Walmart a Go!

Sources are saying that the lawsuit filed against the Town of Hamburg and Walmart to stop the construction of the Walmart Supercenter was dismissed today in NYS Supreme Court. This is actually no surprise because I’m convinced that the courts are corrupt and people like you and I can no longer get a fair shake when fighting the government.

I am actually a proponent of the building of the supercenter but I also believe strongly that everyone deserves their day in court provided they actually have a case to present. The group Hamburg First (not related to this website at all), organised residents who live in the neighborhood to fight the Walmart construction project.

A Major Victory for Supervisor Walters and Hamburg!

The Town of Hamburg Supervisor, Steven Walters, was notified this week that the NYS Assembly and NYS Senate have approved the merger of the Building Inspection Departments of Blasdell and the Village of Hamburg into the Towns Building Department. This consolidation of services is essential to the end goal of a fiscal conservative town government and will result in the savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars in the coming year.

Steven Walters has set his mind to the task of insuring a 0% tax increase for next year and the year after that. He is working diligently and hopes to actually lower taxes before his current term ends. This is a major step towards that end.

This is the message contributed by Supervisor Walters on the Town/Village Merger. Great job Steve!

Hamburg politics heating up!

This week has been a barn burner in Hamburg politics. To start off the excitement the NYS retirement system notified the Town Supervisor of Joe Coggins intentions to retire June 30th. This was surprising to everyone because Joe didn’t consider letting anyone know of his intentions. Not even his closest colleagues in the Police Department had a clue. That’s how little this guy thinks of the people he has worked with for years. Not to mention that one of his very officers has filed a NYS Supreme Court case against him for issues pertaining to his job. I’m told by sources the allegations to be reviewed in court include harassment and unjust punishment for fictitious offenses made up for political retaliation.

Rus Thompson Endorsed for Erie County Legislature

Rus Thompson accepts Republican endorsement for Erie County Legislature in 10th district. Co-Founder of the political reform groups Primary Challenge and Free Buffalo.org, Rus Thompson has gratefully accepted the endorsement of the Erie County Republican Committee to run for Legislature in the 10th district.

Rus has been a leader in the reform movement and as co-founder of Primary Challenge helped candidates run against incumbents in the county legislature and Amherst town board races two years ago. With the successful elections of Supervisor Satish Mohan and Legislator Cynthia Locklear, his desire to continue with the reform movement across Erie County drove him to run for legislature again this year.

Rus has been leading the petition drive to eliminate the Grand Island Tolls (NoGItolls.com) and has recently received the help of Carl Paladino who was instrumental in the successful removal of the Buffalo tolls. Rus says we are moving forward with a positive attitude that we can and will succeed in not just the removal of the tolls but we will be successful in our drive to reform County Government.

Illuzzer reporting Orsini threatening lawsuits!

I had the best laugh in  a long time. Joe Illuzzi (AKA-Illuzzer) is reporting that Anthony Orsini is trying to oust Democratic Supporters on his Executive Committee. This is hilarious because Orsini was the one who appointed these people to the board to begin with.

I was there and no-one had a gun to Orsini’s head. He was happy to appoint these people and now he is pissed because they will not support him and his decision to endorse Paul Clark. Orsini is also scared of the fact that there is now a huge rift that once again has removed Orsini from control of the party Secretary position. Orsini knows he needs this position to be re-elected chairman or be able to dictate the next chairman of the party.

As long as the Lenihan people have control of the Secretary position it is a forgone conclusion that the reign of Anthony Orsini and company will be over next September.

It’s good news for all and I for one would like to see Orsini gone a lot sooner.

The NYS Independence Party Executive Committee’s attorneys have been attempting with no success to speak to BOE Commissioner & election law attorney Dennis Ward. The reason to give the local board the opportunity to expel Dem Chair Len Lenihan & Brian Higgins, via his Chief of Staff Chuck Eaton, reps in the Erie County IP. State IP attorneys will file a lawsuit in NYS Supreme Court July 1, 2007 if no agreement has been reached. The era of outsiders influencing our endorsements & party affairs  is over, says IP Chairman Tony Orsini. ###    (written by JosephIlluzzi704@aol.com)

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to all you dads out there. Today is a day of rest for you and you earned it. Grab a golf club, fishing pole, skeet gun or what ever you do to relax. It’s your day!

