Visit Batavia Bootery this Sunday from 11am - 3pm for our annual Shhhooooeeper Bowl Sale!

One injury is reported on a rollover accident in the area of 4016 Pearl Street Road, Batavia.

Two vehicles are involved.

The person injured is reportedly out of the vehicle.

Town of Batavia Fire and Mercy EMS dispatched.

The accident is in the area of Treadeasy Avenue.

UPDATE 11:20 a.m.: One vehicle is leaking gas the other is leaking multiple fluids.

UPDATE 11:55 a.m.: Road is reopened. Town assignment back in service.

After reviewing the last of the city departments — the water fund’s $6.57 million and wastewater's $4.38 million budgets — City Council was done with the process and ready to move on Wednesday evening.

While some council members were good with all of it and asked for no modifications — Kathy Briggs, Al McGinnis, David Twichell, Paul Viele, Rich Richmond, Eugene Jankowski Jr. — others accepted it for now — “We need to take a hard look at this next year,” Councilman Derek Geib said.

“There are some tough decisions that we all have to make. I’m sure everyone did their due diligence,” Richmond said. “We went line by line. Questions were asked and explained in good detail. Budgets were reasonable and sound. I’m good with it.”

Twichell added that he thought City Manager Rachael Tabelski did “an excellent job” at negotiating union contracts, and she, in turn, thanked the council for its support. “We have top-notch employees,” she said. 

Two standalones — Council members Tammy Schmidt and Bob Bialkowski — wanted to see no tax increases but didn’t see where else to go by extending budget sessions.

Bialkowski reiterated some of his talking points during these last few weeks of budget meetings, namely that he’d like to see a flat tax levy. He proposed cutting $110,000 out of the Bureau of Maintenance budget’s planned parking lot resurfacing project and said that he expects “our employee to be top notch,” commending the public works and maintenance staff for doing great work. 

Tabelski clarified that cutting that money from the BOM budget “just reduces the budget by $110,000” and would not affect the levy since it is coming from reserves. 

“You would have to identify something in the budget,” she said. 

Bialkowski also questioned the use of video lottery terminal money for police radios, which was mentioned during the police budget discussion. He thought VLT money was not going to be spent in this budget due to the uncertainty of that type of revenue coming from Batavia Downs Gaming. 

Tabelski said that council previously approved radio purchases in December using VLT money from 2023; it’s not being used for the 2025 budget, she said.

To recap the budget: 

• It’s a proposed $37 million total, with a levy of $6.7 million which calls for a two-cent increase per $1,000 assessed property value, or $2 extra for a home assessed at $100,000.
• It would be a proposed property tax rate of $8.96 per $1,000 assessed value. 
• The levy is an increase of $110,000 from the current budget, an exact amount of what Bialkowski proposed cutting from the BOM parking lot project; however, again — Tabelski said it would not make a difference to the levy because the paving project is being paid for with reserves.
• There is also a proposed 19-cent per 1,000 gallons of water increase, or $6.46 per 1,000, along with increases of $2 per quarter for the water meter and $6 per quarter for the capital infrastructure fund. 
• All tallied, with an estimated $3.80 more per quarter for the water itself, plus the meter and capital fund increases, that would be about $47 more per year for a family of four, Tabelski said. 
• The total yearly increase is dependent, of course, on how much water a household consumes. There are no increases to the sewer fees.
• A proposed stormwater tax that was discussed during budget sessions will not be part of the 2024-25 budget. Tabelski said that council members shared that their constituents were not in favor of it, and that they’d like to discuss it more in the future.
• There are no additional police officers in the budget, per a discussion during the police department portion of council talks. Chief Shawn Heubusch had reviewed a state report that recommended hiring five more patrol officers. 

The next City Council meeting will be at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall. The group is expected to set a public hearing about the budget for Feb. 26, with a final vote to adopt it on March 11. 

Property owners age 65 and older in Genesee County may be getting a break as county legislators consider raising the income levels for exemptions to account for cost-of-living increases.

