For elected officials and candidates who will be on the primary ballot this year, August 11^th was the filing deadline for the 32-Day Pre-Primary financial reports. Here is a brief rundown of the disclosures.

Mayor of Buffalo

The September 12^th Democratic primary, which will effectively determine who will be the next mayor, is a contest among incumbent Byron Brown, City Comptroller Mark Schroeder, and County Legislator Betty Jean Grant. While all three are actively campaigning, the financial reports indicate a rather lopsided race. A recent Spectrum News/Siena College poll also shows Brown with a two-to-one lead over Schroeder.

Mayor Brown has a balance of $582,168, having raised $112,964 since the previous July 15^th report. His committee spent $49,623.

Comptroller Schroeder reports $130,526 in his campaign account. He has collected $50,265 since July, with $37,854 in spending.

Legislator Grant does not have a campaign account for mayor. Her county legislative account shows $11,986 cash on hand as of the August 7^th cut-off date of the report. She took in $6,200 and spent $1,441.

With a month to go before Primary Day none of the mayoral committees shows any spending on TV and radio ads. That’s somewhat unprecedented for a major primary.

Erie County Clerk

While there is not a primary for this office, the Republican candidate, Mickey Kearns, did file a report. He has a balance of $45,604, having raised $21,974 since mid-July.

Erie County Sheriff

Neither Republican incumbent Sheriff Tim Howard nor his Democratic opponent Bernie Tolbert have primaries. Howard did file a report showing that he has $110,211 available for his campaign. His committee purchased $10,000 in radio ads.

Erie County Comptroller

There are no primaries for Comptroller and neither candidate filed a new report.

Judicial campaigns

Democrat Susan Eagan is unopposed for the office of County Judge. She raised an additional $550 since July. Democrat Surrogate Court Judge candidate Acea Mosey, who is also unopposed, collected an additional $350.

Incumbent Republican State Supreme Court Justice Erin Peradotto did not file an update on her July report. Democratic candidate for Supreme Court, Lynn Keane, has created a campaign committee. The Supreme Court candidates, expected to be cross endorsed by Democrats and Republicans at the September Judicial Nominating Conventions, are not required to file financial reports at this time.

That’s four major judicial offices without competitive races. While the nomination process for Supreme Court limits competition to whatever the Nominating Conventions produce, having no competition for the Erie County judgeships is a hard-to-understand development. This all seems to give new meaning to the term “nolo contendere.”

Amherst Town Board

The Republicans have a three-way primary for the Amherst Town Board. Candidate Erin Baker’s reported expenses include a “transfer out” of $5,500 to the Erie County Republican Committee, which is chaired by Baker’s husband, Nick Langworthy – an interesting transaction. That is about half of the total amount raised by her endorsed Republican running mate, Joe Spino. Baker’s committee has a balance of $43,897. The third candidate in the primary, Christopher Drongosky, hasn’t even created a campaign committee, which it would appear violates the Election Law.

The Republican candidate for Amherst Town Supervisor, Marjory Jaeger, has a balance of $32,923 in her account compared with the $10,677 in the treasury of Democratic candidate Brian Kulpa.

Continuing education training for DC attorneys

Attorneys, like other licensed professionals, are required to keep current with their line of work by attending courses and programs that provide information on the latest developments in their respective fields.

One of the major impacts of all the mess that the Trump administration has created in the Russian fiasco and other matters is the sudden increased demand for personal legal services that has resulted. It almost seems like people from the White House housekeeping staff up to the president of the United States are lawyering-up.

What better example of the consequences of this than the District of Columbia Bar Association’s recent continuing education announcement:

Witness to History
As turmoil roils the current White House administration, the D.C. Bar begins a series of interviews with members who played a role in investigations of former presidents.
Representing the President   Robert S. Bennett, the personal attorney for President Clinton in the Paula Jones case, offers his personal view on the challenges of representing a sitting U.S. president facing investigation.	Getting to the Truth   W. Neil Eggleston reflects on his experience as deputy chief counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives’ committee that investigated the Iran-Contra scandal.