19 March 2003
A lot of sound and fury signifying nothing: The Common Council's peace resolution turns out to be a piece re$olution
The Buffalo Common Council Tuesday voted to approve David Franczyk's "peace" resolution, the full text of which is appended below, saying the city of Buffalo would like a piece of the money now being used for the war effort. This replaced the peace resolution submitted by Council President James Pitts and Council member Antoine Thompson two weeks ago, which was tabled on Rosemario LoTempio's motion. That motion led to a heated discussion and a vote that once again split almost perfectly on racial lines. The one exception was outgoing Councilmember-at-large Charley Fisher III, who joined the Gang of 7 because, in one version, he has a daughter in the reserves and didn't want to be unpatriotic.
Ordinarily, resolutions on position—when a political body votes an opinion on a policy issue—include clauses for transmittal and publicity: "Resolved that this resolution shall be transmitted to our senators and the president," for example. But Franczyk's resolution has no action component, so it will be filed in the minutes and no one (save people reading this note, perhaps) will ever see it. It's a bunch of "sound and fury signifying nothing," as the Bard had it.
Franczyk & Co. originally agreed to meld their fundraising resolution with the comprehensive peace resolution submitted by Pitts and Thompson, but the Council never took that resolution off the table so it was again not discussed and now it never will be. I'm told that in the discussion of Franczyk's resolution outgoing Councilmember Charley Fisher carried on about bin Laden being supported by Buffalo grocery stores. He is a very strange person.
Several of the Council members say privately that the real reason they won't let Buffalo join every other rustbelt city and nearly 200 other American communities in opposing preemptive war when peaceful options have not been exhausted and most of the world opposes such a war, is they are afraid that being labeled peaceniks will harm them in the next election. They point to 1991 when Republican opponents referred to five Council members who had opposed the first Bush Gulf War as "the Baghdad Five." None of those five lost an election because of the namecalling, but ten years later the folks currently occupying their seats quiver in terror at the possibility. Do gutless political hacks like that belong in government?
The Franczyk resolution passed by the Council March 18:
BY: MR. FRANCZYK
RE: NATIONAL AGENDA ECLIPSED BY WAR
WHEREAS: The Bush Administration is solely focused on fighting a foreign war, and for the last two years has had no urban agenda, or is supporting policies detrimental to American cities; and,
WHEREAS: The Bush Administration scrapped President’s 100,000 man federal police program for cities like Buffalo, is attempting to scrap tax benefits for the purchase of municipal bonds, and had adopted a tax program largely beneficial to America’s most wealthy citizens, thus hurting the poor, working and middle classes; and,
WHEREAS: President Bush invoked Buffalo in his State of the Union Speech as an area where an alleged terrorist cell was uncovered, yet he has committed no federal Homeland Security funding to Buffalo. In the meantime, hundreds of millions of dollars has been pumped into downtown Detroit and the Detroit train terminal for the Northern Headquarters of Homeland Security; and,
WHEREAS: The nation’s economy continues to falter, while any positive domestic policy is eclipsed by Bush’s obsession with war in Iraq; and,
WHEREAS: There is no doubt that Sadam Hussein is an oppressive right-wing military dictator, who has cruelly persecuted his people but in the past the U.S. has provided him with arms and foreign aid; and,
WHEREAS: War should be a last resort to settle international problems, and the Common Council is deeply concerned by the likely loss of American life in addition to innocent Iraqi civilians;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That the Common Council supports and urges the federal government to exhaust all possibilities to avoid war in Iraq by attempting to bring a close to the crisis though diplomatic means; and,
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
That the Bush Administration offer at least some of the billions of dollars in proposed aid to foreign countries to induce them to supporting an Iraqi war , into an urban aid package for American cities, and that the Bush Administration develop a national policy that prioritizes an urban agenda.
_________________________________________
David A. Franczyk
The Pitts/Thompson resolution tabled March 4 and buried more deeply March 18:
By Mr. Pitts and Mr. Thompson
RESOLUTION OPPOSING THE WAR IN IRAQ
WHEREAS, the residents of the City of Buffalo, New York and their elected officials have the Constitutional Right and duty to petition the national government on matters of grave concern to our city, the nation, and the world community;
WHEREAS, we stand on the threshold of a war in the country of Iraq and the surrounding region where the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans and millions of Iraqi civilians, including women and children, will be endangered by a devastating modern war; and
WHEREAS, it has not been proven that the issues with Iraq cannot be resolved by traditional diplomatic efforts; and
WHEREAS, more time may be necessary to resolve issues in a diplomatic manner; and
WHEREAS, military action against Iraq will cost billions of dollars at a time when the American economy is struggling and at a time when the federal government is operating with a deficit; and
WHEREAS, the State of New York is facing deficit situations and serious budgetary constraints; and
WHEREAS, the City of Buffalo is also facing serious financial problems; and
WHEREAS, while making preparations for a costly war against Iraq, the Bush Administration is proposing a tax cut for the very wealthy and this tax cut will result in less money being provided for education, health care, employment, aid to American cities, desperately needed social services, and the environment; and
WHEREAS, military action in Iraq will divert attention from economic issues and challenges confronting the American people and American cities; and
WHEREAS, resolutions opposing military action against Iraq have been adopted by numerous City Councils including Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Philadelphia, Baltimore, San Francisco, Albuquerque, New Haven, Seattle, and Los Angeles; and
WHEREAS, the people of Buffalo believe that we must exhaust every possible diplomatic and political alternative in order to prevent a war with Iraq which is more likely to result in the use of weapons of mass destruction than will a policy of diplomacy; and
WHEREAS, many religious, community, and union leaders throughout the United States have spoken out against this war and the impact it will have on our people; and
WHEREAS, according to the United Nations International Children’s Education Fund (UNICEF), 500,000 children have died in Iraq during the past 12 years as a result of the 1991 war in Iraq and the subsequent sanctions imposed on that country and a new war may cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians as well as military casualties on all sides; and
WHEREAS, committing American troops to Iraq will put in harm’s way working class residents of Buffalo, a disproportionate number of them racial and ethnic minorities from our city’s most economically deprived neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, The climate of fear and war hysteria has removed from public scrutiny numerous issues of public concern; and
WHEREAS, fears of domestic terrorism in the United states following 9-11 have resulted in the passage of laws, including the USA Patriot Act, and the enactment of directives that have reduced civil liberties and the right to democratic self-expression of Buffalonians and all U. S. citizens, and further restrictions will no doubt be imposed if the U. S. invades Iraq; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Buffalo Common Council opposes any military action against Iraq undertaken without full endorsement by the United Nations and urges President Bush to continue seeking a peaceful resolution of issues with Iraq in a diplomatic manner.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Clerk send a certified copy of this resolution to President Bush, United States Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles E. Schumer, Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter, Congressman Jack Quinn, and Congressman Thomas M. Reynolds.
_____________________________ ____________________________
James W. Pitts
Antoine M. Thompson
"Buffalo Goons," which describes what happened at the March 4 Common Council meeting
The text of the resolution proposed by Council President Pitts and Councilman Thompson.
The text of the David Franczyk amendment, which David Franczyk never tried to submit but which James Pitts, Betty Jean Grant and Antoine Thompson did try to submit.
"Scoundrels and liars at the Buffalo Common Council," which describes the way several members of the council subsequently tried to scapegoat Pitts for what they did.
"What I would have said to the Buffalo Common Council about the peace resolution before them on March 4 if I'd been allowed to speak which I wasn't because nobody at all got to speak about the resolution because eight members on the Council wouldn't let anybody talk about it."
Copyright 2003 by Buffalo Report, Inc.