The Buffalo News weighed in on the Audit of the New York State Power Authority.

Brian Higgins comes to the same conclusion I did:

“The audit confirms that Western New York and our natural resources are being used by the power authority to subsidize abuse and inefficiency statewide” he said.

Higgins is now calling for more cheap hydropower to spur business development in Western New York.  That is all well and good but does not go far enough.  He should be making a case for a significant reduction in rates charged to residential customers in WNY as well.  Lowering residential rates would also spur the economy by increasing the disposable income of area residents.

The settlement Higgins contributed to with the Power Authority last year to earmark money to waterfront development now looks like peanuts.  We get $5 million per year yet contributed $112 million to the bottom line of the Power Authority, despite gifts of $53 million to the State of New York. 

My original thoughts on the deal with the Power Authority, published December 17, 2005 on the Free New York Blog, have been confirmed by this audit.

Brain Higgins “victory” amounts to being bought off with a few crumbs by an agency that operates with impunity. . . . Was Pataki perhaps protecting a source of secret funding for items not in his budget? Where does all the money go? We are paying one of the highest rates for electricity in this country. . . . The Power Authority, with virtually no accountability, is a huge drain on the economic resources of our area. It is a factory for patronage and slush funds. Brian Higgins will receive my congratulations when he provides us with the answers to these questions.

The audit still does not answer the question, where is the money going?

Buffalo, Erie County, New York State, Rants, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The New York State Power Authority has been one of my pet projects.  I have always felt that the rates we, in WNY, pay for electricity is tantamount to larceny.  This is truly price gouging, not the allegations you read about tree trimming services and the cost of gasoline.  In those transactions, people have a choice.  We have no real choice when it comes to electricity, we are subject to the monopoly created by the State, known as the New York State Power Authority.

I have kept in contact with the State Comptroller’s Office since last winter, anxiously awaiting the results of this audit.  My last communication with them was last Wednesday, which I published here.  A full list of my articles on the Power Authority can be found here.

Upon my initial analysis of the audit, my suspicions, that WNYers are paying too much for electricity, have been confirmed.  We are already subject to the largess of Albany and neglected by downstaters.  Our economy is a mess compared to downstate.  Stealing our money to subsidize the rest of the State is adding insult to injury.

My recommendation is the immediate dismantling of the New York State Power Authority and the privatization of the Niagara Power Plant.  The plant should be run with the financial benefits staying in our neck of the woods.  Obviously, there are details that would need to be worked out in order for this to work, that is not the purpose of this article.  Now that I’ve given my general analysis and recommendation, you can follow the jump for actual numbers and excerpts from the audit.

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New York State, Rants | 3 Comments »

If anyone is looking for a pair of tickets to this Saturday’s Sabres game, I am selling a pair for a friend on eBay.

Buffalo Sabres vs. Toronto Maple Leafs

2 Tickets for a “Gold” Premier Game

100 Level Preferred - Section 118 - Row 13

13 Rows Up from the Ice - Great View!!!

Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

The total debt load for New York State will reach $49.7 billion this year.  That is $3515 for every adult in the State.  Here’s Eliot Spitzer’s thoughts on our state debt:

Democrat Eliot Spitzer reiterated on Tuesday that he wouldn’t sign a budget that puts pools of money at the disposal of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, without “a public vetting of where every dollar goes.”

Transparency is great.  It is needed, but that alone is not enough.  Along with transparency we need a large dose of fiscal responsibility.  New York State has added about $4 billion in new debt this past year.  The debt has doubled since 1993.

Fed-up in Buffalo has uncovered a 2675 page report detailing Albany’s pork spending.  2675 PAGES, that is unbelievable!!!  I took a brief look through the report and found $5000 allocated by the Department of State for Artistic Garbage Bins for the West Side.

WEST SIDE NEIGHBORHOOD COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVE
359 CONNECTICUT STREET
BUFFALO, NY 14213
716-839-8489
ROBERT FRANKE
FUNDS WILL BE USED TO PROVIDE SPIN BINS. SPIN BINS ARE ARTISTIC
GARBAGE BINS WITH FEATURES THAT ENABLE EASY EMPTYING.
$5,000
DEPARTMENT OF STATE
SFY 2006 - 2007 LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVE FORM

Even with transparency, the people of NYS must keep the pressure on all elected officials to end this blatant robbery of our hard earned money!

