Outrages & Insightstag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-16246262009-11-20T16:59:14ZTypePadIn defense of Frank Seditatag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e2012875b963ce970c2009-11-20T11:59:14-05:002009-11-20T17:01:01ZNo reporter in town likes to hoist politicians by their petards more than I do. But I just don't buy into the grief Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III is getting from some quarters for the guilty plea entered last week by Ellicott Common Council Member Brian Davis. The argument goes something like this: Davis might have committed felonies, and might have been convicted if brought to trial, so therefore Sedita was wrong to negotiate a plea to Class A misdemeanor charges. I see two flaws in that reasoning. First, prosecutors since -- what, Roman times? -- have...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/no-reporter-in-town-likes-to-hoist-politicians-by-their-petard-more-than-i-do-but-i-just-dont-buy-into-the-grief-erie-county.htmlBrian Davis quits after being firedtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e2012875b571a6970c2009-11-19T12:07:06-05:002009-11-19T17:06:47ZBrian Davis quit a job Thursday that a lot of folks, including Erie County DA Frank Sedita, thought he was fired from last Friday. Whatever, he is gone. Last week, Davis, through his attorney, vowed to hang onto his job after pleading guilty to pocketing campaign contributions for personal use and lying to the state Board of Elections about it. But, after being a no-show for work this week, and after hearing every single one of his Council colleagues say he needed to give up his post, Davis threw in the towel at a 5:30 p.m. press conference on the...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/brian-davis-quits-after-being-fired.htmlOurs are called Dopey and Sleepytag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a6abeeb6970b2009-11-18T13:09:49-05:002009-11-18T18:09:19ZThe State Senate has seven dwarfs -- members who are opposed to any cuts to education and Medicaid, but no proposals on how to cut money elsewhere in the budget in order to balance the budget, according to this column in the New York Daily News. Senators from Western New York account for two of the seven -- Antoine Thompson and Bill Stachowski. Says columnist Bill Hammond: These seven Democratic pols - call them the seven dwarfs - declared that they cannot possibly go along with trimming education aid in the middle of the school year, as Gov. Paterson has...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/ours-are-called-dopey-and-sleepy.htmlDay 2, AD (After Davis)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a6a841b9970b2009-11-17T14:34:27-05:002009-11-17T20:44:43ZIt's pretty safe to say it's all over but the shouting, and believe me, there will be shouting. The first business day after Brian Davis pleaded guilty to pocketing campaign contributions and lying to about it to the state Board of Elections, his colleagues on the Common Council got busy making him a persona non-grata. They stripped him of all his committee assignments and pretty much said said he's finished. Or, in the words of Mickey Kearns of the Sounth District: "Based on his guilty plea, he has violated state public officers' law, and he's no longer a Council member."...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/day-2-ad-after-davis.htmlCriminal and Councilman -- Brian Davis wants it both waystag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20128759c114f970c2009-11-16T11:33:57-05:002009-11-16T16:33:15ZI'll admit to being just a wee-wee bit sorry -- maybe 2 percent -- for Brian Davis on Friday for about half an hour when he was in City Court to plead guilty to charges he pocketed campaign donations for personal purposes and lied about it. First there was the "perp walk" between the elevators and the courtroom with five or six TV cameras and bright lights in his face. Humiliating, I thought to myself. Then there was the courtroom scene. After conferring with attorneys, Chief City Court Judge Thomas Amodeo allowed cameras into the chamber, and they set up...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/criminal-and-councilman-brian-davis-wants-it-both-ways.htmlBrian Davis finally fesses uptag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e2012875941268970c2009-11-13T11:31:36-05:002009-11-14T00:15:11ZIneptitude in city government is a given. But corruption, in the form of an honest-to-goodness plea or conviction is rare, rare, rare in City Hall. That makes Common Council Member Brian Davis' plea today to criminal charges that he pocketed campaign contributions and used them for personal purposes and then lied to the state Board of Elections about it particularly scandalous. I picked the brains of some old-timers and while mayors Steven Pankow and Chester Kowal were indicted in the 1950s and 1960s respectively, they were never convicted. The no-show job scandal during the final term of Mayor Frank Sedita...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/brian-davis-finally-fesses-up.htmlIDA continues to obfuscate in wake of One Sunset fiascotag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a6877e97970b2009-11-12T12:30:35-05:002009-11-12T17:30:12ZThe folks who run the Erie County Industrial Development Agency must still be smarting over the grief they caught for lending Leonard Stokes $50,000 when his One Sunset was in the process of tanking. A few months ago they made the laughable claim that "due diligence is a way of life" at the IDA. This, from an outfit that didn't even do a basic public records check on Stokes and his restaurant, one that would have screamed "do not lend money to this business!" Now, earlier this week, the IDA staged a press event in which it trotted out some...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/ida-continues-to-obfuscate.htmlEnough to warm a cynic's hearttag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20128756df8b1970c2009-11-10T07:48:24-05:002009-11-10T12:48:24ZI was initially kind of put off by the prospect of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" coming to WNY. I have little use for the vast majority of what's on television, aside from "Hockey Night in Canada" and reruns of "That 70s Show," oh, and "Family Guy." But I've got to admit I think it's neat what they're doing on the West Side, not just rebuilding one house, but making repairs to others in the neighborhood. It builds off what the good people at PUSH Buffalo, the Massachusetts Avenue Project and Buffalo ReUse are doing. I'm off the next couple of...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/enough-to-warm-a-cynics-heart.htmlRedevelopment? Yes. Hotels? No. tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a6507dfd970b2009-11-09T04:43:00-05:002009-11-06T21:47:51ZRocco Termini wants to restore the luster to the tarnished gem known as the Lafayette Hotel. He wants to convert the abandoned AM&A's building into something other than the downtown's largest building code violation. Good for him. Maybe. Maybe? Yeah, maybe. Because, as they say, the devil is in the details. Termini is talking the possibility of hotel rooms being part of the mix.And being part of the developer crowd that can't possibly do a project without a government handout, his hand is no doubt poised to dip into our pocket. The trouble is that practically every hotel in and...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/redevelopment-yes-hotels-no-not-on-our-dime-anyway.htmlBrian Davis and Byron Brown play hard to gettag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b85a69e20120a6579c31970b2009-11-06T06:53:00-05:002009-11-05T22:28:35ZPolitical bedfellows Byron Brown and Brian Davis are tough guys to pin down these days -- as always. Investigators for the State Police and District Attorney showed up at City Hall on Wednesday intending to talk to Davis, presumably related to their investigation of the Ellicott District Common Council member's financial dealings. Depending on who you talk to, Davis either wasn't around or suddenly made himself scarce. No surprise. I had the same experience when I tried to question him about everything from his bad debts to phony claims of a college degree. Brown, meanwhile, waltzed into Thursday's meeting of...Blog Editorhttp://blogs.buffalonews.com/outrages_insights/2009/11/brian-davis-and-byron-brown-play-hard-to-get.html