I’m looking forward to the annual BBQ at my parents home. Yes we are over there but the Ol’ Man gets to sit and relax while the kids do all the work. We’ll fire up the gas grill, boil pots full of corn and get the burgers and dogs cooking.

This is a special Fathers Day for our family after a brief scare from my fathers health. We thought we could lose him after an incident over his health a couple weeks ago. So today is a day we can all spend with him and show how much we love him.

My father is my hero and he deserves the respect of one. He was a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War serving 3 tours. He received lots of medals including the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He worked at the Wonder Bread Bakery briefly after the war until he got a job with Harrison Radiator in Lockport. That factory eventually became a part of General Motors and was bought out by Delphi. My father retired from Delphi about 8 years ago and has been enjoying his retirement fully. He raised 6 kids and always made sure they had food in their mouth and a roof over their head. Now it’s our turn to show you how much we care about you.

Dad, today is your day and I just want to make sure you know that we all love you very much!

Hamburg Police Chief Coggins submits retirement paperwork under cloud of IA Investigation!

Hamburg First learned last night that Hamburg Chief of Police Joe Coggins has submitted his resignation/retirement effective June 30th. There are uncomfirmed reports that Joe Coggins is currently under an Internal Affairs investigation and the Town of Hamburg has retained an outside agency to assist in the investigation.

There is no word yet on what infraction has taken place within the department. Sources are saying that the infraction was very significant and could end up with the town involved in major law suits.

Hamburg First reported several months ago that Chief Coggins had been involved in cashing all his sick time, vacation time, and using up every other union benefit that is in his Command Officers contract. Assistant Chief of Police Carmen Kesner has also been cashing out his benefits. No word yet on who will replace Chief Coggins but is generally assumed that Assistant Chief Kesner will move up to that position on an interim basis.

Hamburg Conservative Committee overturned on Town Board Endorsement.

Hamburg First has learned today that the Endorsement of Kevin Smardz was overturned by the Erie County Conservative Executive Committee. The executive committee endorsed Dick Smith in place of Kevin. This is no surprise because Dick Smith’s sister is a member of the County Executive Committee and Billy Delmont is a long time friend of Smith and Hamburg Democratic Chairman Jim Sorrentino.

Their is also a rumor going around that the Executive Committee is in the process of replacing Ray Pawlowski as Hamburg Conservative Chairman for his political opposition against Smith.  This has yet to be verified.

Just the fact that the County Conservatives have overturned the town committee is an indication that democracy is at an end in Erie County. The committee position is set up to specifically enable democracy and when a few people overturn a majority then a dictatorship is in place.

There is no longer any doubt that the County Conservative Party has become as corrupt as the County Independence Party.

Frontier School District takes a nose dive in Math Scores!

The buffalo news reported yesterday that the Fontier School District has a large decline in math scores over the last 3 years. It is being reported that the average student math score between the 4th graders and 8th graders is at the 82 percentile. It has gone down from 88 percentile over the last 3 years.

This is directly in line with what I have been saying about Frontier School System. We are at a 10 year low in student enrollment and our school taxes are up 60 % in the same time span. We are paying $4,000 more per student then the tuition for the #1 private school in WNY ( Nardin Academy) and our over all school ranking isn’t in the top ten any longer.

Our school district is ranked #14 out of public schools in WNY and our high school isn’t even close to the top 25.

So what are we going to do about it? Think long and hard people, the only way out of this mess is to elect new board members each year. I hate to say it but “I TOLD YOU SO!”

Original Oct 06 Court order from Judge Marshall for the IP reorg meeting

This is the original court order from Judge Marshall that Orsini violated. I hope this comes up. I’m new at posting these kinds of documents.

9-27-06-court-order1.pdf