New York State, Rants | 2 Comments »

From the Messenger Post Newspapers:

The problem with the ever-dysfunctional New York State Legislature is that lifetime politicians like Sen. Dale Volker keep getting elected, again and again and again and again.

The Buffalo-area Republican, whose 59th District was only recently contorted to include Canandaigua and southern Ontario County towns, was first elected to the Senate in 1975. And before that, he spent three years in the Assembly.

That’s given him better than three decades to help clean up the mess in Albany. Instead, he’s helped create the mess — and he’s proud of it.

Volker considers himself one of the founders of our state’s infamous pork barrel system of distributing funds willy nilly to a vast array of unrelated groups and special interests. It’s a tremendous legislative slight-of-hand trick where a cash-poor state can suddenly come up with a couple thousand dollars here, a couple hundred thousand dollars there for incumbent lawmakers to hand out to a host of usually good community causes. Coincidentally, many of these gifts land in the laps of sometimes unsuspecting but grateful organizations just before an election.

And let’s give Volker his due — seniority has its privileges. Thompson Health and other local organizations have gotten a little pork from Volker since he’s brought his game to these parts.

But at some point, the madness has to stop.

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Buffalo, Events, New York State | 1 Comment »

The Buffalo News endorses Spitzer.

For that reason, and with considerable enthusiasm, The Buffalo News endorses Democratic candidate Eliot Spitzer.

They cite the “special interest” support he has received, yet ignore it.  Apparently momentum trumps integrity in their view.  They point to his record as the Sheriff of Wallstreet as further proof of his qualifications.  A record of dubious accomplishments and highly questionable intentions.

It doesn’t matter, the slick Madison Avenue propaganda campaign has stuck with the Buffalo News, as well as an apparent majority of voters!  4 more years, I’m getting tired of that refrain.

Buffalo, New York State, Rants | No Comments »

A day has past, life moves on and so do the Sabres. The streak was nice and as long as they continue to play the type of hockey we’ve seen, this will be a season to remember. Follow the jump to see the allindividual photos.
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Art & Photography, Buffalo, Events, Sports | 3 Comments »

The game was exciting, a nail biter for sure.  The Sabres had their chances and the Thrashers also played a tough game.  In the end it came down to the shootout and the Sabres lost this one.  Below are my shots of Kozlov (13) beating Ryan Miller for the win.  More photos might be online tomorrow, I have a Halloween Party to attend.  Check BfloBlog for a more detailed analysis, I’m sure they will have a good one, as always.

Uncategorized | No Comments »

The answer:  They shouldn’t!  The urban design experts on Buffalo Rising are currently arguing about how your money, and mine, should or should not be spent.  At issue is the proposed Burchfield Penney Art Center located on the Richardson Complex grounds.  The original post author experiences monumental shock and dismay because there are actually people opposing the project.  The bickering that ensues is comical.  The problem is the project is being opposed for the wrong reasons.

The highly charged, humorous discussion is a result of people not spending their own money.  They, and everyone else, have lost control over the spending of much of their hard earned money.  The press release put out by Kathleen Heyworth, Director of News Services for the BPAC, is deceptive at best.  It states that almost $28 million has been raised for the project.  It doesn’t state that $17.75 million of that total was taken from us by force in the form of federal and state taxes.  That number is identified in Governor Pataki’s press release.

The decision, on how to spend that money taken from us, is made by a bunch of bureaucrats sitting in an office, far removed from the results of their decisions.  They will probably never see the building up close, let alone the art inside.  Yet, they sit in judgment over spending your money, and mine, to determine which art or cultural projects are worthy of public funding.  The nexus of the matter is that public funds do not grow on trees and a country based on liberty should allow people the choice to spend their money as they see fit.

Ironically, a vast percentage of the population can not even afford the admission to many of these government supported cultural projects, yet their money is taken by force to support them.  Projects worthy of support would gladly be funded 100% by choice through private means if the money was not taxed out of the private economy first.  People willingly pay for the things they want . . .if they have the money to do so!

You can read a more detailed analysis of what is wrong with government funding of culturals here.

Art & Photography, Rants | 2 Comments »

A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.

- Barry Goldwater

Today I’m going to break tradition and include a second quote, also from Barry Goldwater.

Those who seek absolute power, even though they seek it to do what they regard as good, are simply demanding the right to enforce their own version of heaven on earth. And let me remind you, they are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyrannies. Absolute power does corrupt, and those who seek it must be suspect and must be opposed. Their mistaken course stems from false notions of equality, ladies and gentlemen. Equality, rightly understood, as our founding fathers understood it, leads to liberty and to the emancipation of creative differences. Wrongly understood, as it has been so tragically in our time, it leads first to conformity and then to despotism.

