In Pigeon, Coup, Brown’s Mayoral Opponent Finds a Message
Buffalo mayor’s ties to operative made into campaign issue by primary underdog
Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:31:00
Of all the aftershocks of the June 8 Senate coup, one of the more unexpected ripples was felt a week afterwards and some 400 miles away when Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown (D) canceled a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser for his re-election campaign.
Though seemingly unrelated, the events shared one common denominator: Steve Pigeon. The top political operative for billionaire Tom Golisano’s Responsible New York PAC was a key architect of the coup, leading Brown to decide that holding a dinner at Pigeon’s waterfront home in that moment of Democratic discontent with the man was not the best idea.
Brown has publicly distanced himself from Pigeon in the past. In 2005, in the midst of Brown’s first mayoral campaign, then-State Sen. Brown removed Pigeon from his Senate staff, publicly citing Pigeon’s inability to let go of grudges against his enemies in Erie County politics.
But though Pigeon is gone, he is not forgotten: Brown’s underdog opponent in this year’s Democratic mayoral primary, Buffalo City Council Member Michael Kearns, is playing up the relationship between the two and trying to link the month-long standoff in Albany with Brown.
“People are tired of professional politicians, and Byron Brown went to Albany and learned his trade,” Kearns said. “You see that in his relationship with Tom Golisano and Steve Pigeon, and those types of characters—and that our community has become less important to him than those special interests.”
Last year, Brown and Pigeon worked together to try and unseat Assembly Member Sam Hoyt (D-Erie), who has fought with both over the years and was at one point seen as a potential rival in the 2005 mayor’s race. Brown’s political organization carried petitions for Hoyt’s primary opponent, Barbra Kavanaugh, and State Senate candidate Joe Mesi, both of whom were strongly supported by Responsible New York.
Kearns said all the overlapping interests and relationships show that the Albany political culture has bled into the Brown administration.
Pigeon did not return a call seeking comment.
Brown’s spokesperson, Peter Cutler, dismissed Kearns’ attempt to connect Pigeon and the mayor. He noted Hoyt’s recent endorsement of Kearns, appearing to allude, among other things, to the revelations last summer that Hoyt had an affair with an intern.
“I don’t think it’s relevant at all that Steve Pigeon and the mayor know each other,” Cutler said. “That’s kind of like saying that because Sam Hoyt endorsed Kearns, that Kearns accepts responsibility for all of the things that Sam Hoyt allegedly has done while he was in the Assembly.”
The Erie County Democratic Party—which was once run by Pigeon but has since clashed with him—has declined to endorse him in the race, though it strongly supported Brown in 2005. According to Democratic sources, the tension springs from Brown’s backing of primary opponents against two party-backed City Council candidates.
Brown himself remains an overwhelming favorite to win re-election. He has out-raised Kearns by more than 60 to 1.
“There have been a lot of stories recently about the missteps of the Brown administration. Under normal circumstances that could really hurt a campaign,” said Dr. Kevin Hardwick, the political science chair at Canisius College. “But that’s not going to happen here, given the absolute poverty of the Kearns campaign.”
Brown’s supporters, meanwhile, cite the fact that he decreased property taxes by 12.5 percent, that the city’s credit rating has been steadily improving, and that crime has been on the decline.
The campaign is also trumpeting a policy Brown implemented of broadcasting the city’s weekly “CitiStat” meetings, when department heads discuss the progress of the Brown administration’s government efficiency measures, pointing out that this undercuts Kearns’ assertions that the Brown administration lacks transparency.
“For [Kearns] to make a statement like that is simply ignoring the facts,” said Cutler, the Brown spokesperson. “This government has taken transparency to a whole other level.”
And while Brown may not have the local Democrats’ endorsement, he does have the support of the Western New York chapter of the Working Families Party—which was strongly opposed to the Golisano- and Pigeon-backed coup—and of the State Independence Party. State Independence Party Chair Frank MacKay acknowledged in an interview at the party’s executive committee meeting in May that Pigeon would be the point person in deciding who would receive the party’s ballot line in Erie County.
Brown and Pigeon have come together after past public separations. Following the 2005 firing, the two mended fences when Pigeon became the top political operative for Golisano. By 2008, Pigeon was leading the charge for Brown to be appointed as Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D) replacement.
Brown is rumored to be interested in running for lieutenant governor as a possible running mate for Andrew Cuomo, should the attorney general decide to run for governor. Pigeon, who was involved with Cuomo’s 2002 campaign for governor, has said that he sees next year’s governor’s race as his chance to return to the fold of Democratic politics.
But Kearns remains committed to derailing both men’s bigger political ambitions, out to win this year’s election against Brown in part by hanging Pigeon around his neck.
“Pigeon’s been a very important part of his career,” Kearns said. “I don’t think that people are going to forget that.”
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ABOVE: Four years after removing Steve Pigeon from his Senate staff, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has again moved to put distance between himself and Pigeon. Illustration by Jerry Miller
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Responsible New York’s Future May Be In Erie Races And Albany Courtrooms
Days before walking into the State Senate gallery to oversee the coup he helped engineer, Tom Golisano removed $950,000 from the Responsible New York campaign account, leaving a balance under $50,000.
