On the eve of Tuesday’s election, and despite 98-out-of-100 years of continuous Republican rule in Amherst albeit with ever-growing budgets and bloated patronage, the Amherst Republican Party is running scared – very scared. As I reported earlier, they have targeted Jerry Schad who is endorsed by the Democratic, Independence and Working Families Parties as well as the Sierra Club.

Ironically, the eve-of-the election negative campaign piece may actually persuade Republican voters NOT to vote for Republicans rather than scare them in to not voting for Council Candidate Jerry Schad.

I spoke to Candidate Schad about this literature and inquired whether he was worried about its effect. He said “no.” He reminds us that it is what people do that reveals their character and integrity or lack thereof. In this case, he says the piece actually reveals the lack of integrity of its proponents. Further, he pointed out that the negative message actually raises a basic question about one of his opponents.

The piece poses the basic question: “Does Amherst Need a Career ‘Downtown” Politician?” The answer to that question is clearly not candidate Schad since he is neither a career politician, never having held public office, nor a downtown politician. But, there is one, and only one, “Career ‘Downtown’ politician” in the Amherst Town Council race — Erie County Legislator-Developer, Barry Weinstein. While there are two “Career” politicians in the Amherst Council race – Legislator-Developer Weinstein and Conservative Candidate William Kindel — only Weinstein is the both a “Downtown” and “Career Politician.” When I asked Candidate Schad about the fact that the unidentified sponsor of the negative piece put his, Schad’s picture, on the piece, he emphasized that the Amherst voters are intelligent and will recognize the sham inherent in the piece and intent to be destructive on the eve of the election. He thinks that the literature’s message that we DON’T need a “Career ‘Downtown’ Politician” will be identified by voters as applying to Legislator-Developer Barry Weinstein and that it will resonate with voters to look to other candidates for their votes.

So, who sent the negative piece? In spite of protestations to the contrary, signs point to the Republican Party and/or one or all of the Republican council candidates. The address printed on the piece against candidate Schad is “21 San Fernando, Williamsville, NY 14221.” That is a non-existent address on San Fernando and the street is in East Amherst, not Williamsville.

The non-existent “21 San Fernando” street location, however, is just down the street from 209 San Fernando, East Amherst, which is the address, listed on the negative piece aimed at all three Democratic Candidates and home of the Amherst Republican Party Treasurer Ray Walter. Mr. Walter has the task of mailing negative information concerning candidates so it can’t be traced back to the Amherst Republican leadership. The latter piece apparently used the same bulk mail permit that the Republicans used for two other pieces, one to ask voters to vote for all of the Republican candidates in Amherst and one asking Republicans to vote only for candidates Weinstein and Marlette. The first piece, to vote for all Republicans, had a return address of “227 Crestwood Lane, Williamsville, NY 14221” which happens to be the home of Republican political boss E. Marshall Wood. A second political piece, to vote for Weinstein and Marlette, had a return address of “3 Culpepper, Williamsville, NY 14221” which happens to be the home and office of legislator-developer Weinstein All of this suggests that one should ask the question again, but more pointedly: “Does Amherst Need Career Downtown Politician Barry Weinstein” or any other Republican who will conduct “Politics as Usual”?

It isn’t a secret that the Amherst Republican Party has several factions each doing their own thing.

Guy Marlette, one of the Republican candidates for the Amherst Town Board, called me to make it clear he had no knowledge of, nor took part in creating, the vicious attack piece concerning the three Democratic candidates, Jerry Schad, Mark Manna and Bob Foladare.

Either today or Monday thousands of Amherst voters will receive a mailing from the Republicans. It is the infamous Republican attack piece against the three Democratic candidates Jerry Schad, Mark Manna and Bob Foladare who are running for the Amherst Town Board.

This attack piece states lies and gives a very unsavory view of what will happen if these undesirables win the election on Tuesday, Nov. 6th. The piece paints the candidates as people who were drudged up from the pits of depravity to run for office.