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Below is a shot of “The Church,” home of Righteous Babe Records. I took the shot just before attending The Cost at Hallwalls.

Art & Photography, Buffalo | No Comments »

Buffaloi.com brings to light a proposed salary increase for Dr. Anthony J. Billittier, the Erie County Commissioner of Health.  Proposed is a $29,400 raise that would bring his salary (excluding benefits) to $154,460.  That is a 23.51% salary increase.  That is obscene in light of the Counties financial condition and the exorbitant rate of taxation.  I already have a big problem paying his salary in light of the socialist, statist regulations he favors.  (it is enough to gall any freedom loving libertarian)

If that isn’t bad enough, non-profit salaries are also exposed in the same post.    Here are a few examples cited from Buffaloi.com:

Donald Boswell, who gets $196,742 for running the WNED public stations; Arlene Kaukus, who gets $144,046 as head of the local United Way; Eugene Meeks, who gets $161,926 for running Child and Family Services; James Boles, who gets $149,883 for running People Inc.; and Ronald Silverio who makes $104,955 running AIDS Community Services.

Why do the people who run the non-profits have such large salaries?  Because you, me and the rest of the taxpayers subsidize non-profits through government grants.  Before I go any further, I am not criticizing the work performed by these agencies, just the costs.

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Buffalo, Erie County, National, New York State, Rants | 1 Comment »

Many people will be out Saturday night attending Halloween parties being held in numerous clubs and bars in the area.  Mother Nature has her own tricks in store for us this weekend that could make travel a bit tricky.

• There is a high wind watch in effect for Saturday evening through Sunday afternoon.  This could cause more downed tree limbs from already damaged trees.  It also threatens to cause Lakeshore flooding.
• A lake effect snow watch is in effect from Saturday night into Sunday with a possibility of 3″-10″ of snow.  It is expected to remain south of Buffalo.

Buffalo, Erie County | No Comments »

Now that Alan Hevesi is embroiled in the middle of a huge scandal, the question is “who should voters pull the lever for in November?” Anyone who still votes for Hevesi is crazy, this is not the first time he has been in the eye of the storm for misappropriating funds.

J. Christopher Callaghan appears to be a very weak candidate at best.  Buffalo Geek has his analysis here on what is wrong with both of those candidates, noting that Eliot Spitzer has withdrawn his endorsement of Hevesi.

Clearly, the best, and only viable, candidate now in this race is John Cain.  He has the integrity necessary to perform financial oversight in the State with the most dysfunctional state government.

LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW YORK (516) 767-4688 website: http://www.ny.lp.org/ Contact: Richard Cooper nylibertarian@hotmail.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Corruption Fighter Seeks Comptroller Nomination

Albany, NY 4/23/06: John Cain served on the Clarkstown Planning Board in Rockland County. When offered a bribe, Cain wore a wire for Federal investigators in a case that sent former Rockland Democratic Chair Paul Adler to jail. Now the 54-year old insurance broker and instructor from Congers is seeking the Libertarian Party of New York’s nomination for State Comptroller at the party’s convention to be held April 29th in Albany. John Cain was awarded the John W. Perry Heroism Award at the 2002 Rochester convention by ex-State Chair Richard Cooper. Cain’s candidacy was suggested by Cooper.

What would Cain do if elected? “I would question not just the numbers but the ideas behind the state and local government taxes, spending and borrowing. In particular, I would question the slippery numbers and assumptions put forth for eminent domain abuse schemes. If elected, my primary goal would be to work with an elected Libertarian governor to prevent the state from expending any funds to use the power of eminent domain to take the property of its citizens and turn it over to private enterprise groups. Never underestimate the web of intrigue that a bloated government has created.”

Cain has been on a political odyssey since his days as high school science teacher. He was a longtime Democratic committeeman and was a Democratic candidate for Rockland County Legislature in 1985. Now he is enrolled in the Independence Party until the Libertarian Party obtains permanent party status by winning 50,000 votes for Governor this year. Cain serves as the Chairman of the Rockland County Worker’s Compensation Self-insurance Committee, which manages the self-insurance program covering the county employees. –30-

The time is ripe for electing a Corruption Fighter to State Office.

New York State | 1 Comment »

This bird was big enough to swallow a dog whole!

Musings | No Comments »