With apologies to the late Joe Raposo, what happens when a politically well-connected person is brought up on corruption charges? Oftentimes, in order to lighten his sentence, he starts singing like a bird.

Newwnypolitics’ Glenn Gramigna is reporting that John Fischer, the BMHA administrator of capital improvements arrested last week on extortion and bribery charges is singing, and the song is about Byron Brown.

The words “scandal” and “resign” are included therein.

This isn’t funny, not even a little bit.

A 7th and 8th grade Social Studies teacher at the South Buffalo Charter School was disciplined and removed yesterday, and a 14 year old student disappeared soon thereafter. Neither the teacher nor the student has been heard from since.

The boy, Nick DeJesus, is described as 5-feet 9-inches tall and 115 pounds. He has shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing dark pants, a black t-shirt and a navy South Buffalo Charter School sweatshirt with black sneakers. He recently had ornamental holes put in his ears.

Ms. [Cara] Dickey [28,] drives a 2007 or 2008 white Ford Escape. She is 5-feet 2-inches tall, weighs 130 pounds. She has black, shoulder length hair and her nose is pierced. She has multiple ear piercings and reportedly has tatoos on her shoulder blades. She was wearing a white t-shirt under a black tank top, khaki shorts, sandals and had sunglasses in her hair today.

Ornamental holes?

UPDATE: at 11:29, WBEN reported that the student has been found in Hamburg. Expect the story to hit Fark shortly.

UPDATE: Buffalo Geek finds that the student’s sister has started a Facebook page about it all.

He’s actually up for re-election this year. How fantastic is that?

The Republican congressman from Staten Island got popped last week for DUI after leaving a bar, and he was bailed out by a woman who lived nearby. Turns out he had an ongoing affair with her, she had a 3-year old daughter by him, and his dad and uncle helped pay the bills for her.

On top of that, he’s a hypocritical and sanctimonious prick:

Fossella banded together last month with a group of lawmakers who demanded HBO apologize for what they called an “offensive anti-Catholic rant” by “Real Time” host Bill Maher. Fossella took HBO to task for “insulting the Pope, mocking the Catholic religion and Catholics.”

Yeah? What’s the Pope’s view on maintaining two families? On adultery? On kids out-of-wedlock? Jerkoff.

He’ll probably resign on Monday.

Will the reason be: I want to spend more time with my families?

Good riddance. Don’t be a moralizing asshole if you can’t back it up.

In follow-up to the previous post, wherein I describe the time-wastefulness of the City Council in condemning a private citizen, I present to you this tidbit from Artvoice’s Geoff Kelly.

You see, Mr. Kelly wanted to attend a public hearing yesterday afternoon at City Hall in the City of Buffalo, New York, United States of America. One supposes, given such a moniker, and given such an address, that accommodations would be made for the public to actually attend that hearing.

But hold on - this is the Buffalo of Steve Casey, Byron Brown, and other Pigeonistas - people for whom politics is about power and silence. People who pander to voters during election cycles and then shut them out once power is attained.

What happened? The public hearing for the 2008-2009 proposed budget for the City of Buffalo, which taxpayers were ostensibly invited to attend, and where they were supposedly permitted to speak, took place yesterday at City Hall at 5:30 pm. How progressive that the hearing was held after 5:00 pm, so that people could attend after work.

Problem is - City Hall was locked.

I arrived at 5:40 and found every door to City Hall locked. Seriously. This sucks, I thought. Then: But at least its’s fodder for a column.

So I hung around, pering in the door, ringing the bell that surely does not work, waiting for someone to leave. At about 5:45pm I was joined by a news crew from Channel 4. We tried calling people we knew inside, but everyone was gone for the day — or in Council Chambers, attending the “public” hearing that the public was unable to attend, because all the doors were locked.