As always such a piece is mailed out late so the candidates who are attacked have no chance to respond to these inane lies and mud slinging. The more outages the lies are confirms the fear the Republicans hold for the 3 Democratic hopefuls.

If you look at the literature sent to you by the Democratic candidates you’ll see there wasn’t an attack piece against the Republican Town Board candidates. Nice to see there is a group who know how to run a class act campaign.

Congressman Brian Higgins (NY-27) participated in a House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing on proposed rules on Medicaid; many of which would have a drastic impact on children and hospitals in WNY.

“We should be making access to health care easier for Americans not more difficult,” said Congressman Higgins, a member of the Oversight & Government Reform Committee. “These proposed rules would allow our most vulnerable populations, including children, seniors and those with disabilities, to fall through the cracks.”

Congressman Higgins and other participants in the hearing examined a range of regulatory changes regarding the Medicaid program that have recently been made by the Department of Health and Human Services. If all of these regulations were implemented, federal Medicaid funds to states would be cut by over $11 billion over five years.

What some of the Administration’s proposed rules would do.

· Make it difficult for at-risk kids to get back on the right track: this rule would eliminate Medicaid coverage of foster care for at-risk children and young adults with a history of emotional instability. This type of foster care keeps these kids from being incarcerated or hospitalized by placing them in a positive and encouraging living environment.

· Eliminate federal assistance to school districts that transport severely mentally and physically disabled children: this rule would eliminate Medicaid coverage of transportation for children who, through consultation with parents and school officials, has been deemed to require special transportation needs for their safety and for the safety of others.

· End coverage of some hospital services for the needy: this rule would eliminate Medicaid coverage for routine physician services, vision exams, annual checkups, vaccinations, school-based health center services, and rehabilitation services that benefit thousands of children, disabled, and elderly in Western New York alone. These vulnerable populations often do not have ready access to medical services, and rely on hospitals for basic care. This rule would make it extremely difficult for hospitals to pay for their necessary task of being the ultimate health safety net for the needy and vulnerable.

· Drastically limit training opportunities for budding physicians: this rule would eliminate the federal government role in giving on-the-job training to budding physicians through Medicaid. This rule would cause considerable financial strain on teaching hospitals like Buffalo General and ECMC who together receive close to $100 million in graduate medical education funding annually.

“Pulling the plug on funding that supports training for the next generation of health care professionals would be devastating for local hospitals, aspiring doctors and the future of health care in America,” added Higgins.

Congressman Higgins has long understood the positive impact hospitals have in providing a health care safety net to the needy. He is a proud cosponsor of H.R. 3533, the Public and Teaching Hospital Preservation Act, which would extend the moratorium of the implementation of several of these rules.

“The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services should focus its energies on finding creative ways to improve the quality of care for beneficiaries, reduce the cost of prescription drugs, solve the oncoming healthcare professional crisis, and ensure reimbursement systems are functional and fair. It is disappointing that instead of creating real solutions to for our healthcare crisis, CMS continues to find ways to hurt our neediest populations and those who support them.” said Rep. Higgins.

Buffalo has been declining for years. When I was little going downtown was a normal, exciting any-day occurrence. Our parents went shopping downtown every week of the year. Sadly, little by little as malls began opening around the city people turned outward and seldom if ever came in to the city. That has to change if Buffalo hopes to survive.

“The 100 or so mayors who attended a two-day Climate Protection Summit, convened by the United States Conference of Mayors, heard a clear message: Cities that are “walkable,” workable and livable add up to the “s” word: sustainable. Cities that are centered on people and public transit, not cars, and built to higher standards of energy efficiency will save money, hum with new development and create jobs to suit a greener way of life.”

“Al Gore said as much in a speech he gave to the mayors via satellite. So did former President Bill Clinton, in an address here on Thursday, and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York, who spoke Friday.”
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