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Thread: 1st Ward Race

  1. #1
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    1st Ward Race

    William J. Minniefield, Candidate Lackawanna First Ward Councilman

    Dear Neighbor,

    William J. Minniefield will be running for Lackawanna First Ward Councilman in the general election on November 3, 2009. His name will be on the ballot along with the other candidates.

    Mr. Minniefield would like to take this opportunity to thank those who supported him in the primary and asks for your vote in the general election so we can move the first ward forward.

    ************************************************** *******

    • William J. Minniefield has been a resident of Lackawanna’s first ward for over fifty years where he and his wife raised their four children.

    • William J. Minniefield’s educational background includes the following: BS, Health Sciences, BS, Special Health Studies, BS, Psychology, MS, Multidisciplinary Studies and Research, Dr. Health Education & Health Policy, (anticipated, 2010). He is a Nationally Certified Health Education Specialist and holds several certificates in special health topics.

    • William J. Minniefield has been featured in Business First, The Buffalo News, UB Today, UB Reporter and other publications for his hard work.

    • As a member of the Lackawanna 1st Ward Housing Steering Committee, Mr. Minniefield has acquired the services of Dominic Palmisano, Principal Architect, of Palmisano Architecture to evaluate the vacant Lincoln School site on Dona Street as a possible site for a community center.

    • William J. Minniefield has been working with Nicholas Monafo, director, Lackawanna Community Development Corporation (LCDC), who in May 2009 contacted Price Rite Supermarket to consider building one of their stores in our community. They are waiting for a response. Price Rite has already opened two stores in the Buffalo area.

    William J. Minniefield would be honored to represent our community by serving as your councilman.

    ********************************************

  2. #2
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    Quote Originally Posted by mixed feelings View Post
    William J. Minniefield, Candidate Lackawanna First Ward Councilman

    Dear Neighbor,

    William J. Minniefield will be running for Lackawanna First Ward Councilman in the general election on November 3, 2009. His name will be on the ballot along with the other candidates.

    Mr. Minniefield would like to take this opportunity to thank those who supported him in the primary and asks for your vote in the general election so we can move the first ward forward.

    ************************************************** *******

    • William J. Minniefield has been a resident of Lackawanna’s first ward for over fifty years where he and his wife raised their four children.

    • William J. Minniefield’s educational background includes the following: BS, Health Sciences, BS, Special Health Studies, BS, Psychology, MS, Multidisciplinary Studies and Research, Dr. Health Education & Health Policy, (anticipated, 2010). He is a Nationally Certified Health Education Specialist and holds several certificates in special health topics.

    • William J. Minniefield has been featured in Business First, The Buffalo News, UB Today, UB Reporter and other publications for his hard work.

    • As a member of the Lackawanna 1st Ward Housing Steering Committee, Mr. Minniefield has acquired the services of Dominic Palmisano, Principal Architect, of Palmisano Architecture to evaluate the vacant Lincoln School site on Dona Street as a possible site for a community center.

    • William J. Minniefield has been working with Nicholas Monafo, director, Lackawanna Community Development Corporation (LCDC), who in May 2009 contacted Price Rite Supermarket to consider building one of their stores in our community. They are waiting for a response. Price Rite has already opened two stores in the Buffalo area.

    William J. Minniefield would be honored to represent our community by serving as your councilman.

    ********************************************
    The previous post is a copy of a flyer being passed out to ist ward residents. I have not recieved any other person's flyer. If I do, I will post it here as well.

    From what I read in the flyer, I am impressed. I wish I had more to compare it to. If any one else has something, please post it.........

  3. #3
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    Thx for that info Jacob

  4. #4
    Member andreahaxton's Avatar
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    Post Facts!

    Home > City & Region > Local Columns > Donn Esmonde


    COMMENTARY
    Donn Esmonde: Pork dollars are in essence buying votes
    By Donn Esmonde
    News Columnist
    Updated: October 04, 2009, 3:59 PM / 11 comments
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    Buzz up!
    Santa Claus keeps coming to town. And coming. And coming. If you are a soccer league, fire department, AMVETS Post, Boys&Girls Club or similar group, there is a good chance that you are on his list.