At about 5:50pm, Inspections, Permits and Economic Development Commissioner Rich Tobe exited the building but let the door close behind him before I could shout out to hold it open. “Sorry, I can’t get back in now,” he said. I told him I was trying to attend a public hearing up in Council Chambers. He agreed that locking the doors on the evening of such a hearing was curious. But not, he thought, unusual.

Nor did Deputy Mayor Steve Casey seem to consider it strange that the doors were locked, as the Channel 4 team and I raced to the elevators at 6pm, when we finally slipped in the door behind an exiting bureaucrat. “Hurry up,” he said, “it’s just about over.”

Right he was: In the absence of any “public” in the public hearing, the Council had rolled two hearings into one and wrapped the whole thing up by 6:10pm. Exactly one person had signed up to speak. Everyone in Council Chambers was on the public payroll.

Afterward, Delaware District Councilmember Mike LoCurto summed up the hearing for me: a whole lot of nothing. He too was unsurprised to learn the doors had been locked. They had been locked during the previous day’s public hearing as well, he said.

Democracy is dying in Buffalo. It’s up to the people to fight to get it back.

The complete breakdown of civilization on the bus to Wilson whereby a young JV player was sexually assaulted by his erstwhile “teammates” is neither an isolated incident, nor should it have come in any way as any surprise to anyone in charge:

A player on the Wilson high school baseball team was sexually harassed last year by older teammates during a bus ride for an away game.

The boy and his parent complained to a team coach, and for some time after that, one coach rode the bus in front and the other at the back to keep an eye on the players who had been involved in unruly behavior.

The hazing complaint apparently went no further.

But this year, when both coaches were riding at the front of the bus, some of the older players sexually abused two junior varsity players…

…The sources did not want to be identified because they are not authorized to release information, but they came forward because of concern that a pattern has repeated itself in Wilson.

“The kid who complained [last year] was then singled out for the rest of last year by fellow teammates as a ‘narc’ and was punched by other teammates for telling his parent,” one of the sources said.

Equally disturbing is this revelation arising out of the public forum on the issue held last week at Wilson High School:

Many of the 650 people who showed up Thursday for a district-wide meeting voiced support for Baia and Atlas, with only a handful expressing concern for the junior varsity players who were attacked.

The Niagara Falls Reporter corroborates that:

Last week, a town meeting was held in Wilson to discuss the situation, and the place was packed to the rafters. Those expressing any concern or sympathy for the victims in the case were rare. Supporters of Baia and Atlas dominated the session, blaming the alleged perpetrators’ parents, who were not on the bus, the news media, which was not on the bus, and anyone else they could think of.

So, first civilization completely shits the bed on the bus, and next it is further diminished by “concerned citizens” at a public forum. The only - repeat the only individuals worthy of anyone’s sympathy here are the victims themselves. Not the perpetrators. Not their families. Not the coaches. Not anybody else.

And the people of the Town of Wilson really need to get over themselves and their little pity party. The media, and the community-at-large, are appalled that something like this goes on. Even more so now that it emerges as a pattern of which the coaches and the district either knew or should have known about.

That knowledge, and the willful failure of the adults to behave as such renders this a much bigger story, and a much larger scandal than the fact of the sexual assault itself. The perpetrators abused young students, and the adults did nothing, and now they can’t say they didn’t know it might happen. Teachers get fired for wearing bikinis on the Howard Stern show, but Wilson can’t be bothered to fire these coaches?

Oh, and one of the 16 year old perpetrators of the sexual assault on the bus? Yeah, he just got popped last night - at 1am (on a school night?!) for possession of a controlled substance.

Wow. Just 16 years old and already has a pending felony charge in Wilson and a pending misdemeanor charge in Porter.

Posted by BuffaloGeek 

In a blatant publicity stunt, Playgirl Magazine has offered former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer $1MM to pose nude for their magazine.

Your political career is sadly over; and you owe a lot of money to a lot of people. Hell, you may land in jail before too long. So consider this letter a brief note of urgency.