Property owners within the county that are 65 years or older can apply to receive an exemption, and the county has discretion about the income limits that are allowable for an individual to qualify for the exemption. 

Therefore, legislators may want to consider raising the limit from its current $16,500, with a sliding scale that goes to $24,900, Director of Real Property Tax Services/Deputy Treasurer Kevin Andrews said during Wednesday’s Ways and Means meeting. 

“So they could receive a 45 percent and 40 percent, all the way down to 5 percent in that range," Andrews said. "So my intention is to discuss this since we have not adjusted the income levels for that exemption in some time, to see what the legislature feels in terms of whether it makes sense to make an increase at this time for that exemption."

He reviewed adjacent counties’ income levels, and a comparison found that Genesee County was “slightly below average.”

Orleans County’s starting point is $27,400, Livingston is at $32,400, and Wyoming is $24,400, compared to Genesee County’s range of $16,500 to $24,900.

“There’s some merit to doing an increase,” Andrews said. 

Editor's Note: After this article was published, Andrews wanted to clarify the income range for these counties:

• Orleans – $19,000 to $27,400
• Wyoming – $24,400 to $32,800
• Livingston – $28,000 to $36,400

Legislator Gary Maha asked him how many people are eligible for the exemption now. There are 482 people currently, for a total of $17 million in exemptions, Andrews said. 

He wasn’t certain how many would be affected by a change of income levels, but it would likely rise to $22.7 million and, more realistically, be closer to $40 million, he said.

“That would impact the tax rate by five cents or so,”  he said.

County Manager Matt Landers agreed. 

“When they made the adjustment 20 years ago, it jumped ahead to one of the higher exemption levels, that’s why we could sustain this for a while, and only until recently did Orleans pass us, and only until recently has this been a sustainable fair level for a number of years,” Landers said. 

“I do agree that at this time," he added. "I think an average of the four counties would kind of be fair, what’s the average start, and then that would be just kind of be a fair way to look at it and maybe every five years kind of do the same kind of gut check to see where we stand. But as far as, this won’t affect our budget, or affect the rate of the levy, the levy is going to stay the same, this won’t impact it at all. It’s just going to mean that others are going to take that burden on. It’s probably going to be a four to five cent impact on the tax rate.”

Legislators agreed to take an average of the surrounding Orleans, Livingston and Wyoming County exemption levels, which Andrews calculated to be $23,800. 

“We have an aging population, the number of eligible will likely increase, and they also may be talking about this in the county and the town. So this discussion might also open people's eyes, and they think about it and realize that they might be eligible,” Legislator Christian Yunker said. “So the number may be bigger than what we're expecting. It is going to grow with our demographics.”

Legislative Chairwoman Shelley Stein added that, while it might create a longer list of seniors for the year 2025, “in 2026, we should expect a larger one.”

The Legislature is expected to set a public hearing for 5:30 p.m. Feb. 28 on a proposed amendment to the Persons 65 Years of Age or Over tax exemption. The measure is to keep pace with increases in social security income and to assist senior citizens to be able to afford to stay in their homes. The exemption is based on sliding-scale income amounts.

County Attorney Mark Boylan said that the hearing will have to stipulate specifics about the exemption amount. Legislators seemed to draw consensus on the $23,800 figure and will meet to officially set the hearing and details during the Legislature meeting on Feb. 14.

While the pace of work at Ellicott Station has slowed to a crawl since August, when Sam Savarino announced he was closing his development company, there continues to be the occasional contractor on the site doing some work.

On Wednesday, there was a two-man crew putting more siding on the front of the apartment building under construction.

There has yet to be an announcement from local officials or Savarino about the future of the project.  There is reportedly a search underway to find a new contractor to complete the project, which is potentially hampered by a very low-income requirement for renters from the Office of NYS Homes and Community Renewal, but officials have yet to reveal any progress on that front.

For previous coverage of Ellicott Station, click here.

These are photos taken on Judge Road in Alabama on late Wednesday afternoon.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Shop Oliver's Candies. Shop the Sweet Life Country Store

Batavia PD is seeking the public's assistance in identifying a person of interest in relation to a theft investigation.