    The problem is that you and I are buying the gifts.

    Taxes have risen into the ozone layer and a multibillion-dollar state deficit looms. Yet state legislators, in what amounts to vote-buying, get $170 million tax dollars to hand out as they please. By filling the wish lists of various groups, they buy the good will that helps them to repel campaign challengers and preserve a broken government.

    It is enough to make me mutilate my I Love NY lapel pin.

    The handouts are called “member items”—taxpayer dollars given to each state senator and assemblyman, with ruling-party Democrats serving the largest portions.

    Leading the local pack of not-so-secret Santas is Democrat Bill Stachowski of Lake View. The state senator has this year spread $4 million (!) worth of taxpayer-bought “gifts” to 62 groups, ranging from the Empire American Legion ($5,000) to the Character Council of Hamburg ($10,000); from the Lackawanna Yemen Soccer Club ($25,000) to AMVETS Post 72 ($35,000).

    All of which leaves those people— and their friends and family—more likely to vote for the Santa-impersonating politician.

    Stachowski got a whopping share of “member item” dollars because he faces a tough race next year. But he and Democratic State Sen. Antoine Thompson ($1.2 million) are merely the leaders of the porky pack. Each of our 17 other state legislators gets a slice of a $170 million pie that is divided among all 212 state legislators (check the list at www.seethroughny.net ). This is the system, and it stinks.

    It stinks because our tax dollars are used for what amounts to a campaign slush fund.

    It stinks because some districts get more money than others. It stinks because groups that deserve tax dollars should get it directly from the budget. It stinks because candidates use our money to inoculate themselves against voter frustration. It stinks because it makes for unfair elections.

    Republican State Sen. Dale Volker is the 18-term poster model for Albany petrification. He seemed ripe for defeat during last year’s wave of voter disgust. But the $2.5 million of “member items” that Volker-Claus sprinkled across the district, mostly in gift packages of $10,000 and $20,000, helped him to beat back a challenge from reformer Kathy Konst.

    Konst said she would, on the campaign trail, walk into fire halls and community centers and “I was not welcome. People would say, ‘Well, Mr. Volker gave us all this money.’ . . . He would show up with these outsized, six-foot-wide checks. How do I compete with that?”

    You don’t compete with that. That is partly why state legislators keep getting re-elected. These people are nearly impossible to unseat, despite voter disgust and a Legislature that long ago exiled ordinary taxpayers to the end of the line— behind municipal unions and other heavy political contributors.

    If “reform” were not a four-letter word to legislators, they would put their $170 million “slush fund” back into the budget. But I do not want to sound delusional. This is Albany. Even lukewarm change—say, halving the dollars and giving each lawmaker an equal amount —seems beyond imagination.

    “People should be outraged,” said Blair Horner of NYPIRG, the good-government group. “It is a political spoils system, and there is no defense for it.”

    Even worse, there is no defense against it. Remember that the next time you see Stachowski,





    This is a question that came up last week at the public debate that many of us need an explanation to, we did not know about this "pork money". I thought the state reps cut the budget to the bone awhile ago.
    I am not trying to start something with this article----I am trying to end it.
    Last week after I was told about the above article I asked a 16 year old from the First Ward if he goes to the Yemen Soccer Club Building on Ingham at Eaton to play pool and use the computers?. His answer was a flat no. I then asked, "why not?" Answer, "Because it is only for Arabic's". I had no answer. Ali, I am still waiting for an answer to give this child.

  5. #5
    Member Linda_D's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by andreahaxton View Post
    Home > City & Region > Local Columns > Donn Esmonde


    COMMENTARY
    Donn Esmonde: Pork dollars are in essence buying votes
    By Donn Esmonde
    News Columnist
    Updated: October 04, 2009, 3:59 PM / 11 comments
    Story tools:
    LargerSmallerSave
    Print
    Email
    Get Alerts NEW
    Share this story:
    Buzz up!
    Santa Claus keeps coming to town. And coming. And coming. If you are a soccer league, fire department, AMVETS Post, Boys&Girls Club or similar group, there is a good chance that you are on his list.