How about making some loot back, by showing us what you saved for such a select few? How about strutting your sexuality, and defending your right to get down for the magazine and Playgirl.com?

Eliot Spitzer, bringing passion back to Albany…

BuffaloPundit has decided to take the day off from blogging and spend a little downtime getting ready for the holiday weekend. He asked me (BuffaloGeek) to keep you all entertained in his absence…Yesterday, WNYMedia.net was at the Tom Reynolds Resignation press conference and captured the following on video.

Reynolds announcing his resignation and detailing some of the reasons for his retirement from public service:

Reynolds answering questions regarding two scandals that have plagued him during the last two years:

I was struck by two things at the press conference; Reynolds’ incredible arrogance as it pertains to his “teflon” status as a Congressman and the lack of other Republicans by his side at such an important event. Expected candidate and NY State Sen. George Maziarz was in attendance as was Niagara County GOP Chairman Henry Wojtaszek. I was surprised to not see other local Repubs like Chris Collins, Jim Domagalski, or Mike Failenhofer in attendance. I think that says a lot about where Reynolds finds himself at this point in his career. I was also surprised to not see his litany of supporters in attendance…

Reynolds believes NY-26 will stay a Republican seat and he may have just injected enough chaos into the race to make that a reality. Maziarz will bring a sizable vote swing from Niagara County with him and the rural parts of the district are staunchly Republican. This makes Erie County and the Rochester area that much more important for the Democrats as they fight to take over the seat. Positioning Jon Powers as new blood and a candidate for change as opposed to a tenured member of the do-nothing state senate would seem to be enough to sway the voters, but this is Western New York…and the problem is never “our guy” in Albany, it’s the “other guys”, right?

It’s being reported here and there, near and far, that Tom Reynolds’ presser today at 12 noon is to announce that he will not be seeking re-election this year, after all.

Speculation abounds as to whom, exactly, the Republicans might get to run for that seat.

One thing’s for sure, Reynolds may have survived the Foley scandal thanks to a well-timed storm and the amazing celerity with which FEMA came to the rescue, but it’s very doubtful he could have explained away the incredible mismanagement of NRCC money that took place under his “watch”.

(For future reference, chasing underage interns on AIM = not so bad. Screwing with Republicans’ money is a firing offense.)

Bye, Tom. Hope K street treats you well. That’s one more expat, I guess.

As one might expect, the offers are trickling in for Spitzer’s three-diamond hooker to pose nude. Penthouse and Hustler are competing for the “get”, and even newly-released-from-PMITA-prison “Girls Gone Wild” producer Joe Francis has put in a bid.

Except later yesterday, Francis realized that Ms. Ashley Rae Maika Youmans DiPietro Alexandra Dupre posed nude for his own “Girls Gone Wild” around her 18th birthday.

There’s an interesting legal case about copyright law and the adequacy of Francis’ releases in there somewhere.

For sure, Paterson’s admission is a 0/10.

Which is worse? Spitzer’s three-diamond hooker, or McGreevey’s three-way?

New Jersey. Just couldn’t be out-done by New York, could it?

Sirius 126 is now “Client 9 Radio”

Yesterday, I posted Spitzer’s resignation letter.

Commenter “Jack” wrote:

That signature would be fun exercise in handwriting analysis, I’ll bet…

I contacted professional handwriting analyst Dennis Duez of www.handwritinganalyst.com, who was kind enough to permit me to post his analysis of Spitzer’s signature:

Eliot Spitzer possesses an extremely strong ego, but is dealing with a strong downturn in self-image.

Ego and intellect tie together. Tell him he is brilliant and he will easily agree with you.

Spitzer is extremely independent, he knows that his way of doing things is the right way and does not respond well to critics.

Spitzer is a great spin-doctor, manipulating reality to his own ends. He has a talent for making things work his way.

Spitzer is an intensely private person, who does not easily, if at all, let people see the his inner psychological depths.