The police did not release details on the alleged crime -- its location or what may have been stolen. The police did not say whether the photo above directly corresponds to the incident under investigation.

Anybody with information that could help police identify the person in the photo are asked to contact Sgt. Christopher Lindsey at 585-345-6365.

The police department also accepts tips through an online form.

Press Release:

Byron-Bergen Elementary School doubled down on its commitment to reducing food waste in landfills and instead producing clean soil for gardening and farming. This was done through a partnership with an earthworm named Lloyd and 1.8 million of his friends. 

Lloyd lives in a compost facility operated by Impact Earth, a not-for-profit organization out of Rochester that works with the community to repurpose food waste and paper products into nutrient-rich soil. The composting program is a school-wide effort under the leadership of the third-grade students.

“Byron-Bergen Elementary is one of the first schools in the area to undertake this kind of project,” said Impact Earth Educational Manager Doug Carney. “Instead of going to the landfill and doing nothing useful, this waste will compost into nutrient-rich soil to grow better food. It’s an investment in the future.”

Each day at lunch, students sort their uneaten food items and disposable paper products into blue buckets next to the garbage cans. 

At the end of all the lunch periods, a rotating group of third-grade students, the Compost Crew, assist Cleaner and Lunch Monitor Nancy Smith in loading the buckets onto a cart and emptying them into Impact Earth dumpster totes behind the cafeteria. 

Smith then washes the buckets, and the Compost Crew dries them and stacks them for the next day.

Every Friday, Impact Earth removes the waste from the dumpster totes to be mixed with wood chips and added to the piles for Lloyd and his friends. 

“It’s something we can do to try to help the environment,” said Smith. “The soil needs the nutrients, and (the students) are going to be the helpers.” 

Byron-Bergen's third-grade student Mackenzie Wilcox is looking forward to participating. “I think (composting) is great! I like it. The best part is that we get to feed our leftover food to the worms at the composting plant.”

The idea for the composting program began at the Earth Day 2023 assembly. Each grade level collected their trash from lunch and discovered that each class produced an average of 15 pounds of landfill waste per lunch. The discussion of how to reduce this amount led to a waste survey carried out by the student council in October of 2023.

Impact Earth Educational Manager Doug Carney helped the students separate their lunch-time waste. According to Carney, 60% of the cafeteria waste assessed from one day of lunch, over 115 pounds, could be composted or eaten later. Carney noted that “anything that is unopened should be taken home or saved for a snack.”

“I’m really excited for kids to use the compost bins and put our waste to better use, especially being in a community affected by waste management,” said Elementary Principal Kristin Loftus. “I think it will be great for us to do our part to reduce what we are sending to the landfill.” 

Part of the Impact Earth partnership includes a soil give-back. Byron-Bergen will receive a delivery of composted soil in May to use in or around the schools or in the greenhouse.

“It’s a great opportunity for the adults and students to work together to have a positive impact on the earth,” said Byron-Bergen Facilities Director Roger Caldwell. 

“The students are very excited about this project. We will continue to reinforce that the priority is for them to eat their lunches,” said Loftus. “Lloyd and his friends will get plenty of food. Only after the students are full should we add their leftovers to the apple cores and napkins in the compost bins.”

The composting program serves as a leadership opportunity for the third grade as well as a chance for all students and staff to take a moment to look at what is in their lunch, how it is packaged, and the best choices for their food waste. The waste assessment and assembly were sponsored by the Byron-Bergen S.T.E.P. Booster Club.

Updated Feb. 23: EVENT CANCELED

Press Release:

Genesee Cancer Assistance (GCA) is adding a new fundraising event on March 2. The Bowling Event will be a fun-filled day of bowling, contests, and shenanigans supporting GCA! This event is for everyone, so bring your friends and family! 

The event will take place at Strikeforce Lanes, 49 S. Pearl St., Oakfield. To accommodate everyone, there are three shifts available: noon, 3 p.m., and 6 p.m. Entry for teams of four is $120 and teams can register online at www.geneseecancerassistance.org. 

