7 September 2009
EditorialThe 2009 Buffalo primary: Vote for Michael Kearns
The 2009 Buffalo primary, which will take place Tuesday, September 15, will decide who will be mayor of the city for the next four years. There are no candidates in the mayoral race in the general election who will challenge the winner of that primary. The two candidates are incumbent Mayor Byron Brown and South District councilmember Michael P. Kearns.Buffalo report endorses Michael P. Kearns in that election.
When he was in the State Senate, Byron Brown was notorious for never taking a stand on anything. Since he's been mayor, Brown has been notorious for never dealing with anyone who didn't pay-to-play.
The Brown administration is mired in cronyism and pay-to-play politics. Whenever they're caught misallocating public funds, Mayor Brown or his mouthpiece Peter Cutler screams "Politics!" and avoids direct answers. For more than a year they stonewalled the Buffalo News on FOIA requests for public documents. Most recently, they've used the power of the Mayor's office to shut down a potential felony arrest of one of the Mayor's friends. Brown takes credit for public works projects and construction projects that were put in place by others, and consistently avoids taking responsibility for his own improprieties (see, for example, the following two postings on Buffalo Report).
Mickey Kearns, on the other hand, brings to the election an unblemished record of directness, honesty, and fairness. He stands up on issues, and takes responsibility for his decisions and actions. He doesn't hide behind flacks or stonewall or hide when the going gets difficult. There is every reason to expect that as mayor he would continue behaving in exactly the same way.
Byron Brown has far more money to spend on this election than Kearns. Some of the big spenders who aren't writing checks to Brown (like developer Carl Paladino) aren't writing checks to Kearns either, presumably because they fear angering the pay-to-play Brown officials who control all public contracts in the city. Ordinary citizens don't have the kind of money that buys public officials, but we have something that can be, if used properly, more effective: our votes.
For all those reasons, and more, Buffalo Report endorses Mickey Kearns in the 2009 Buffalo Democratic Primary.
Copyright by Buffalo Report, 2009