politics

A fire broke out in a second floor bedroom at 66 Oak Street in Batavia around 9:30pm last night, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. Two people were home at the time, but both escaped without injury. A preliminary investigation has termed the cause accidental, and damage to the home has been estimated at around $15,000.

Fischer picked up a choice piece of audio from our state Assemblyman, Steve Hawley, who spoke of the wastefulness of yesterday's special session of the state Legislature and called for more productive meetings to cut spending in the future. Hawley called the episode "politics as usual," a phrase which—not to knock Hawley at all—was surely used by countless grandstanding state politicians yesterday, all of whom, in the end, are themselves the practitioners of the usual. Are any of these representatives, in truth, practicing the unusual: in other words, getting things done, not shrinking in fear from the collective threats of special interest lobbyists, not wasting time and (our) money on circus shows that masquerade as fruitful discourse? Fischer tells us that yesterday's special session cost the taxpayers in excess of $100,000. Listening in on another news report last night, I heard that the costs were related mostly to overtime and travel expenses for the legislators! How's that for politics as usual. Or irony. Call it what you will.

For those of us who didn't wake up to two feet of snow this morning, our news channels and radio waves likely included a bit on the ongoing scuffle in Albany over the state budget. Everyday, this brouhaha over the budget resembles more and more the raucous cloud of dust that signals a barroom brawl in a Warner Bros. cartoon. If you look closely enough, you can see a foot or a black eye or a projectile mug—but we won't know anything about the winners and the losers until the dust settles, and by then, it will already be time for another skit.

Nor do we, the people of New York, even know who we're rooting for.

From the Albany Times Union:

It seems that New York's legislative leaders really do reflect the views of their constituents, according to the latest Siena Research Institute poll.

The poll, released Monday, found that 75 percent of registered voters want spending cuts instead of tax increases (which are favored by 10 percent) or borrowing (9 percent) to address the state's budget gap.

But when asked what they want to cut, voters won't get specific: 44 percent opted for "something else" when offered a list that also included health care (6 percent), education (7 percent), transportation and infrastructure (18 percent) and aid to local governments (23 percent).

Health care and education are the biggest components of the state budget, with local aid coming in third. Localities, of course, often choose to make up the shortfall that results from state cuts with increases to property taxes.

"Something else"—isn't it always something else? Didn't the pollsters know what they were doing when they included "something else" as an option? Didn't they know that people would invariably opt for the intangible unknown for the very reason that it can't be specified and therefore isn't much of a threat?

Well, members of some groups that have already been named as potential losers under the cuts proposed by Gov. David Paterson have some ideas about what that something else could be. And why wouldn't they? Something else, for them, necessarily implies something other than themselves.

From the WXXI newsroom:

Groups who would suffer the most from the $2 billion dollars in cutbacks that Governor Paterson has proposed are urging the legislature to consider alternatives, before saying yes to the governor's ideas. In interviews, and at a series of hearings by the Assembly, they listed a number of options that they say the governor has so far ignored.

State worker unions, who met with the governor a few weeks ago, say they offered numerous suggestions, which did not become part of Paterson's proposals. Ken Brynion, President of the Public Employees Federation, says the state could save hundreds of millions of dollars by eliminating private contractors, and letting state workers perform the tasks, like inspecting bridges, promoting tourism, or offering IT advice.

"It's a complete waste of money," Brynion said.

[...]

Other ideas include revamping the state's costly economic development programs. Critics have long contended that companies do not have to prove they actually create jobs with the funds from Empire Zones or Industrial Development Agencies. Many have mentioned enforcing laws that require the collection of sales tax on cigarettes sold on Indian lands.

Fran Turner, with the state worker union CSEA, joins others in saying that perhaps personal income taxes should be restructured to extract more money from the state's wealthiest.

Meanwhile, back at the capitol, while busloads of protestors unload to decry the potential cuts, things took a turn for the anticlimactic.

From the Times Union:

As of Monday evening, it seemed likely today's session will result in very little progress. In a 9 p.m. press conference from the Red Room, Paterson announced that he would meet with legislative leaders at 12:30 p.m. today to discuss the immediate future of his proposed cuts.

Earlier in the evening, Senate Republicans had said the chamber would vote on Paterson's proposals, designed to close an expected $1.5 billion gap brought on by the collapse of Wall Street, but they are almost certain to turn it down.

So where to next? What's your something else?

 New York State Assemblyman Steve Hawley paid a visit to the Batavia Lions Club Monday night at the weekly meeting at St. Nicks Club to announce a state donation to the City of Batavia.

Hawley helped get a grant passed to help Batavia decorate the city for Christmas, with much of the money going to the lighting on Main St.

Hawley gave a speech about the current state of government in New York State and told a great story about taking some veterans to Washington, D.C. recently for a visit. 

Hawley, a Batavia republican, has served on the Genesee County Legislature in the past and has been an assemblyman for three years.

