I’m looking forward to seeing the first Green Initiative Institute in Buffalo start to fulfill its mission to research and develop new ways of protecting our environment while at the same time creating jobs.”
A heady agenda indeed for any public servant, but one the Senator from Niagara Falls seems to take in stride.
“I love this job because I get to help people every day,” Senator Thompson states. “If I am fortunate enough to be re-elected, I will continue to work seven days a week to protect the interests of the average working man and woman of my district and the State of New York.”
| Please Join Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson at a Fundraiser in Honor of Antoine M. Thompson New York State Senator, 60th District Chair, Environmental Conservation Committee Co-Chair, Democratic Senate Campaign Committee Co-Chair, MWBE Taskforce Tuesday, August 24, 2010 5:30pm – 7:30pm SATURN CLUB 997 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, N.Y. 14209 Sponsorship Levels: $250 Bronze Sponsor $1,000 Silver Sponsor $2,000 Gold Sponsor $5,000 Platinum Sponsor Other R.S.V.P. to Danielle N. Judge-Johnson at (716) 605-8773 or (716)856-6030 Please mail contributions to: Supporters of Antoine M. Thompson, P.O. Box 714, Buffalo, NY 14201 www.senatorantoinethompson.com |
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