In a speech at Cooper Union in Manhattan Barack Obama called for tighter regulation of lenders as he spoke of pumping $30 billion into the economy to shield homeowners.  While he did not mention former President Bill Clinton by name, the target of his criticism seemed clear.

““Under Republican and Democratic administrations, we failed to guard against practices that all too often rewarded financial manipulation instead of productivity and sound business practices,” Mr. Obama said. “The result has been a distorted market that creates bubbles instead of steady sustainable growth, a market that favors Wall Street over Main Street but ends up hurting both.””
[read whole story]

The Republican Party is having the hardest time trying to find a candidate to fill Tom Reynolds’ soon to be vacated Congressional seat.  Any candidate without a ton of dirt in their background could get the endorsement.  The Republicans don’t need a saint, but at least someone who, on the surface, looks credible.

The last I heard they were flipping quarters as to which candidate they would choose.  So far they are 0 for 5.  They’re pretty sure the Democrats will sweep Congress, including this seat, but they still need to save face. 

My suggestion for the strapped Republican Party is to cross endorse the Democratic candidate.  This way they could honestly say they supported a winner!

M. Ike                                                       

In Fortune Magazine’s annual ranking of the “100 Best Companies To Work For” list, local grocery chain Wegmans again finished near the top of the list. The 2008 list places Wegmans as the third best company to work for in America. This follows their #1 ranking in 2005 and their second place ranking in 2006. Wegmans has appeared on the list every year since its initial publication in 1998 and has ranked among the top 10 for six consecutive years.

“Every one of our employees and our customers should stand up and take a bow, because together they make Wegmans a special place,” says CEO Danny Wegman. Whenever I’m in one of our stores, customers stop to tell me how much they appreciate our employees. You can imagine how great that makes our people feel and why they enjoy coming to work everyday.”

The company, headquartered in Rochester with stores throughout the Northeast, employs 37,602 workers which was a near 6% increase over last year.

Founded in 1916, Wegmans has prioritized quality employee relationships as a driver for growth and customer loyalty. Company founder Robert Wegman once said that “Great customer service begins with treating our own employees right. If our people feel valued and supported, they will give their best to our customers.” This mantra is repeated by many of their employees as demonstrated in this video from CNNMoney.

According to the survey, the most common job for salaried employees was Store Department Manager with an average salary of $49,411 and the most common job for hourly employees was customer service with an average salary of $27,414.

From Buffalo Geek

The Republican leadership is having serious doubts about whether Assemblyman Jim Hayes will be able to hold on to his seat this year.  There are too many new, fresh, tough Democratic candidates who are promoting innovative ideas and talking tough words he isn’t used to hearing.

Hayes is a man whose record of accomplishments is a really short list.  In reality, he has done little or nothing for the people of his district.  In the upcoming election Reynolds will not have the strong support of the party that he hoped to have.  If he did, he would have enjoyed their support his run for either the State Senate seat or the open Congressional seat.  That did not happen.

What the people of his district are wondering is, what does he mean when he says he still has work to do in his district   What?  Hayes hasn’t ever done much for his district other than become involved in some suspicious endeavors.  For example, he owned a marketing company while being an assemblyman yet reported nothing about it to the Board of Elections.  When I questioned him about that issue, looking for information concerning his company, no answers were offered.

Assemblyman Hayes made the front page of the New York papers, including the Buffalo News, when he was caught during an unethical act.  While the race to re-elect his close friend Dennis Vacco to the Attorney General position, Hayes was making phones calls to the lawyers on Vacco’s staff telling them they must donate to Vacco’s campaign or their jobs would be in jeopardy.  Vacco lost the race and Hayes added to his own reputation as an unethical, dishonest person.

Hayes’ career of doing favors for friends and family, which cost the taxpayers money, goes way back to when he was a Councilman on the Amherst Town Board.  Hayes was newly married and his wife’s uncle complained to the Town that his sidewalk was cracked.  The town inspected it and repaired the problem at no charge.  A year later the town was told to take another look at this same man’s driveway.  Again the Town repaired the problem.  This took over $3000 of taxpayer’s money to do.

I took this case to the town’s Ethics Board and the Chairman informed me it was all right to fix this property because ‘the owner was not a blood relative of Councilman Hayes.’  What about the rest of the residents of Amherst?  Most of us are not blood relatives of Hayes.  Can’t we get sidewalks and driveways fixed by the town, gratis? 

Still wondering why the Republicans are worried about Hayes losing his seat?  There are other questionable issues Hayes has been involved in that will resurface to haunt him.

Presidentail candidate Obama recently called slavery America’s “original sin.”  Now Florida has formally offered a public appology for the state’s “shameful” history of slavery.  They join five other states in doing so.  The other states include North Carolina, Alabama, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey.

“The two-page resolution passed overwhelmingly in the Senate and then the House, bringing at least one lawmaker to tears. Gov. Charlie Crist, a Republican, called it a “significant step” toward reconciliation.”

“”All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing,” Mr. Crist said in an interview, quoting the philosopher Edmund Burke. “I think we are reminded of that today because it takes courage to do the right thing, and it’s not always easy.””
[read whole story]