For those of you who want the numbers for all the races across the county, in all the municipalities, you can download the complete report here. For those of you looking for the specific breakdown in the vote for president in the city of Batavia, we've extracted those numbers for you. Adding up the totals for every municipality is much more of a tedious and consuming task than we had at first assumed, so we've scrapped the original plan of detailing all the race counts. Further, for the city, I've only tallied the counts for the Democrats and Republicans, since the others were negligible. Nader/Gonzalez drew the most of any of the other tickets, and they only pulled 16 at most per ward.

City of Batavia election results totals (by Ward):

Ward 1:

• Obama/Biden = 535 votes
• McCain/Palin = 704 votes

Ward 2:

• Obama/Biden = 501 votes
• McCain/Palin = 521 votes

Ward 3:

• Obama/Biden = 431 votes
• McCain/Palin = 421 votes

Ward 4:

• Obama/Biden = 568 votes
• McCain/Palin = 585 votes

Ward 5:

• Obama/Biden = 384 votes
• McCain/Palin = 345 votes

Ward 6:

• Obama/Biden = 404 votes
• McCain/Palin = 379 votes

In total, Obama/Biden pulled 2,823 votes in the city. McCain/Palin drew 2,955. (Please forgive me if I made any calculation errors, though I think everything should be correct.)

Voters in Genesee County may have proved last night that this is still GOP country. Republicans won the day pretty much across the board here. Nevertheless, Democrats made the greater strides across the state—and across the nation—and are poised to seize all of the reins in Albany for the first time in nearly a century.

From the Democrat & Chronicle this morning:

Democrats captured control of the state Senate on Tuesday for the first time in more than 40 years, knocking off at least two Republican incumbent senators.

A third Republican incumbent was locked in a tight race at press time.

If the results hold up, the Senate next year will have 32 Democrats and 30 Republicans. That will give Democrats control of every statewide office and both houses of the Legislature for the first time since the Great Depression.

Republican leaders blamed their loss on the Barack Obama landslide.

Whatever the "Republican leaders" point to as the reason for their loss, that finger ought eventually to come back around at themselves, for they surely had a hand in their own defeat. I'm still amazed that Chris Lee beat out Democrat Alice Kryzan in the 26th Congressional District, even though Lee shunned all press appearances and seemed to make no real visible effort to get out the vote, relying instead on attack ads to win him the spot.

Where do you think the blame lies, if anywhere? Do you think the state will benefit or be hurt by the new majority control in Albany?

On a cursory glance over the election result totals for Genesee County released earlier this morning, it looks as if county residents followed pretty closely along the major voting lines sketched out last night. In other words, the county, as did its greater districts, remained for the most part Republican. As Legislator Jay Grasso predicted yesterday afternoon, Genesee County remained a "red county"—even in its support of the McCain/Palin ticket.

Sen. John McCain was the clear favorite in this county, pulling in 14,573 votes, compared with the 10,029 levers pulled for President Elect Barack Obama. Most of the McCain supporters came from the towns and villages, but he did pick up a majority in the city of Batavia, as well (2,955 to Obama's 2,823).

We've got the complete numbers for how each municipality voted in the county. We can get into more detail later today, if folks are interested.

We're still waiting on the final numbers in the race for the 61st State Senate District. With 85 percent of the districts reporting in Erie County, however, Republican Mike Ranzenhofer looks set to claim victory in his contest with Democrat Joe Mesi. Ranzenhofer pulled 49,870 votes in that county. Mesi received 44,183 votes.

We got Ranzenhofer on the phone a few minutes ago to get his thoughts on the victory.

"It feels great. I'm very exicted about having the opportunity to represent the people of Genesee and Erie counties and go to Albany and solve some of these very severe problems, these financial problems. I'm looking forward to getting to work and rolling up my sleeves and getting started.

"In my speech tonight, I congratulated Joe on a well-run, hard-fought, close race. Joe was a gentleman."

What is the first item on your agenda upon arriving in Albany?

"I have no first agenda item. I have a couple of items of dealing with the lack of economic opportunities and jobs in this area. My first order of business is to propose legilslation to cut taxes across the board. I will try to relieve some of the burdens and regulations placed on small businesses."

For more about Ranzenhofer's thoughts on dealing with the state's financial woes, please check out our video interview with Ranzenhofer that was posted last week.

Genesee County saw a couple of very tight races tonight.

Republican Michael Davis beat out Democrat Lawrence Stabell for the open seat on the Darien Town Board by a margin of 68 votes (677 to 609)—a third candidate, Conservative Richard Wurl, picked up 43 votes.

The race was even closer in Le Roy, but Democrat Thomas Stella held onto his seat on the Town Board. He beat out Republican Robert Taylor Jr. by a margin of 62 votes (1,468 to 1,406).

Republicans Donald Coleman and Robert Youngfleisch retained their positions as Genesee County coroners, beating out newcomer Nicole Brady, who ran on the Conservative line. Coleman and Youngfleisch pulled 11,016 and 12,014 votes, respectively. Brady received 4,389 votes.

It looks like Republican Chris Lee will win the day in the 26th Congressional District. With 498 of 631 districts reporting, Lee has pulled 106,168. Kryzan landed 77,900. CNN reports that Genesee County voters followed pretty cleanly along those lines: 6,718 of county residents pulled the lever for Lee; 3,603 for Kryzan. (Those seem to be the only numbers yet available for Genesee County. We expect a fax from the county Board of Elections within the hour.)

