Thompson, Dyster Announce Construction of Underground Railroad Interpretive Museum; Secure $250,000 Grant for Capital Improvements State Senator Antoine M. Thompson (D- Parts of Erie & Niagara Counties), Chair of the Senate’s Environmental Conservation Committee, along with Malcolm Smith, Senate President Pro Tem, and Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster have announced a $250,000 capital grant to [...]

WITH NO COST OF LIVING ADJUSTMENT FOR 3.4 MILLION NY SENIORS, VETERANS AND DISABLED, GILLIBRAND PUSHES FOR ONE-TIME $250 EMERGENCY PAYMENT Social Security is Sole Source of Income for 15 Percent of Recipients; $250 Payments Would Help Ensure Seniors, Vets, Disabled Continue to Meet Basic Needs. “In these tough economic times, we need to make [...]

O’DONNELL RATED “SUPERIOR” BY NIAGARA COUNTY BAR…DEMS SAY NO THANKS TO PATERSON ENDORSEMENT OF OWENS…SMITH, SAMPSON HOVER AROUND CUOMO IN SYRACUSE…WE PICK YANKS IN SIX! If you don’t think poll approval ratings effect daily politics, consider this set of facts: Gov. David Paterson, whose ratings are as close to the bottom as they can get, [...]

SOMMER’S SAD ADMISSION…WILL PATAKI CHALLENGE HILLIBRAND? Perhaps the saddest moment of the recent controversy in North Tonawanda over Republican attempts to stall the city’s WalMart project for political purposes has been the concluding comments of GOP Councilman Brett Sommer. After being honest enough to admit that he had been urged by powerful local Republicans to [...]

DelMonte: “Monserrate should resign from Senate” From Assemblymember Francine DelMonte: “It is unacceptable that Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens) continues to serve in the state Senate. Sen. Monserrate may have been cleared of felony charges in the battery case against his girlfriend but he was found guilty of misdemeanor assault. Senator Monserrate showed poor judgment last [...]

SOMMER PUBLICLY ADMITS MAZIARZ, WOJTASZEK TOLD HIM TO STALL NT WAL-MART PROJECT TO TRY TO DEFEAT SOOS Fireworks erupted at Tuesday night’s North Tonawanda City Council meeting when Councilman Brett Sommer publicly admitted that NYS Senator George Maziarz and Niagara County Republican Chairman Henry Wojtaszek tried to pressure him into stalling the North Tonawanda Wal-Mart [...]

CONVENTION WISDOM SAYS 2010 COULD BE GOOD YEAR FOR ITALIAN, JEWISH SUPREME COURT COURT CANDIDATES…MINORITIES, WOMEN SHOULD DO WELL…GILLIBRAND PUSHING HIGH TECH FOR SMALL BUSINESS The conventional wisdom emanating from our stable of reliable sources is telling us that Irish-American candidates for Eighth Judicial District Supreme Court seats will likely get nowhere in 2010 because [...]

VOTERS KEEP PATERSON’S RATINGS NEAR RECORD LOWS GUILIANI WIDENS LEAD OVER GOV. AND GILLIBRAND, CLOSES GAP SLIGHTLY ON CUOMO Legislature Blamed Most for Deficit & Held Most Responsible for Solving It Paterson’s favorable/unfavorable rating is 27-61 percent (29-59 percent last month). His job performance rating is 19 percent positive, 79 percent negative (18-80 percent last [...]

CHENEZ LOOKS FOR OPPONENT…FINDS GHOST! As Democratic county legislature nominee Roger Chenez continues to go door to door around the clock in the 7th District, he asks the same question and gets the same answer from just about every voter he encounters. “The first thing I ask people at the door is: Do you know [...]

POLITICAL NEWS AND NOTES…MONSERRATE LOSES HIS CHARIMAN…COLLINS’ DOUBLE CAMPAIGN Add Queens Democratic Chairman Joe Crowley to the growing list of people abandoning Sen. Hiram Monserrate in the wake of his conviction on a misdemeanor assault charge. Besides Chairman Crowley, the anti-Monserrate movement includes at least five of Monserrate’s fellow Senators, including a number of women. [...]