There will also be additional raffles, including a cooler of booze available, and Rusty Rail Bar & Grill will be offering food and drink specials! Come out and have some fun while supporting GCA. All money raised will stay in Genesee County.

Sponsorship opportunities are also available! Can’t make it to bowl? You can still support the event as a sponsor. Lane sponsors will have their sign above each lane for the duration of the event at $150, with only twelve available!

Additionally, Strike and Spare sponsorships are available, please visit the website or contact Event Coordinator, Kathy Antinore, at kathy@geneseecancerassistance.org.

For more information about this event, future events, our services, or how to volunteer, please visit www.geneseecancerassistance.org or call the office at (585) 345-0417.

Press Release:

Genesee County is seeking input from residents and users of its website, co.genesee.ny.us, to improve the overall citizen experience online. The County is committed to making the website more user-friendly and relevant to the community's needs.

The survey, accessible at this link: https://bit.ly/GenCoWebSurvey, is designed to gather feedback on various aspects of the current website, such as layout, content organization, and functionality. Genesee County encourages community members to participate and share their thoughts on improving the website.

"We want to make our website more efficient and user-friendly, and we need the input of those who use it most – the residents of Genesee County," said Steven Falitico, Public Communications and Web Design Specialist for Genesee County. "This survey is a straightforward way for people to provide their insights and help shape the future of the online platform."

The survey will remain open through Feb. 26, and all responses will be confidential. At the end of the survey, there will be an option to sign up as a “test user.” This test would take approximately 5-10 minutes to complete.

Individuals who sign up as test users will receive an email in early March. Genesee County appreciates the community's involvement in this effort and looks forward to implementing changes based on the feedback received.

As Genesee County Democratic Committee chairman, Michael Plitt’s message is clear and simple.

Anybody can run for local office. It’s not overly complicated, and you don’t even need a ton of background or experience or spend oodles of money on the campaign, he says. 

“I think people are reluctant to get involved in today's society, which is unfortunate. Because the fewer people that are on the ballot, the fewer choices people have in November. You know, it's not a secret, Genesee County is predominantly Republican. And, you know, it can be difficult at times to run as a Democrat. Most of the seats are incumbent Republicans,” he said. “But, as a party, we want to try and encourage new voices and new faces, if they're interested in running for office, to — why not at least — have that conversation? You know, it's not for everyone. But we want to present the options and see if maybe running for public office is something that's right for you, so we just keep reaching out every year.”

There’s a long list of positions open for the 2024 election, including:

• U.S. Congress District 24
• New York State Senate District 54
• New York State Assembly District 139
• Genesee County Sheriff
• Genesee County Treasurer
• Genesee County Coroner
• Town of Batavia - Town Justice
• Town of Byron - Town Justice
• Town of Byron - Town Clerk
• Town of Elba - Town Justice
• Town of Oakfield - Town Justice 

The Batavian asked Plitt if he had a sense of why it is difficult to get a good dose of candidates to run for office. Is it a feeling of being the lone wolf in a heavily Republican count or being up against the odds? 

“I think it’s a combination of all the above,” he said. “There are 6,000 Democrats in Genesee County. But running for office as a Democrat requires a time commitment because you’re going to have to do the work of the voters to get elected. So I think people, they may be reluctant to do that. We had some good candidates this last cycle, for sure. I'm very proud of the people we did put on the ballot. And then this year, we have a lot of the state and congressional races and, obviously, running for Congress takes a different level of commitment than running for Byron town justice.”

The Democrat Party will support and encourage new candidates and provide them with training and assistance to help craft a campaign, he said. 

“And how to talk to voters. No one would walk alone,” he said. “That's our job as a committee is to support people who are running for office, especially those running for the first time. We’ve had some successful campaigns on the local level, and even at the higher levels for Senate and Assembly, it’s pretty easy to get on the ballot. I don’t think most people realize that. And our job as a committee is to show people how to do that, how to participate in democracy.”