We're waiting on word from the Lee camp. We'll be sure to pass along a statement from that campaign when we get it.

(Update - 11:36pm): We've received a statement from Lee on his victory.

"Tonight we are one step closer to getting Western New York and our country back on track.

"We are now going to take to Washington our agenda of job creation, lowering taxes and making government more accountable.

"What has brought me here tonight has truly been a team effort – I owe a debt of gratitude to the dedicated group who helped run this campaign, to the incredible number of volunteers and the more than 1,300 supporters who invested their resources into our message. I am grateful to my family for their love and support. They have been incredible.

"My career has been solely in private sector these past 20 years. I will bring a much needed voice to Washington as someone who knows how difficult it is to earn a dollar and will therefore be a much better steward of your hard-earned tax dollars.

"This is a victory worth celebrating – but we certainly have our work cut out for us, and I will need your help and support in the months ahead."

We've still got plenty of precincts that have yet to report, but in many races, we're past the half way point and we're looking at growing leads for Republicans Mike Ranzenhofer and Chris Lee. Ranzenhofer leads Democrat Joe Mesi 29,049 to 27,483 in Erie County. Lee leads Kryzan 78,301 to 57,615 throughout the district, according to the Democrat & Chronicle.

Election results are startin to come in from Erie County—we will likely have to wait until after 10 o'clock to hear about the results out of Genesee County.

In Erie, Republican Mike Ranzenhofer leads Democrat Joe Mesi in the 61st State Senate District by a very slim margin of 107 votes and two percentage points. Republican Chris Lee leads Democrat Alice Kryzan in the 26th Congressional District by a margin of 135 votes. That's especially unfortunate for Kryzan as Jon Powers pulled exactly that many votes on the Working Families line, though Powers stands no chance to win the race, having lost the Democratic nod to Kryzan in the primary.

Totals in the race for the 61st are from about 10 percent of the districts reporting. Those for the 26th are from about 6 percent.

We will post more results as they come in. In addition to Genesee County, we're also waiting on results for Wyoming, Monroe and Livingston counties.

(Update - 9:47pm): Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle has some more comprehensive numbers up. Nothing from Monroe or Genesee. Yet, they show Lee with a more significant lead over Kryzan right now, 19,490 and 13,992 respectively. The gap in Erie County also seems to be growing.With 24 percent of the precincts reporting there, Kryzan has a total of 8,832 to Lee's 9,377.

We tried to catch some first-time voters as they came out of the polls today in Batavia. Unfortunately, we only ran into a handful of them, and only three were willing to chat with us on camera. All three of them were girls, and all three voted Democrat, at least in the presidential election. Here's what they had to say:

While we were down at the Democratic headquarters this afternoon, 26th Congressional Candidate Alice Kryzan, who was stopping by on her tour across the district throughout the day. We asked Kryzan how the day had gone and what she saw on the campaign trail.

Earlier today, we stopped by the Genesee County Democratic and Republican headquarters in Batavia to see how the campaigns were doing as we come down the stretch. It couldn't have worked out better, as we ran into everybody's favorite Democrat Dan Jones and everybody's favorite Republican Jay Grasso.

Here's what they had to say about how hard they're working and why their side will win tonight. Who sounds more convincing?

The battle between Democrat Alice Kryzan and Republican Chris Lee for the 26th Congressional District is entering the ninth inning, and the someone from the GOP opposition has called in a pinch hitter. There's only one problem, the slugger won't tell us his name.

The Kryzan campaign is alleging that an anti-Kryzan flier that has been arriving on doorsteps in Amherst this morning is illegal. In fact, campaign spokesperson Anne Wadsworth told us that the campaign crew that arrived at the volunteer center in Amherst at 5:30 this morning found a flier waiting for them. They have not yet gathered how many have gone out, nor how widely distributed they are, but we should find out more as the day goes on.

"Telling lies about Alice's record is nothing new for Chris Lee and his supporters," said Wadsworth. "But to put this out on election day is a continuation of the smear campaign they've been running. We know that Chris Lee has problems with ethics, but this effort by his supporters to mislead voters today—of all days—shows blatant disregard for the election laws and the truth."

A representative of the campaign for Chris Lee told us that they were not aware of any such fliers being distributed. We're waiting on an official statement from them that should come later this morning.

Genesee County Democratic Elections Commissioner Dawn Cassidy told us that if the flier were placed in a mailbox, the activity would certainly be illegal. Also, if it's a paid advertisement—negative or not—whoever paid for it has to say so on the flier.

However, says Cassidy, "if someone's running off Xerox copies from home, I don't know how we can track it down. ... If they put it in a mailbox and there's no postage, that's a problem. But still, I don't know how we can stop that."

Have you heard of any last ditch attempts to sway the vote that don't seem so kosher? Send us your reports of any potential problem you encounter at the polls, at home or at work today. We'll be sure to get them right up on our site.