January 2018 – The Buffalo Chronicle

Rene Jones ridiculed by local activists for skipping NAFTA negotiations in Montreal

January 28, 2018

M&T Bank’s new CEO Rene Jones has just recently taken the helm — a top 20 American bank by market capitalization and Western New York’s largest employer — but local activists are already ridiculing the CEO for a perceived leadership

Social justice activist fundraises for Delaware North’s congressional candidate

January 28, 2018

Jane Cameron, purportedly a social justice activist, is actively fundraising money for the Congressional candidacy of Nate McMurray, a Vice President at the global hospitality giant based in Buffalo and owned by billionaire Jacobs family, Delaware North. Cameron is now

All eyes are on M&T Bank’s new CEO Rene Jones

January 26, 2018

The late M&T Bank CEO Robert Wilmers was as close as one could come to reigning over Western New York as its titular monarch. The installation of Rene Jones as Wilmers’ successor at the Bank is of no small consequence

Buffalo News lambasted for all-White prospectus gala

January 26, 2018

Yesterday, The Buffalo News hosted its annual prospectus gala at Salvatore’s Italian Gardens on Transit Road in Williamsville. Sources liken the event to Cape Town in the 1980s, under apartheid. Attendees report that there may have been one or two minorities in

NBC wants Megyn Kelly to host a second hour on Today

January 25, 2018

Programing executives at NBC want Megyn Kelly to manage and produce a second hour of its flagship morning program, Today — and they want her to get political. The network’s executives think that they are underutilizing Kelly, who is one of the nation’s preeminent

Cuomo is worried about Tim Wu

January 24, 2018

Political operatives close to Governor Andrew Cuomo say that he is worried this election year, and particularly worried about a lesser known challenger whose background, credentials, and reputation could soundly defeat him on the left. The potential gubernatorial challenger is

WNY defense attorneys, ranked

January 23, 2018

This year’s Top 5 Criminal Defense Attorneys have been released, ranked annually by The Chronicle. If you need them, these are the top guys in town to turn to — if you can afford them. This year, Vacco is ranked number one (despite

Schumer shuts down government for immigrants, but not for Rust Belt’s working class

January 21, 2018

If political chatter is any indication, support for Senator Chuck Schumer is falling precipitously following a federal government shutdown that stems from Schumer’s ‘procedural objection,’ effectively filibustering a vote on the budget. Schumer is demanding that immigration laws are liberalized

Golisano is ‘open’ to M&T Bank merger with Paychex

January 20, 2018

Billionaire B. Thomas Golisano, the founder and chairman of Paychex, the Rochester area firm valued at more than $25 billion, is open to merger talks with Buffalo based M&T Bank, whose market capitalization stands around $28 billion, a source familiar

Cuomo is willing to give Hochul the governorship in 2020

January 20, 2018

Governor Andrew Cuomo is making a strong play for Western New York in his third reelection effort, even as former County Executive Joel Giambra and other Western New Yorkers consider gubernatorial bids. That he recently decided to retain Lt. Governor

Mascia may run for 60th district seat to thwart Jacobs

January 20, 2018

Observers predict that the high profile anti-corruption activist, Joe Mascia, will run for State Senate on the Conservative or Tea Party line, in an effort to thwart the reelection of freshman Republican Senator Chris Jacobs. When Jacobs was County Clerk,

Giambra, a proud moderate, seeks the GOP nomination with a bold plan

January 16, 2018

Former two-term Erie County Executive Joel Giambra is running for Governor of New York with a plan to consolidate county and municipal governments. Giambra has long evangelized regionalism — an issue that has defined his political career. It’s a vision

Cuomo’s favorability trails Bharara; will former US Attorney run?

January 16, 2018

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has finally made it clear that he intends to run for reelection. Last year there had been talk among the Governor’s operatives that a safer play for Cuomo’s ultimate goal — the White House in

Democrats tire of Kennedy, after refusal to return opioid money

January 15, 2018

A source close to Democratic Party Headquarters says that Chairman Jeremy Zellner and the Executive Committee are increasingly losing confidence in Senator Tim Kennedy following revelations that Western New York’s only Democrat in the State Senate has taken $5,400 from

Calls on Schimminger to resign, following revelations of $27k from opioid dealers

January 14, 2018

Residents of the Town of Tonawanda are calling on Assemblyman Robin Schimminger to resign his office, following revelations that he has taken more than $27,000 from the nation’s largest opioid dealers — more than nearly every other member of the

Local film industry is angry with Rob Ortt

January 10, 2018

When freshman Senator Rob Ortt, a Republican of North Tonawanda, sent out a mailer to supporters last week lambasting the the Cuomo administration’s film industry tax credit, he probably thought that he was speaking to a receptive audience. But the

The Koch Brothers would be wise to back Chris Jacobs against Kirstin Gillibrand

January 10, 2018

Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch, the owners of Koch Industries, are the founders and funders of a number of conservative and libertarian political organizations, and credited with swinging control of the House of Representatives in 2010. This year, when it

Operatives begin contemplating challengers to Feroleto following Scajaquada vote

January 6, 2018

When the City Council voted last month to ask the state to improve its designs for a proposed reconstruction of the Scajaquada Expressway through Delaware Park, Joel Feroleto — who represents the Delaware District — was the only person to

Kennedy asked to return $5,400 from opioid pushers

January 5, 2018

Senator Tim Kennedy (D-South Buffalo) is being asked by constituent groups to return $5,400 in campaign contributions that he has accepted from firms that have contributed to the Nation’s opioid epidemic. Kennedy has accepted money from Allergan and Pfizer. Allergan

M&T Bank should appoint Betty Jean Grant to its Board of Directors

January 3, 2018

Betty Jean Grant may be retiring from the County Legislature (a body that she once chaired), but her supporters know she isn’t going anywhere. With the sheer force of her honest, humble, unwavering style, she has earned greater esteem in