9 September 2004
Bruce Jackson
New York's 144th Assembly District: Hoyt yes, Golombek, no
All politics is local. Buffalo Report is now an international journal, but we're based in the New York's 144th Assembly District. Next week is the New York primary. Incumbent Democrat State Assemblyman Sam Hoyt is being opposed by Joe Golombek, a member of the city's Common Council, who is being supported by Republican county executive Joel Giambra.
Hoyt was consistently in the opposition since Buffalo's mayor first tried to get the Seneca Nation to put a gambling casino in the heart of town, a project that would have made some of the mayor's developer pals rich but which would have destroyed downtown. Joe Golombek has refused to come out against a casino in the heart of town, or anywhere else; his only objection is to the money going to Indians. Golombek's ads are bragging about how central he was to the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership/Carl Paladino project last year to drive Jim Pitts and other influential blacks out of city government. The ads phrase it more prettily, but that what they did and that's what they accomplished. Hoyt has consistently tried to get a decent resolution to the recalcitrant Peace Bridge problem; Golombek seems hardly to know it's there.
Golombek's mailings (there have been several) have been well-designed and expensively-produced. They have also been vicious in their personal attacks on Sam Hoyt, vicious in much the same way as the mailing used to drive Common Council President Jim Pitts from office last year. They have also been full of distortions, half-truths and promises no one who knows anything about New York government could possibly take seriously. Either Golombek knows nothing about Albany, or he and his backers cynically assume voters know nothing about Albany.
On a personal disclosure note, I should mention that in Buffalo Common Council chambers Joe Golombek looked me in the eye and lied to my face. It took nerve and he did it well. The ability to lie well in Common Council chambers is not a skill that recommends him for higher office. I've had disagreements with Sam Hoyt, but so far as I know Sam has never lied to me. Things like that should matter in elections. If somebody can look you in the eye and lie to you, what will he do when he's 200 miles away in the state capitol, wheeling and dealing, or just taking orders from the people who sent him there?
Joe Golombek shouldn't be in the New York State Assembly. If you're in New York's 144th Assembly District, we hope you won't vote for him.
In the September 14 New York primary in New York's 144th Assembly District, Buffalo Report recommends voting for the incumbent, Sam Hoyt, who has represented our interests to the best of his ability and who will in all likelihood continue doing so, rather than the challenger, Joe Golombek, who represents well the interests of the Republican county executive and the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership.
Copyright 2004 by Buffalo Report, Inc.