Good night, Miss B, see ya in the morning!
Posted on 01/17/2005 10:00:30 PM PST by Billie
Taking a step to put politics in new hands
The President is getting sworn in and we are swearing in to a new government in Erie County NY!
I'll post pics tomorrow afternoon.
1/19/2005 
By DONN ESMONDE
They will meet Thursday in a hotel to begin a revolution. They want to give government back to the people. They aim to end the sham of rigged elections. They hope to terminate tenure for career politicians. They want to open the political door to new people.
The revolutionaries are meeting not in Havana or Haiti, but in Cheektowaga. The banana republics they're targeting are based in Albany and Buffalo. About 120 of the frustrated and fed-up have signed up, most of them business owners, to be nourished by a free lunch and the nectar of change.
It has come to this. The system is so rigged, the roadblocks to political outsiders so high, that civic guerrilla warfare has begun. Leonard Roberto is no Che Guevara or Viktor Yushchenko. He's a small-business owner whose frustration with broken, closed-door government led him to lead.
He started Primary Challenge. The group will find and back candidates to run against politicians in primary elections (in which only party members vote), where incumbents are often most vulnerable. Case in point: Joe Golombek last September nearly took out 12-year Assemblyman Sam Hoyt in a Democratic primary.
Battling the petrified political status quo is like taking an ice pick to a glacier. But Roberto has pick and hammer in hand.
It's not a hopeless assault. Public disgust is snowballing. It is fed by everything from an extra penny sales tax, to a comatose local economy, to runaway Medicaid costs, to Albany's three-man rule. Anti-incumbent fever is high. Familiarity breeds contempt.
Roberto hopes to raise $40,000 from Thursday's gathering. He's meeting with other business types in the coming weeks. With money and a core of volunteers, he can make a dent in a few races - starting with this year's county legislator battles.
"The system is rigged to make sure incumbents stay in power," said Roberto, dark-haired and intense. "They need to be challenged, or they will never respond to the people."
We've got the most dysfunctional state government in the land. People say they're mad and not going to take it anymore. Yet 98 percent of state lawmakers get re-elected.
There's a reason for it, and it's not public stupidity. Politicians rig the system so well that unless a lawmaker sticks up a 7-Eleven or gets caught playing footsie with a floozie, he's in office for life.
Legislators draw themselves districts stuffed with friendly voters, use handouts from personal stashes of tax dollars to buy support and discourage challengers with a maze of rules and regulations. A newcomer without big-party backing has as much chance of prying voter lists from the patronage hires at the Board of Elections as Osama bin Laden does getting through airport security.
Roberto, 49, is no political Bambi. He was an Independence Party official back in the Perot-Golisano era. He ran headlong into the system in races for county executive and assembly. He knows where the black ice and potholes are.
He wants to make elections work the way they're supposed to. He wants to open the political door to talented outsiders of all stripes. It doesn't matter where challengers stand on casinos and guns or abortion. Roberto's agenda is populist, not philosophical.
"I'm just trying," he said, "to reassert the right to run."
He has the know-how to help challengers navigate and volunteers knock on doors and the start of a pot of money to feed campaigns. If it works here, he will take it statewide.
One way or another, Roberto wants to give us back our government. It's good news for people, bad news for career politicians.
e-mail: desmonde@buffnews.com
I am the Master of Ceremonies..
congrats, good luck and have a grand ole time, Mayor!!!
I am very excited about this
soon to be coming to your neighborhood Nic!
Keep and eye on Erie County.... : )
I'll be watching and I'm sure you'll be keeping us informed. This state truly is a POLITICAL JOKE.
Give 'em h***, Mayor!!! I know you are passionate in getting LESS government in Erie County--hope it is a success!
Hi Billie! Sending a quick sistah hug while we get ready for our big adventure today. Dinner last night was fun. I took lots of pics and am trying to commit as much to memory as I can, so I can share it with everyone when I get back.
Gotta run and answer a couple more posts and mail. TTYL
Yes, we are having a great time! Wish all of my finest friends were here.
I am doing my best to be aware of everything and am photographing all of the freepers I meet up with and will attempt to put it all together in a post next Wednesday. I am hoping that when I get home it won't be too difficult to match up freepers names with their photos.
Gotta run and get ready to get back on the metro. HUGS!
I am running late and need to get out of this hotel and get back on the metro. Exciting day!
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