The requirements do vary depending on the level of government one is interested in, but for something such as a town board position, it may take only 20 to 30 signatures to get on the ballot, he said. And some towns still have caucuses when a candidate expresses interest for a position.

 “Last year we did have interest in Alexander and we had a caucus, we filled a Democratic candidate for town board last year in Alexander, so that was exciting,” he said. “So Alexander voters had a choice.”

For this year, the focus is on the high-level races, he said, such as county coroner, sheriff, and treasurer, with four-year terms. Incumbency has its advantages, he said, and having vacancies, such as with the sheriff position, it “does create opportunities for people to run.” He added a note to Sheriff William Sheron who has announced that he will not run for reelection, that “we wish him well in his retirement.”

Plitt would not disclose if there were prospective Democrat candidates for offices other than David Wagenhauser, who has publicly announced his challenge to Claudia Tenney to represent the NY-24 Congressional seat.

Plitt advised anyone interested in running for a seat to observe and/or talk to the person doing that job now to better understand the responsibilities, what it entails, and how much time it takes. You don’t need to be a millionaire or know a secret handshake to get involved; just spend some time.

“You can contact me or contact the Board of Elections; they'll tell you how to run for town board or any of the seats and how many signatures. It's not that hard to run for local office. Congress, obviously, is much harder. But financially, yes, you can run a campaign for one of the justice seats pretty easily, and if you're a registered Democrat, and you get the Democratic Party's endorsement, the party will help you run for local office,” he said. 

 He reminds folks about what President Barack Obama once said: "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

To express your interest or for more information, email the Genesee County Democratic Committee at geneseenydemocrats@gmail.com. Deadline is Feb. 14.

Music has been a big part of Melzie Case's life since she was four years old when she first started piano lessons at Roxy's Music Store.

Along the way, she's had teachers and mentors to guide her, and one of the most important was Roxie Choate, the former president of the Genesee Symphony Orchestra, herself a retired teacher, who died in October.

Case, who first served on the GSO board as a high school student, has stepped in to lead the GSO.

"Roxie was a passionate and unabashedly determined leader," Case said. "Under her guidance, I learned how to positively steer the GSO Board and how to be a leader in music ministry. We connected and bonded over music, from appreciating classical music to playing piano and organ duets together, and forged a seemingly unlikely friendship through our love for music in the community. Her influence continues to serve me well on a daily basis."

In addition to working together on the GSO board for a number of years, Choate and Case became well acquainted with one another musically at the Batavia First Presbyterian Church, where Coate was an organist, and Case played piano.

Coate had been a music teacher in Oakfield-Alabama. After graduating from Batavia High School, she earned a degree in music education from Buffalo State University.  The 30-year-old Case is now a music teacher at Batavia Middle School.

Her musical journey has prepared her well for both roles.  Starting with those piano lessons at Roxy's Music, she participated in musical theater as a child, was a member of the chorus in middle school and high school, and along the way, she became a percussionist to go along with singing, playing the piano, and organ. She first joined the GSO as a percussionist while still a teen, and then Choate asked her to be a student rep on the GSO board.  Following a break for college, Case rejoined the orchestra and the board as she wrapped up her education in 2016.

"I like GSO because you meet so many people in the community, people from all ages and backgrounds. That is what really drew me in," Case said. 

The orchestra, she said, is comprised of “local folks, people from surrounding counties, music teachers and people with jobs outside of music.  It’s such a wonderful group of people. We have a wonderful time rehearsing together and putting on concerts together.”

Obviously, Case is passionate about music.  She thinks music helps bring people together.

"Music has a unique way of connecting people like nothing else. Music is healing, exciting, joyful, engaging," Case said. "I see every day the impact that music has on people of all ages and how it is a creative outlet in so many ways. Music is a part of nearly every moment of my day, whether I’m singing, playing, teaching, or listening."

One reason GSO has thrived in recent years is the leadership of music director and conductor S. Shade Zajac, Case said.