Yet despite the withdrawal, the Senate Democrats’ reassertion of their majority and Golisano’s decision to move to Florida, there are signs that Responsible New York will remain active in several local elections this year.
Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz (D), who considers himself the group’s top political target for the fall, worries that Golisano could replenish the account at any time. Poloncarz, who faces both a Democratic primary challenger and a Republican challenger in the general election, claimed that his opponents were in the race at the behest of Steve Pigeon, who had been the group’s top political operative before taking a job with State Sen. Pedro Espada (D-Bronx).
Diane Benczkowski, the Democratic primary challenger, denied that she was running at the behest of anyone, calling herself a “political outsider.”
“I’ve had conversations with [Pigeon], but no, he’s not involved,” she said, adding that Pigeon had not yet given her any campaign contributions.
Benczkowski has not yet filed a campaign finance report, though a deadline has passed.
At the least, Pigeon may play a role in determining who receives the Independence Party’s ballot line in Erie County this year, according to State Independence Party Chair Frank MacKay.
Litigation filed by the Erie County Independence Party, however, could derail this arrangement. The county party claims that the state party has illegally taken from them their right to control the Erie County ballot line.
Another legal concern is the decision by the State Board of Elections to refer three complaints against Responsible New York to the Albany district attorney’s office challenging the group’s assertion that as an independent, unauthorized campaign committee, it was able to spend unlimited amounts during the 2008 campaign. Whether the Albany DA’s office moves forward with the case will likely depend on whether it finds that the group coordinated their spending with Barbra Kavanaugh’s primary campaign against Assembly Member Sam Hoyt (D-Buffalo) and Joe Mesi’s Senate campaign for the seat won by State Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer (R-Erie/Genesee).
A violation of this campaign finance law is considered a felony, though campaign finance infractions are often not strictly enforced. The circumstances of this case may be different, however, given the unprecedented $4.1 million Responsible New York spent during the 2008 elections.
One piece of evidence meant to prove coordination, according to a source involved filing the complaint, involves a group called New York Media Strategies, which Responsible New York used to make over $2.3 million in TV and radio ad buys.
According to its Mar. 13 articles of incorporation, published in the Amherst Bee, the group was registered to Pigeon’s law office, Underberg and Kessler. Yet records and press accounts indicate that Pigeon was working with the Mesi campaign through June, before the formation of Responsible New York. According to the source involved in filing the complaint, this may be offered as circumstantial evidence of coordination.
Pigeon did not return several calls for comment.
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ABOVE: Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz believes he is Responsible New York’s top target this year.
Though seemingly unrelated, the events shared one common denominator: Steve Pigeon. The top political operative for billionaire Tom Golisano’s Responsible New York PAC was a key architect of the coup, leading Brown to decide that holding a dinner at Pigeon’s waterfront home in that moment of Democratic discontent with the man was not the best idea.
Brown has publicly distanced himself from Pigeon in the past. In 2005, in the midst of Brown’s first mayoral campaign, then-State Sen. Brown removed Pigeon from his Senate staff, publicly citing Pigeon’s inability to let go of grudges against his enemies in Erie County politics. But though Pigeon is gone, he is not forgotten: Brown’s underdog opponent in this year’s Democratic mayoral primary, Buffalo City Council Member Michael Kearns, is playing up the relationship between the two and trying to link the month-long standoff in Albany with Brown.
“People are tired of professional politicians, and Byron Brown went to Albany and learned his trade,” Kearns said. “You see that in his relationship with Tom Golisano and Steve Pigeon, and those types of characters—and that our community has become less important to him than those special interests.”
Last year, Brown and Pigeon worked together to try and unseat Assembly Member Sam Hoyt (D-Erie), who has fought with both over the years and was at one point seen as a potential rival in the 2005 mayor’s race. Brown’s political organization carried petitions for Hoyt’s primary opponent, Barbra Kavanaugh, and State Senate candidate Joe Mesi, both of whom were strongly supported by Responsible New York.
Kearns said all the overlapping interests and relationships show that the Albany political culture has bled into the Brown administration.
Pigeon did not return a call seeking comment.
Brown’s spokesperson, Peter Cutler, dismissed Kearns’ attempt to connect Pigeon and the mayor. He noted Hoyt’s recent endorsement of Kearns, appearing to allude, among other things, to the revelations last summer that Hoyt had an affair with an intern.
“I don’t think it’s relevant at all that Steve Pigeon and the mayor know each other,” Cutler said. “That’s kind of like saying that because Sam Hoyt endorsed Kearns, that Kearns accepts responsibility for all of the things that Sam Hoyt allegedly has done while he was in the Assembly.”
The Erie County Democratic Party—which was once run by Pigeon but has since clashed with him—has declined to endorse him in the race, though it strongly supported Brown in 2005. According to Democratic sources, the tension springs from Brown’s backing of primary opponents against two party-backed City Council candidates.
