A Republican elections commissioner in Erie County has sent a letter to the Genesee County district attorney asking for a local investigation into Citizens for Fiscal Integrity.

Ralph M. Mohr alleges that:

G. Steven Pigeon laundered thousands of dollars from Buffalo Sabres owner B. Thomas Golisano’s political committee and others in an attempt to conceal the origin and circumvent contribution limits, in violation of state election law.

...

“It has become apparent that the committee operating under the name Citizens for Fiscal Integrity may be participating in a nefarious and deliberate scheme to circumvent the financial reporting requirements of the election law,” Mohr wrote.

Any resulting probe could affect the Democratic campaign of State Senate candidate Joe Mesi, who benefited from Pigeon’s committee. Mohr produced a Responsible New York check signed by Golisano and designated on the memo line for “consulting” in the 61st District primary, in which Golisano supported Mesi.

According to Associated Press writer Devlin Barrett, New York's GOP leaders are girding for a slaughter on election day.

Several GOP congressional seats in the state could be lost.

"We are going to see a loss of House seats," said Rep. Tom Reynolds, a western New York Republican and power-broker who decided not to seek re-election this year. "The pendulum is coming and it's knocking a lot of people off their horses."

...

When Reynolds came to Congress in 1998, he was one of 13 New York Republicans. This year, he is one of six. In a few months, it could be four, three, or even two. The only truly safe GOP House seats in New York are held by John McHugh in the North Country and Peter King on Long Island.

There are many reasons for the fall: increasing Democratic registration, an unpopular Republican president, and a weakening of the state's conservative organization.

A Rasmussen poll shows that across the country, Democrats are leading Republicans in generic congressional races.

UPDATE: Rasmussen is calling the 26th district, where Republicans enjoy a registration advantage, a "toss up."

This week, thousands of voters across the 26th District received the 2008 AARP Voters' Guide, detailing the candidates' positions on a number of important issues.  Alice stands proudly with the AARP on protecting Social Security, improving the financial security of hardworking families, and making health care more affordable for all Americans.  Once again, Chris Lee takes no stand at all.

Lee refused to attend the AARP candidates' forum even though they tried to arrange a date around his schedule, and did not respond to the AARP's questions about his stand on health care, Medicare, and Social Security.  He continues to avoid taking positions on the issues important to the people of Western New York, hiding behind another lying attack ad released this week that derided people in the district as "extremist."

"While Alice stands with working families, Chris Lee only talks about more deregulation and more risk," said campaign spokesperson Anne Wadsworth. "He wants to continue the policies that led to this financial crisis, and he wants to make health care work like the financial industry. Those policies might help Chris Lee and his Wall Street friends, but they'll hurt the hardworking families of Western New York."

Alice has also been endorsed by the Alliance for Retired Americans. She will be a strong defender of Social Security in Congress, making sure that it will be there for all seniors. If people work hard and play by the rules, they should be able to earn a decent wage, provide for their families, and build a better future.

"We live in the greatest country in the world. We can and must have a society that works for all Americans," said Alice. "In Congress, I will be an independent voice for the hardworking families of this district, making sure that they achieve the security and prosperity they have worked so hard to earn."

Here's an MP3 of a radio station interview with Bill Kauffman about his book on Luther Martin.

A little outdated, but I just found this article by Bill in The American Conservative on last month's "Bill Kauffman Day" at Dwyer Stadium.

Then there is the more recent TAC column about Lucine Kauffman, town supervisor of Elba. (to follow that link, you need to sign up or a temporary free account -- pretty painless -- and then be able to download the PDF).

The Republicans are indulgent of Lucine’s non-Republican husband, but then in a healthy society politics plays so small a role in our lives that who really gives a damn how others vote? Cold ideologies melt in the warmth of daily communal life.

I think of the local civic organizations in which, say, Assembly of God churchgoers and gays work side by side in the cheerful labor of neighbors. They can be friends because they are, to each other, rounded and fully dimensional. They are people, not cartoons.

This is nigh impossible in larger places, where such disparate folk would never meet and would exist to each other only on the flat screen of the TV set. Instead of Kate and Dave they would be “Religious Nut!” and “Fag!” How dreary. How lifeless. How very Red and Blue.

If you can, read the whole thing -- it's full of Bill's usual wit and fine writing.

The Republican Party has been taken over by a bunch of kooks"-Barry Goldwater.

Since I was a small child I remember watching with a certain awe the political audacity and committment to which Western New Yorkers, especially in my home county of Genesee, committed themselves to not only political candidates but their ideas as well. Everywhere I went growing up, whether it was in Dunkin Donuts or the grocery store everyone had an opinion around election time. No matter who you were for, you were for someone and you had an opinion on everyone.