    The problem is that you and I are buying the gifts.

    Taxes have risen into the ozone layer and a multibillion-dollar state deficit looms. Yet state legislators, in what amounts to vote-buying, get $170 million tax dollars to hand out as they please. By filling the wish lists of various groups, they buy the good will that helps them to repel campaign challengers and preserve a broken government.

    It is enough to make me mutilate my I Love NY lapel pin.

    The handouts are called “member items”—taxpayer dollars given to each state senator and assemblyman, with ruling-party Democrats serving the largest portions.

    Leading the local pack of not-so-secret Santas is Democrat Bill Stachowski of Lake View. The state senator has this year spread $4 million (!) worth of taxpayer-bought “gifts” to 62 groups, ranging from the Empire American Legion ($5,000) to the Character Council of Hamburg ($10,000); from the Lackawanna Yemen Soccer Club ($25,000) to AMVETS Post 72 ($35,000).

    All of which leaves those people— and their friends and family—more likely to vote for the Santa-impersonating politician.

    Stachowski got a whopping share of “member item” dollars because he faces a tough race next year. But he and Democratic State Sen. Antoine Thompson ($1.2 million) are merely the leaders of the porky pack. Each of our 17 other state legislators gets a slice of a $170 million pie that is divided among all 212 state legislators (check the list at www.seethroughny.net ). This is the system, and it stinks.

    It stinks because our tax dollars are used for what amounts to a campaign slush fund.

    It stinks because some districts get more money than others. It stinks because groups that deserve tax dollars should get it directly from the budget. It stinks because candidates use our money to inoculate themselves against voter frustration. It stinks because it makes for unfair elections.

    Republican State Sen. Dale Volker is the 18-term poster model for Albany petrification. He seemed ripe for defeat during last year’s wave of voter disgust. But the $2.5 million of “member items” that Volker-Claus sprinkled across the district, mostly in gift packages of $10,000 and $20,000, helped him to beat back a challenge from reformer Kathy Konst.

    Konst said she would, on the campaign trail, walk into fire halls and community centers and “I was not welcome. People would say, ‘Well, Mr. Volker gave us all this money.’ . . . He would show up with these outsized, six-foot-wide checks. How do I compete with that?”

    You don’t compete with that. That is partly why state legislators keep getting re-elected. These people are nearly impossible to unseat, despite voter disgust and a Legislature that long ago exiled ordinary taxpayers to the end of the line— behind municipal unions and other heavy political contributors.

    If “reform” were not a four-letter word to legislators, they would put their $170 million “slush fund” back into the budget. But I do not want to sound delusional. This is Albany. Even lukewarm change—say, halving the dollars and giving each lawmaker an equal amount —seems beyond imagination.

    “People should be outraged,” said Blair Horner of NYPIRG, the good-government group. “It is a political spoils system, and there is no defense for it.”

    Even worse, there is no defense against it. Remember that the next time you see Stachowski,





    This is a question that came up last week at the public debate that many of us need an explanation to, we did not know about this "pork money". I thought the state reps cut the budget to the bone awhile ago.
    I am not trying to start something with this article----I am trying to end it.
    Last week after I was told about the above article I asked a 16 year old from the First Ward if he goes to the Yemen Soccer Club Building on Ingham at Eaton to play pool and use the computers?. His answer was a flat no. I then asked, "why not?" Answer, "Because it is only for Arabic's". I had no answer. Ali, I am still waiting for an answer to give this child.
    What, exactly, does the Esmonde column or the rest of your post have to do with the topic of this thread, which is about the 1st Ward race? In fact, what exactly, does the Esmonde article and your comments following it really have to do with each other? Why don't you just state your qualifications and your positions as Mr Minniefield did?

  6. #6
    Member literal's Avatar
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    It seems to me that each of the candidates running in the first ward has much to offer.

    I think it is commendable that Mr. Minnifield is proving to be a "lifelong learner" by completing so much education. That can never hurt! We should be proud to have him in our community!

    Mr.Noman too has a good track record with the schools and the community. Unfortunately there is only one seat open....

    This site has helped me learn about everything BUT the second ward candidates... too bad!
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

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