Brown himself remains an overwhelming favorite to win re-election. He has out-raised Kearns by more than 60 to 1.
“There have been a lot of stories recently about the missteps of the Brown administration. Under normal circumstances that could really hurt a campaign,” said Dr. Kevin Hardwick, the political science chair at Canisius College. “But that’s not going to happen here, given the absolute poverty of the Kearns campaign.”
Brown’s supporters, meanwhile, cite the fact that he decreased property taxes by 12.5 percent, that the city’s credit rating has been steadily improving, and that crime has been on the decline.
The campaign is also trumpeting a policy Brown implemented of broadcasting the city’s weekly “CitiStat” meetings, when department heads discuss the progress of the Brown administration’s government efficiency measures, pointing out that this undercuts Kearns’ assertions that the Brown administration lacks transparency.
“For [Kearns] to make a statement like that is simply ignoring the facts,” said Cutler, the Brown spokesperson. “This government has taken transparency to a whole other level.”
And while Brown may not have the local Democrats’ endorsement, he does have the support of the Western New York chapter of the Working Families Party—which was strongly opposed to the Golisano- and Pigeon-backed coup—and of the State Independence Party. State Independence Party Chair Frank MacKay acknowledged in an interview at the party’s executive committee meeting in May that Pigeon would be the point person in deciding who would receive the party’s ballot line in Erie County.
Brown and Pigeon have come together after past public separations. Following the 2005 firing, the two mended fences when Pigeon became the top political operative for Golisano. By 2008, Pigeon was leading the charge for Brown to be appointed as Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D) replacement.
Brown is rumored to be interested in running for lieutenant governor as a possible running mate for Andrew Cuomo, should the attorney general decide to run for governor. Pigeon, who was involved with Cuomo’s 2002 campaign for governor, has said that he sees next year’s governor’s race as his chance to return to the fold of Democratic politics.
But Kearns remains committed to derailing both men’s bigger political ambitions, out to win this year’s election against Brown in part by hanging Pigeon around his neck.
“Pigeon’s been a very important part of his career,” Kearns said. “I don’t think that people are going to forget that.”
--
ABOVE: Four years after removing Steve Pigeon from his Senate staff, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has again moved to put distance between himself and Pigeon. Illustration by Jerry Miller
********************
Responsible New York’s Future May Be In Erie Races And Albany Courtrooms
Days before walking into the State Senate gallery to oversee the coup he helped engineer, Tom Golisano removed $950,000 from the Responsible New York campaign account, leaving a balance under $50,000.
Yet despite the withdrawal, the Senate Democrats’ reassertion of their majority and Golisano’s decision to move to Florida, there are signs that Responsible New York will remain active in several local elections this year.
Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz (D), who considers himself the group’s top political target for the fall, worries that Golisano could replenish the account at any time. Poloncarz, who faces both a Democratic primary challenger and a Republican challenger in the general election, claimed that his opponents were in the race at the behest of Steve Pigeon, who had been the group’s top political operative before taking a job with State Sen. Pedro Espada (D-Bronx). Diane Benczkowski, the Democratic primary challenger, denied that she was running at the behest of anyone, calling herself a “political outsider.”
“I’ve had conversations with [Pigeon], but no, he’s not involved,” she said, adding that Pigeon had not yet given her any campaign contributions.
Benczkowski has not yet filed a campaign finance report, though a deadline has passed.
At the least, Pigeon may play a role in determining who receives the Independence Party’s ballot line in Erie County this year, according to State Independence Party Chair Frank MacKay.
Litigation filed by the Erie County Independence Party, however, could derail this arrangement. The county party claims that the state party has illegally taken from them their right to control the Erie County ballot line.
Another legal concern is the decision by the State Board of Elections to refer three complaints against Responsible New York to the Albany district attorney’s office challenging the group’s assertion that as an independent, unauthorized campaign committee, it was able to spend unlimited amounts during the 2008 campaign. Whether the Albany DA’s office moves forward with the case will likely depend on whether it finds that the group coordinated their spending with Barbra Kavanaugh’s primary campaign against Assembly Member Sam Hoyt (D-Buffalo) and Joe Mesi’s Senate campaign for the seat won by State Sen. Michael Ranzenhofer (R-Erie/Genesee).
A violation of this campaign finance law is considered a felony, though campaign finance infractions are often not strictly enforced. The circumstances of this case may be different, however, given the unprecedented $4.1 million Responsible New York spent during the 2008 elections.
One piece of evidence meant to prove coordination, according to a source involved filing the complaint, involves a group called New York Media Strategies, which Responsible New York used to make over $2.3 million in TV and radio ad buys.
According to its Mar. 13 articles of incorporation, published in the Amherst Bee, the group was registered to Pigeon’s law office, Underberg and Kessler. Yet records and press accounts indicate that Pigeon was working with the Mesi campaign through June, before the formation of Responsible New York. According to the source involved in filing the complaint, this may be offered as circumstantial evidence of coordination.
Pigeon did not return several calls for comment.
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ABOVE: Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz believes he is Responsible New York’s top target this year.