Why then, is this predominantly Republican county now registering more Democrats than Republicans? Why are even Republicans coming in our small, rural county committee's office asking for Obama/Biden, Mesi and Kryzan signs?

Perhaps their just not falling for the same old tired talking points anymore, maybe they realize what an aged Barry Goldwater said during the rise of the Religious Right (see above quote)......

We have two major competitive races in our county, one for State Senate and one for Congress. In our State Senate race we have a 20+ year incumbent Erie County legislator, a legislator who was also the biggest proponent of the policies of the Joel Giambra administration. These policies caused a bit of a crisis because Erie County, well, see, they ran out of money. He often quips that he "never voted for a tax increase,". The record shows this is true, however, he bullied those same policies through the Erie County Legislature that caused a fiscal collapse and constituted the need for massive tax increases. What Ranzenhofer is saying, in short, is this...."I caused the problem but I don't want a solution,". Nice, real nice.

On the other hand, in our Congressional race, we have Christopher J. Lee. A nice fellow and a businessman, it's true that his company does have some factories here in Western New York. Even so, his company did have manufacturing facilities in China, a fact that he tried to hide numerous times before being confronted on it during a debate, when finally being backed into a wall, Lee called it a "business policy" with something about assembling being done in China but not manufacturing. Disingenuous much? Politics of parsing on overdrive.

It finally seems that even in a deep red county like Genesee County, people are starting to pull the Democratic lever despite being traditionally Republican for years, that same opinionated attitude may very well be the downfall of a once very dominant rural Western New York Republican base.

Maybe its health care, maybe its education, maybe its the war in Iraq, maybe its the economy.

Or maybe, just maybe, the good and normally Republican voters in Genesee County have had it with the state of their party, because it's been "taken over by a bunch of kooks,"

You don't see a lot of games like the one between Dansville and Oakfield-Alabama Friday night.

A close game early turned into an offense show as the second-seeded Hornets knocked off the seven seed 63-34.

Jon Fisher set the Section 5 record for most extra points kicked in a game with nine, both Tim Smith and Brad Riner had huge games and the Hornets are moving on to the semifinals, where they will either see Pembroke or Bishop Kearney.

Smith had 333 all-purpose yards, including 196 on the ground. He also scored six touchdowns, which is one shy of the Section 5 playoff single game record. Riner gained 178 yards with two TDs on 13 carries.

After a three-and-out, O-A had a six minute drive to start things off, with Tim Smith scoring on a 20-yard scamper.

The Hornets recovered the onside kick, Smith broke a couple more runs and then scored from 3-yards out.

But the Mustangs were definitely not going to back down.

Dansville had a nice drive of its own, marching 65 yards behind the passing of Garrett Hoag, but couldn't convert on a fourth-and-goal at the 5-yard line.

Oakfield-Alabama started moving the ball and then made a mistake, coughing the ball up and giving the Mustangs some solid starting field position. Dansville quickly capitalized as Hoag tossed a 21-yard TD pass to Jordan VanDunk.

A 20-yard run by Riner led to a 9-yard touchdown run by Smith with two minutes left in the half, giving O-A a 21-7 advantage.

After the Mustangs went three-and-out, the Hornets were looking to run out the clock and go into halftime with the two-score advantage.

But Dansville called a timeout when Oakfield-Alabama had a fourth-and-4 with five seconds left on the clock. The move might have been to try and cause a turnover or maybe they thought O-A would punt, but coach John Dowd and company decided to take advantage of the coaching blunder.

Quarterback A.J. Kehlenbeck gave the ball to Smith on a screen and the senior worked his way 46 yards into the end zone, making it 28-7 at the break.

Riner was impressive in the third quarter as the Hornets received the opening kickoff and he quickly had a 48-yard touchdown run. Dansville scored on a touchdown pass to Matt Schuster to get within 21 points, but Riner's next carry went 57 yards for another score.

The Hornets recoverd the onside kick, then Smith scored his fifth touchdown of the game on a 50-yard run.

Schuster had an 80-yard touchdown run for Dansville and Josh Athoe scored from 2-yards out for Oakfield-Alabama, making the score 56-21 after three quarters of play.

Hoag tossed a 61-yard touchdown pass to VanDunk, Smith returned a kickoff 91 yards for a score and Tim Rauber got a Dansville touchdown to end the game.

Noah Seward led the defensive effort with eight tackles.

O-A improves to 8-0 and will get the winner of Saturday's game between No. 3 Pembroke and No. 6 Bishop Kearney.

Kearney knocked the Hornets out of the playoffs last year and the Dragons are O-A's league rival, which they beat 25-24 in the regular season.

 The Batavia football team thought it found something about Geneva that would give them an advantage last week, but apparently the Panthers were the ones that got the information in the regular season finale.