“I enjoy working with Shade," Case said. "The whole board does. We appreciate that he comes to board meetings when he can or gets on a call with us and that he brainstorms with us about concerts. We really have a great time working with him. He has a great vision when it comes time to select repertoire. The music he picks pushes us all as musicians, and we feel grateful to have him at the helm.”

As president of the board, Case, of course, has a role in ensuring the GSO continues to build on its success, and she that can happen through collaboration with other arts groups in the community and making connections with young people who are interested in music.

Entertaining programs, such as the one Zajac has programmed for Saturday at GCC, will also help garner growing support for the orchestra.

"The program is a blend of emotions," Case said. "There are some familiar pieces and some new ones that people will enjoy."

One of the new pieces is a composition by Paul McCartney.  Yes, the former Beatle writes more than pop songs.  He has composed a number of classical pieces, including Spiral, which the GSO will perform at the concert.

"I'm a huge Beatles fan, so I'm excited to play one of Paul McCartney's lesser-known works," Case said.

The rest of the program is comprised of pieces by other English composers, as Vaughn-Williams and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

The anchor piece of the program is Elgar's “Enigma Variations.” 

"It's one of my favorite pieces in the entire literature," Zajac told The Batavian at the start of the season. "It's a very special piece. I've conducted only one movement from it (previously). It's a remarkable piece of music. Every note and every bar sounds like English music, which is incredible because you can trace every note to some other composer. You can hear the influences of Beethoven and Bach and Wagner. But somehow, he makes it all sound like English music."

Choate is, as they say in show business, a tough act to follow, Case acknowledged.  She led the board. She often handled concert publicity. She was also the personnel manager.

"Roxie did so much.  We find things all the time we didn’t even know about," Case said. "As a board, we say all the time, 'Oh, Roxie did that, and she did this, and she did that.' She was a huge advocate for GSO and for music education.”

The GSO, with what it has achieved and how it can yet grow, will carry on because of a lot of people over the past eight decades, but Choate certainly contributed to GSO's success.

"I have so much pride in GSO," Case said. "We have a professional orchestra right here in Batavia. We can offer to our community that experience. You can go to Buffalo and Rochester and hear those orchestras, or you can stay right here in Batavia and hear a professional orchestra."

The GSO concert on Saturday at GCC begins at 7 p.m.  Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors, and students with an ID can get in for free.

Photos by Howard Owens.

Press Release:

The Genesee County Board of Elections announces a change in the party enrollment deadline for the 2024 primary elections, including the April 2, 2024 Presidential Primary. All  applications for party enrollment must be received by the Genesee County Board of Elections no later  than February 14, 2024. Any requests received after this date will be processed on July 5, 2024. 

For those wishing to make changes to their party enrollment, the Genesee County Board of Elections  encourages prompt submission of applications to avoid any processing delays.

Sammy DiSalvo has been no wallflower when it comes to speaking his mind about city matters, and the Batavia resident wants to be a conduit for anyone with concerns about the current City Council budget before a final vote later this month.

DiSalvo wants to invite any interested city residents to discuss their concerns during a meeting this weekend. It’s at 10 a.m. Saturday at Holland Land Office Museum, 131 W. Main St., Batavia.

I reached out to some of my connections that I had around Batavia and then people that I've just known for awhile in Batavia, about what the council is proposing, specifically for the water and stormwater tax. And just general unhappiness about it, and then just about some random other things that have been proposed," DiSalvo said to The Batavian. "And some people want to get together and talk in a more unified way to present something to council, as opposed to a bunch of people just saying unified things that have mixed messages. And some of them have said that they talked to their council members about various aspects of either the water one or just other things proposed in the budget. So it's really going to be kind of an open floor discussion to bring together something in a unified front."

The idea is to have a discussion, gather citizen concerns, and then present those during the next council meeting, which is at 7 p.m. Feb. 12 at City Hall. 

DiSalvo has been personally prompted to get involved in the proposed $37 million 2024-25 budget as a new home owner who doesn’t want to see an increase in taxes, whether they be for property, water or a potentially new stormwater tax being proposed by city management.  