His signature evidences frustration because he is not able to maintain his own sense of privacy and individual identity in regards to family or other relationships

Spitzer deals with strong anger issues. He deals with strong, sharp intellectual frustrations.

A major emotional / family relationship in his life has flat-lined / strongly diminished.

His sense of sexuality, contrary to what might be assumed, has diminished and is he more drawn to emotional support and interaction as well as sexual involvement.

He is a strong romantic, he needs the romance, believes in it, but does not trust it.

Someone has been out of contact with him for some time, and this is a continuing frustration.

Someone who was an important mental support / mentor is no longer available and that is a major frustration for Spitzer.

Although the scan was grainy, there are some artifacts of physical stress that may be indicated.

Spitzer appears to have an older injury to lower back and possibly aggravation in the left hip area.

He also appears to have an older injury / stress point in the left shoulder, neck, collarbone, and / or rotator area.

Copyright © Dennis Duez 2008 All Rights Reserved

HT Robert Harding @ TAP

The New York Times has a detailed account of how the Spitzer revelations unfolded.

It’s interesting in the same way listening to a downed airliner’s black box is interesting.

Also, as you’re probably well aware, “Kristen” is an aspiring singer originally from Belmar, NJ.

Courtesy of the New York Post’s Page Six. It’s pretty much not safe for work, so I’ll put it after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

Spitzer to speak at 11:30.

UPDATE: Bruno strikes a conciliatory tone, saying that it is now time for New Yorkers to move forward with a smooth transition of power from Spitzer to Paterson.

Bruno is also probably thrilled to be number two in power. He says he has a great relationship with former Senate minority leader David Paterson.

UPDATE 2: Spitzer is in his motorcade going down 5th Avenue to his midtown office.

He’s currently stuck in traffic on 5th, and I’m desperately trying to find a watchable newsfeed. So far, WABC seems to be most stable. Kudos to WIVB Buffalo’s Channel 4 for still running the Price is Right.

UPDATE 3: Here it comes. He’s very remorseful for his three-diamond whoring. He apologizes to all New Yorkers. Yeah, fuck you, buddy. He says he accomplished a great deal and there is much more to be done.

He has insisted that people take responsibility for their conduct. He can, and will, ask no less of himself. He is resigning the office of Governor effective Monday the 17th, to permit an orderly transition. Spitzer takes no questions.

Courtesy of Empirewire.com

Albany Republicans are demanding that Spitzer resign today or tomorrow, else they’re going to initiate impeachment proceedings.

I’m so glad that Eliot was able to give Albany legislators something to really work on for the good of the embattled New York State taxpayers.

UPDATE 3: Like everyone else in the world, I’m waiting to see whether Spitzer steps down today or some other day this week. Either way, it seems inevitable.

UPDATE 2: It looks more and more likely that the Governor of the State of New York is going to resign. Paterson is making the rounds, and reaching out to legislators. Could it be that Mr. Paterson could accomplish through consensus-building and cooperation what Mr. Spitzer could not accomplish through his dictatorial, aggressive manner? Time will tell.

UPDATE: Also, a smattering of downstate headlines, which can always be amusing:

And a free Latino paper in New York, with a nod to the whole “licenses for illegals” fiasco of last fall:

Get yours at Cafepress.

As the Spitzer scandal continues to explode, I have felt a variety of emotions - from shock to incredulity to amusement to fury.

Right now, I’m stuck on fury.

Regardless of whether Spitzer resigns or not - and I think he will - his political career is probably over. It’s not over just because he hired a hooker. It’s over because he got caught doing it on tape, because he paid for her to cross state lines (a federal crime), and because he was supposed to be Mr. Clean the crime fighter.

The steamroller got steamrolled by the FBI.

“Kristen” will get rich off of this, probably getting a million from the Enquirer or Star to tell her story. Maybe she’ll do a Playboy spread, and parlay it all into a daytime talk show. From her description as a 5′ 5″ brunette at 105 pounds, maybe Anne Hathaway can play her in the movie. The FBI tapes of Spitzer making intricate arrangements to hire and pay for “Kristen’s” services will make their way to air, which will only make matters worse.

