The House of Representatives is established in the United States Constitution as part of the governing apparatus of this country.  It is expected to pass laws and approve budgets.  The structure of government created by the Constitution was produced by compromise among the founding fathers.  It has more or less functioned with compromise for most of the country’s 235 years.

You may have noticed the antics of such politicians as Margorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz and others.  They have starred in the Republican chaos that has engulfed the House for the past 16 months.

Such chaos is pretty much not seen on the local level.  As an old saying goes, “there is no Democratic or Republican way of cleaning the streets.”  Most governments on the local and county level follow that dictum and just get the job done, often working some good bi-partisan compromises into the mix.

There are, however, a couple of local exceptions to that way of operating in the towns of Cheektowaga and Hamburg.

Cheektowaga last November elected Councilmember Brian Nowak as Supervisor.  He defeated his fellow Councilmember Michael Jasinski by 53 votes.  Nowak’s move to the Supervisor’s office left a vacancy on the Council and left the body divided with three Democrats and three Republicans.

Jasinski did not take his defeat well. He complained, in a Facebook quote included in a Buffalo News story that “Brian Nowak has cheated.”  He furnished no evidence but nonetheless accused Nowak of breaking “several election laws.”  He has carried his disagreements into 2024, where together with his two fellow Republican Councilmembers he has worked to gum up the operations of town government.

While Jasinski has tied up a variety of town issues the one that is most significant for town residents at the moment is the issuance of $11 million in bonds for work including:

• $5.5 million for replacement of a deteriorated corrugated metal storm system installed in 1957
• A full-depth reconstruction of two town-owned streets
• $3.95 million for sanitary sewer repairs and rehabilitation at the Genesee Street pump station
• $2.25 million for road repairs

Jasinski recently told the Buffalo News “[t]he issue I have with bonding is that it basically equates into raising taxes.”  He would support just the sewer work because the roads “really aren’t that bad.”

Jasinski and the other Town Board Republicans have repeatedly voted against the $11 million bond plan and say they will come up with their own plans for infrastructure improvements.  They claim that the town should decide on a smaller project list which they would pay for with town reserves.  But then, as Geoff Kelly for Investigative Post reports, Jasinski actually voted against his own resolution “which would have directed the town’s highway department to use $500,000 in reserve funds to pay for road repairs.”

Supervisor Nowak informs me that “the highway fund has unrestricted fund balance of approximately $6 million as of the beginning of March 2024. The Sanitary Drainage fund has roughly $4.2 million in sanitary sewer reserves as of the beginning of March 2024…  Towns and municipalities have used ARP [federal] funds to cover recurring budget expenses. Expenses grew as tax levies did not. Now we see villages, towns, and cities having to address the end of ARP funds as their expenses grew and tax levies did not. Because of this, the Town of Cheektowaga has to be very careful in regard to its cash flow and cash reserves. Our expenses grew faster than our tax levies, especially in the 2023 and 2024 budgets prepared by the previous Cheektowaga Supervisor. I have an obligation to maintain a reasonable amount of savings as part of multi-year budget planning. We need to be prepared for emergencies and unexpected cost increases.”

Meanwhile in Hamburg the recent flip of Town Board control to Republican/Conservative members has the new majority challenging the infrastructure plans of Democratic Supervisor Randall Hoak which were supported by the previously Democratic-controlled Council.  Newly elected Councilmember Frank Bogulski has been opposing a $9 million bond issue that would fund renovations of the town’s ice rink and community center.  Instead Bogulski proposes a brand-new combined ice rink and community center financed not by town bonds but by some sort of unidentified public-private arrangement.

Justin Sondel in recent Hamburg Sun editions reported on the issue.  He notes that the type of plan that Bogulski is suggesting has been reviewed previously on more than one occasion.  Sondel points out that similar developments in other towns and on Seneca Nation property have cost more than double what the proposed renovations and updates to existing facilities in Hamburg would cost.  Bogulski has not identified potential private partners who could help fund his suggestion.  He is looking for a plan that basically will cost the taxpayers nothing.  Sondel quotes Bogulski’s comments at a town Board meeting:  “We don’t have to raise taxes.  We can generate other sources of revenue.”

In the meantime, while the Hamburg Board await the alternative, the opportunity to proceed in an expeditious manner is slipping away.  Without needed renovations the ice rink could become non-functional if mechanical breakdowns occur.  Pre-scheduled events at the facility could be left holding the bag.

Perhaps when all is said and done the two sides in the two towns will come together with compromises that will move things along.  Or not.

The fiction about some magical funding arrangements that do not raise taxes but instead drain reserves and look for elusive “other sources of funds” may leave the roads and sewers in Cheektowaga and the ice rink and community center in Hamburg undone for 2024 with larger costs for the work hanging out into the future.

Playing to the crowd may seem like the way to go for some politicians.  It does not, however, serve local residents when critical public works are on the table.  Playing games with needed projects reminds me of an old car repair commercial: “the choice is yours; you can pay me now or you can pay me later.”