The budget as is includes a two-cent property tax increase per $1,000 assessed value and a 19-cent per 1,000 gallons of water increase per household. City Manager Rachael Tabelski has raised the possibility of tacking on

 a stormwater tax for every property owner, but no decision or definite amounts have been finalized.

“I don't think, given our city's relatively stable population, and just kind of how the economy is going right now, that taxing people more with a brand new tax that in the future is probably going to be increased, and also adds barriers for homebuyers to have to pay additional taxes when they buy a home, especially as a young homebuyer who just bought a home and knows the huge hurdle that we climb to do it,” he said. “And it's just another barrier. But then in general, in terms of their other stuff they want to do. I'm also concerned about the number of new positions they want to add. I think that they need to be added, but they need to be added over time, not all at once, because it's a huge strain on the budget, essentially.”

As one who has spoken his mind at prior council meetings and run for a council position, DiSalvo has no qualms with sharing his thoughts and opinions with city leaders. 

He believes there may be others wanting to express their varied thoughts as well, and everyone is invited to attend Saturday’s meeting so that perhaps a more “unified front” can be presented at council’s meeting. The meeting should last between 6o to 90 minutes, he said. 

The Batavian asked if DiSalvo had any wanderlust for another run at a council seat, and he had no definitive answer at this time, he said. He is working on his doctorate, and “I don’t really know what is going to come after that,” he said. 

“This is not me trying to do something like that,” he said. “Again, this is me now that I’m a homeowner having different concerns that definitely are at the forefront of my mind. And people, I think, because of my previous runs, probably trust me to be able to speak eloquently about this, and at least moderate Saturday’s conversation.”

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Press Release:

The FEC released fundraising totals for NY-24. Rep. Claudia Tenney’s, numbers showed:

• About 340k raised for the 4th Q 2023 and $1.1 million for fiscal year 2023
• Tenney’s “Victory Fund”  brought in an additional $290k for the year
• $200,000 of the Victory Fund was from a billionaire energy investor and over $70k from another
• Of Tenney’s total take, over 70% was from Big Corporations, Corporate PACS,  lobbyists, and their officers

“This is just wrong,” said David Wagenhauser, who is running to unseat Tenney. “We work for the people signing our paycheck - the people signing Tenney’s check are not the people of NY-24; they are Pfizer, billionaires, bankers, and Wall Street elites,” he said.

“Tenney’s fundraising totals won’t tell you who will win the election, but a review of her donors will tell you who’s got their money's worth and how she will vote this year,” Wagenhauser stated.  

He pointed to Tenney’s previous votes for Big Pharma (she voted against price caps on insulin for diabetics and other efforts to make prescription drugs more affordable); her votes for Big Insurance and against covering people with pre-existing conditions and to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), that would have left millions uninsured; and her votes to cut tax rates for billionaires and Big Corporations, causing the national debt to skyrocket.

While raising big PAC money, Tenney’s campaign also spent huge sums: $845 thousand dollars last year. “Hundreds of thousands of dollars to slick DC consulting firms and $750 meals at exclusive DC insider haunts such as the Capitol Hill Club show just how out of touch Tenney has become and the respect she shows for other people’s money.” Wagenhauser continued, “They go in rich, they come out richer.”

Wagenhauser’s fundraising totals for 2023 were also released yesterday.  They showed he raised over $6k in a very short time after his Christmastime launch. He noted he is significantly above that amount now.  He also noted that unlike Tenney, his campaign will not accept money from Big Corporations, Corporate PACS or lobbyists. “We are working for the people of our District, and will fight for our neighbors, not Wall Street, not K Street lobbyists and not Big Pharma.”

“I can guarantee you that we will be outraised and outspent by Tenney.” he said, “But we will not be outworked or out-organized, or beaten in November by a career politician who no longer represents the interests or values of the people of this District.”  

He concluded, “Tenney once campaigned on fighting for people, not PACS. Her FEC filings and the video I am releasing today tell a different story.  She’s changed and the lines she’s crossed tell us who she’s really fighting for.”