Kristen will also make some serious money explaining what it is that Spitzer likes to do that isn’t “safe”.

But amidst all of this tabloid fodder, we’ve lost a guy who promised us to do better. That on Day one, everything would change. That he would bring “passion” back to Albany (looks like he brought it to the Mayflower Hotel, instead). He promised reform - he promised a renewed focus on upstate - he promised to make the state more attractive.

By giving “Kristen” Acela tickets, cash, and two hours’ worth of God-knows-what, has he also screwed us all?

My guess is that Spitzer’s resignation is tendered the moment he is indicted for violation of the Mann Act. In that case, his lieutenant, David Paterson, becomes governor. There is no provision for anyone else to ascend to the post of lieutenant governor; Joe Bruno automatically becomes second-in-line.

Any movement for change and reform in Albany is on hold, but perhaps we’ve crossed some sort of threshold. Maybe with this shock to the system - where just about everybody checks and double-checks to make sure they’re not reading the “Onion” - we’ve laid a foundation for a true reformer to come in and shake up Albany. Because ultimately, Spitzer’s legal troubles, and his betrayal of his family are personal issues that affect us not at all.

What I care about is the state getting back on track. I care about lower, smarter spending and a moderation of taxation. I care about attracting, not repelling, residents and business. I care about getting a state government that doesn’t just talk about reform, but implements it.

Spitzer has dragged his heels on replacing Pataki appointees with his own. Very little tangible help has come to upstate. Spitzer instead became embroiled in a war with State Senate President Joe Bruno. There’s more to leadership than just being an arrogant know-it-all.

So, time will tell whether Governor Client-9 messed it all up. But the sooner he resigns, the better off the state will be. He can fight the charges all he wants, but not on my dime.

UPDATE: Commenters suggest it’s the money, not the Mann Act, that will be Spitzer’s ultimate undoing. I had only heard some vague reports about this, but the Times has more detail:

The rendezvous that established Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s involvement with high-priced prostitutes occurred last month in one of Washington’s grandest hotels, but the criminal investigation that discovered the tryst began last year in a nondescript office building opposite a Dunkin’ Donuts on Long Island, according to law enforcement officials.

There, in the Hauppauge offices of the Internal Revenue Service, investigators conducting a routine examination of suspicious financial transactions reported to them by banks found several unusual movements of cash involving the governor of New York, several officials said.

The investigators working out of the three-story office building, which faces Veterans Highway, typically review such reports, the officials said. But this was not typical: transactions by a governor who appeared to be trying to conceal the source, destination or purpose of the movement of thousands of dollars in cash, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

UPDATE 6: (Putting it up here for its sheer newsworthiness): By clicking this link, you can read the criminal complaint, as well as the affidavit in support of the request for search and arrest warrants. Paragraphs 73 - 85 deal with “Client-9″, who is reportedly Eliot Spitzer, Governor of the State of New York. He is caught on tape arranging for the transfer of money to the escort service, and helping arrange for “Kristen’s” travel from New York City to Washington, D.C.

LEWIS said that they would probably not know until 3 p.m. if the deposit arrived because Client-9 would not do traditional wire transferring.

A headline from the New York Times: Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has informed his most senior administration officials that he had been involved in a prostitution ring, an administration official said this morning.

Mr. Spitzer, who was huddled with his top aides early this afternoon, had hours earlier abruptly canceled his scheduled public events for the day. He is set to make an announcement about 2:15 this afternoon at his Manhattan office.

Mr. Spitzer, a first-term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform and end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.

Just last week, federal prosecutors arrested four people in connection with an expensive prostitution operation. Administration officials would not say that this was the ring with which the governor had become involved.

Update:

From the New York Sun:

During a court hearing in the case, a