Political performance art on the local level does not get the extensive media coverage that the national characters get for such antics.  The end results, however, are the same: the public interest is not served.

In memoriam

Tom Gleed, who worked in Democratic politics for many years as a member of Mayor Tony Masiello’s staff and then at the Board of Elections, passed away last week.  Tom worked with many public organizations in Western New York and was an LGBTQ+ activist.  He was a well-liked and respected member of the community.  Rest in peace, Tom.

X/Twitter @kenkruly

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Voters yesterday chose a new representative for the 26th Congressional District, State Senator Tim Kennedy.  With nearly all votes counted Kennedy’s margin of victory was 68 percent to 32 percent for his Republican opponent, West Seneca Supervisor Gary Dickson.  Kennedy’s victory in Erie County with 71 percent of the vote was larger than in Niagara County (55 percent).  More than 68,200 votes were cast.  The registered voter turnout was 14.1 percent; 14.6 percent in Erie County and 12.1 percent in Niagara County.

The turnout in the special election was significantly lower than the numbers in the two most recent elections for that seat which were held on the regular November election date.  In 2020 the district turnout (in a somewhat different district) was 319,703.  In a re-drawn district in 2022 245,212 votes were cast.  In November of this year the district will have been redesigned once again with lines that will continue through the 2030 election.

Kennedy dominated the race from the start.  He has had a significant public identity in elective office, first as a county legislator and then since 2011 as a state senator.  Dickson is only in his fifth year in an elected town office.  The district is more than two-to-one Democratic by party affiliation.

But there was the other key factor, money.  In just five months Kennedy raised more than $1.7 million for his congressional campaign.  That money funded the continuous TV ads and frequent mailers that were sent to voters.  Dickson raised a little more than $35,000 from mid-February through April 10.  He ran some radio ads but mailings were limited.

Kennedy also took advantage of the millions of dollars he had raised as a state senator.  While he could not directly use that money in a congressional campaign he distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars far and wide beyond his senate district to make friends and influence people.  WKBW-TV also reported that Kennedy’s Senate office sent out 12 state-financed mailers through the first three months of 2024, which was six times more than all of the other Western New York senators combined.

It is worth noting that Republican Dickson ran an unconventional race, speaking in moderate tones.  He endorsed Donald Trump but otherwise spoke rationally about the January 6 insurrection and the work of the FBI.  To the extent that his messaging got through, he discussed issues in a reasonable manner.  It is good to see that a rational discussion of issues is possible.

There is a primary election scheduled for June 25 and Democrat Nate McMurray has filed petitions to challenge Kennedy in that race which will lead to the November election for a full two-year term.  It is likely that McMurray’s petitions will be disqualified and there will be no primary.

As of May 1 Dickson is no longer the Republican candidate for Congress.  Going forward to November the party nominee is Anthony Marecki, a Buffalo attorney.  Marecki has not yet created a Federal Election Commission recognized campaign committee.  Whether he plans to run an active campaign or simply let his name be used to fill a line on the ballot remains to be seen.

Expect Tim Kennedy to hit the ground running when he is sworn into office in the next week or two.  He has already set his sights on appointment to a key House committee spot or two where he can actively play a part in the development of legislation.

Given his reputation as a fundraising powerhouse, it seems likely that after the 2024 election cycle he will look to play a role in assisting the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives to raise money for future campaigns.

Over the past six decades the men and woman (Louise Slaughter) who have represented Western New York in Congress have served for multiple terms.  There has been Thaddeus Dulski (16 years); Henry Nowak (18 years); Jack Kemp (18 years); John LaFalce (28 years); Stan Lundine (10 years); Jack Quinn (12 years); Bill Paxon (10 years); Tom Reynolds (10 years); Louise Slaughter (17 years); and Brian Higgins (19 years). 

The exception to this pattern was the interlude between when Reynolds left office in 2009 and 2023.  Four different people held a WNY seat – Chris Lee; Kathy Hochul; Chris Collins; and Chris Jacobs.  Nick Langworthy was elected to the southern Erie County/Southern Tier district in 2022 and is up for re-election this year.  He might hold that seat for some time.

As Brian Higgins noted in his resignation from Congress earlier this year, the House of Representatives has strayed far from its constitutional role in governing the United States.  Republicans have made the House into a set for their performance art, showing no serious interest in governing.  While Speaker Mike Johnson recently rose to the occasion to get House approval for critical foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel, it only happened because of the leadership of Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries.

There are still six months to go in the 2024 election and they will not be the smoothest six months in American political history.  The election of Kennedy will not affect the current makeup of the House,  There are, however, multiple paths in New York, California, and some other states including states in the south where Democrats can pick up the small number of seats that they need to regain control of the House.  Stay tuned.

X/Twitter @kenkruly

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