2 June 2005
Leona Czolgosz
His Mackerelcy
County Executive Joel Giambra beat voracious throat cancer. He is alive. Word has it he plays golf with the best of the green-pants-with-the-little-blue-buffaloes-wearing Western New York hale-fellows-well-met. We are thankful.
Politically, the County Executive and his aides—at least those who didn’t jump ship—are disgraced, dead, buried and—worst of all—a source of embarrassment. Next time he’s on television, turn off the sound and watch his face. It’s the face of a desperate, devilish, overmatched, none-too-bright adolescent. A rank amateur politician. A Rebel Without a Clue.
Giambra politically is the post-Watergate Nixon. The post-Fanne-Foxe Wilbur Mills. The post-“wide-right” Scott Norwood.
Deader than a mackerel.
The Buffalo News’ Robert J. McCarthy posits a comeback for the County Executive. Not in this decade, probably not in the next. (At least McCarthy is speculative. His colleague, Donn Esmonde, and ArtVoice’s Jamie Moses are disingenuous, skewering Giambra today after showering him in rose petals for years. Note to Esmonde and Moses: After his conversion, the Apostle Paul never denied that he once had been sinning Saul. It made him credible.)
We people in Erie County remember; we don’t forget. County Executive Ed Rutkowski, a thoroughly decent man, misled us about taxes. Four years went by. We didn’t forget. We swept him out of office.
Giambra is not so decent.
Giambra was running a County Government where no one was watching numbers—or, worse yet, where he was watching the numbers, but didn’t care what the number said or meant. While it’s true that no one in the County Comptroller’s Office nor the County Legislature was watching the numbers either (nor at the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership nor at The Buffalo News), Giambra, as he is wont to remind us, has been the man in charge and, as a result, he is politically dead.
People who are politically dead tend not to get much done. County Comptroller Nancy Naples and a number of county legislators understand this and are leaving public servanthood to “spend more time with family”—a bloodless but honorable form of suppuku.
Giambra, weaned on the mean political streets of Buffalo’s West Side, is not going so gently. He is buying political advertisements, framing new (sometimes contradictory) policy initiatives and chewing out political opponents (and there are many) left and right.
Don’t confuse the noises with political life. They are—well—noises and don’t made him any less politically dead.
Nothing substantive that Giambra proposes will see the light of political day.
Unlike the Comptroller and the Legislature, whose terms expire at the end of this year, the County Executive’s term expires January 1, 2008. By then, Bills Quarterback J.P. Losman either will be a “tested starter” or a “disappointing washout.” By then, a handful of new brew pubs will have opened and closed. Who knows? By then, maybe the new Peace Bridge will have broken ground.
Two-and-a-half years is a long time to have a politically dead County Executive. A mighty long time. Most would say that Erie County cannot survive that long with an inert County Executive. (Others would consider it preferable to the past five-and-a-half years.)
Of course, Erie County can—and will—survive. In the political turmoil of the Giambra mess, there are a few things that could happen to make life easier for the county and its residents:
Giambra Resigns, New County Executive Takes His Place. Giambra does the right thing, given the total loss of confidence in him.
Odds: 50-1. To do what? Has he done the right thing to date?
Pataki (or Bush) Find Giambra New Position. The Governor (or the President) do the right thing for Western New York.
Odds: 50-1. What’s in it for Pataki or Bush? Will they favor Giambra—even for a spot on something like the State Liquor Authority Board—over the relative of a big campaign contributor?
Resurgent New Legislature Takes Over County Executive’s Role. Buoyed by a wave of new faces, a new County Legislature, meeting in January 2006, could convince itself that, working together, it could make forward-thinking decisions, making the County Executive’s role almost irrelevant.
Odds: 20-1. New legislators are not sophisticated enough to know the ins and outs of County Government and those remaining are not liable to lead. Many of the newcomers—e.g., Donald Allen and Robert Quintana—are not new but recycled political wheel-greasers.
County Democratic and Republican Chairmen Get Together; Solicit Federal and State Aid, Organize Legislature, Along Bipartisan Grounds
Odds: 10-1. Parties aren’t as strong as they used to be.
New York State Takes Over County Government. The Control Board option.
Odds: 25-1. Erie County Government’s problems don’t fit the model.
Business, Philanthropic Community Organize to Find Solutions, Keep County Afloat
Odds: 50-1. The philanthropic community has been trying, but isn’t as big as it is in many other cities. The business community, under the guise of the Buffalo-Niagara Partnership, is good at pointing fingers, but not at helping out.
Nothing Happens; County Staggers Through Two-and-a-half More Years of Giambra
Odds: 3-4. Fish smell and all.
Copyright 2005 by Buffalo Report, Inc.