Is Jack Davis Switching Back To The GOP?

by: robert.harding

Mon Feb 23, 2009 at 14:29:37 PM EST

We went on to state that Davis, one of the single largest financial supporters of the county Dems, was so infuriated with Rivera that he would no longer support the party financially. Remember that Davis gave the county Dems the hefty sum of $30,000 in 2007. In fact, we speculated that Davis would not only cease his financial support of the county party, that he may in fact re-allocate his hefty campaign contributions to the county GOP.

It appears that this scenario is much closer to reality than we would have imagined.

The Niagara County Republican Party held a fundraiser this past Thursday at Antonio's, and sources have told us that Jack Davis attended the event. If this is indeed true, this does not bode well for the county Dems. Davis has a boatload of cash and has shown that he is not afraid to spend it supporting political parties and candidates.

Not that I'm in the business of consulting the Republicans, but I would be a little concerned if this switch goes down. The last time Davis switched parties, it was because he paid money to see Dick Cheney and never got a sit-down with him. That led to him becoming a Democrat and the disastrous three runs for Congress on the Democratic Party line.

I know some Democrats might be upset because Davis isn't around to cut them checks anymore, but this is a great day for our party if this turns out to be true.

As the song goes, hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back.

One lousy loophole

by: robert.harding

Fri Dec 28, 2007 at 18:30:00 PM EST

I just read about this and my jaw dropped. While it's not surprising for politicians to find loopholes and ways around everything, this certainly takes the cake.

A Niagara County legislator (Note: Niagara County is my western neighbor) recently resigned... but maybe still be allowed to come back. The reason he resigned? He wanted to take advantage of lifetime health insurance:

By leaving office last week, O'Connor seems to have found a way to maintain free, lifetime health insurance from the county. Such benefits were owed to him under a 1998 resolution that provided lawmakers with more than 20 years of service with full coverage free of charge. In June, those eligibility guidelines were altered so that any lawmaker with O'Connor's years of experience would have to pay 50 percent of their premiums if they were sworn in Jan. 1. By resigning when he did, O'Connor becomes immediately eligible for free coverage, while retaining his ability to return to office next year.

Niagara County Attorney Claude Jeorg said he fully expects O'Connor to return to office and said, legally, there's nothing that would prevent him from doing so. He added that there may be some questions about O'Connor's health insurance eligibility, some of which may be answered by the county's insurance department and others that may require court action to sort out.

UPDATE: Legislator Sean O'Connor will be coming back, according to today's Niagara-Gazette.

More on the flip.

Erie, Niagara county clerks accused of profiling; Spitzer receives another endorsement of his plan

by: robert.harding

Fri Oct 26, 2007 at 16:07:47 PM EDT

Today, the Buffalo News reports that these clerks are now being accused of profiling if they choose to go down this road:

The Spitzer administration and immigration rights groups say the county clerks in Erie and Niagara counties will be engaging in inappropriate profiling with their plan to alert police when illegal immigrants seek to obtain driver's licenses.

Critics said the clerks will be acting purely on a hunch and that people in the country legally could find themselves being inappropriately detained by police because they were wrongly suspected of being illegal immigrants.

"It's an attack on undocumented immigrants. It's not the job of county clerks to enforce the immigration laws. It's a federal problem," said Norman Eng, an immigration attorney with the New York Immigration Coalition, an umbrella group of 200 organizations.

The Spitzer administration said it was taking very seriously the threat by Erie County Clerk Kathleen C. Hochul and Niagara County Clerk Wayne Jagow to turn over to local or federal police agencies suspected illegal immigrants who come into their motor vehicle offices to get a driver's license.

Eng, who is mentioned in the above quote, really made a great point later in the article regarding the current policy and what the county clerks in Erie and Niagara wish to do:

(below the fold...)

This is Getting Out of Control

by: phillip anderson

Thu Oct 25, 2007 at 10:01:32 AM EDT

Illegals applying for licenses risk being arrested
Erie, Niagara county clerks develop  plan to counter Spitzer's directive

Illegal immigrants who try to apply for driver's licenses in Erie and Niagara counties will be subject to arrest - and deportation - under a plan being developed by the two county clerks and law enforcement officials.

The move is the latest - and potentially most serious - challenge to Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer's new policy to permit illegal immigrants to obtain driver's licenses if they possess a valid foreign passport and other identification.

...

"We didn't ask to be put in this situation, but this is the proper recourse," said Hochul, a Democrat who was appointed to her post earlier this year by Spitzer after her predecessor, David Swarts, was named commissioner of motor vehicles.

What a mess.

(h/t to Rochester Turning)