Top seeded Geneva put an end to No. 8 Batavia's season in convincing fashion, winning the Class B opener 41-6.

Last week, the Panthers had success throwing the ball and this week they did it with the run game.

Shamar Bridges rushed for 118 yards with three touchdowns and quarterback Bobby Martin added 102 yards and a score on 12 attempts. He also completed 8-of-14 pass attempts for 85 yards and a TD.

Rob Williams had the only Batavia touchdown in the fourth quarter as the Blue Devils fall to 3-5 and are eliminated from the playoffs.

The Attica football team heard all week about how the program has only one sectional game victory in its history and that they had no chance of beating third-seeded East Rochester/Gananda.

They proved a lot of people wrong Friday night, picking up a historic 18-0 road victory.

"This is huge," coach Jeff Cusmano said. "It isn't a big secret that we have struggled in sectionals. Some of our guys were getting sick of hearing about it and they made an effort today to put their foot down and make history for Attica football."

The gameplan for the Blue Devils was simple - keep the ball out of the hands of Neil Dotterer, who is one of the best quarterbacks in Section 5 history.

It worked.

"We decided to try and keep the ball away from Dotterer," Cusmano said. "We tried to play smash-mouth football and get 3-4 yards per carry and keep the ball away from him. We were successful in doing that."

Andy Ruddock got the call and answered. The GR all-star running back rushed the ball a whopping 37 times for 164 yards to help Attica sustain long drives and keep the ball away from ER/Gananda's high powered offense.

"He showed us that he can carry the load," Cusmano said. "He keeps plugging along."

The only thing that Ruddock didn't do was get in the end zone.

Quarterback Brandon Rollins tossed two touchdown passes to Shawn Dupuis and Dave Jennings had a touchdown run late in the game.

The sixth-seeded Blue Devils (5-3) will get the winner of Saturday's game between Bath and Palmyra-Macedon next week.

Larry S. Yoho, 36, of 111 Liberty St. (Room G), Batavia, was charged with second-degree menacing and second-degree criminal trespass Thursday morning, Genesee County sheriff's deputies said. Yoho is accused of entering a home on East Main Street Road while the occupants were sleeping and threatening the property and the individuals. Yoho also allegedly swung a hammer at the individuals in the home. He was sent to Genesee County Jail in lieu of $2,000 bail. An order of protection was issued for the residents.

James J. Preedom, 24, of 18 East Ave., Batavia, was charged with first-degree criminal contempt and second-degree harassment Thursday for an incident that occurred Wednesday, city police said. Preedom is accused of harassing an individual who held an order of protection against him. He was sent to Genesee County Jail without bail, pending a court appearance this morning.

I know it’s early, but let's start thinking about Holiday Shopping!

The Holland Land Office Museum is proud to announce the arrival of the fourth building in the Custom Wood Gift series. On November 1, 2008 the next building, the Old City Hall / Brisbane Mansion will be available at the Museum Store inside the Holland Land Office Museum.

The 5 inch by 7 inch gift features the old City Hall on the front and a history of the building on the back.

Here is the building history from the back:

Brisbane Mansion / City Hall
Batavia, New York

The Brisbane Mansion was built in 1853 by George Brisbane, the son of Batavia’s first merchant. The Brisbane family donated the mansion to the city and assumed it would be razed for a city park.

On February 5, 1918, Ellicott Hall which was serving as city headquarters burned to the ground.

After the fire, City Council decided the Brisbane Mansion would serve as City Hall. Frank Homelius drew up plans for remodeling and the Mansion opened as the new City Hall on September 28, 1918.

In 2004, City Hall was moved from this building to the new City Centre.

The Brisbane Mansion is part of the Genesee County Historic District and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

This is the fourth building available. The others are the Holland Land Office Museum, the Richmond Mansion and the old Genesee County Courthouse.

See the entire collection at http://www.hollandlandoffice.com/museum_store_woodgifts.htm

Call the Holland Land Office Museum at (585) 343-4727 to preorder yours today.

BUILD YOUR OWN BATAVIA!

Maybe you've seen those yellow stickers stuck to the gas pump by the county's department of Weights and Measures, and maybe—like me—you've asked yourself: What does that mean? Who is this Donald D. Luxon fellow? What is he measuring? What is his sticker worth and why can't it be detached? Earlier this week, I set out to answer those question.

Let's start with the easy answer: Weights and Measures weighs and measures. Very funny, you say. But it's true. OK, so let's back up then...

Donald Luxon is the department's director. He's been with them for nine years or so now, ever since he left Eastman Kodak Co. He admits to me that he wishes he had always had this job though. He loves it. And why shouldn't he? He gets out and works with people all over the county all year long. He gets to play with cool equipment, like tolerance measures and apothecary weights. Plus, he's a one-man show.

On a given day, you may find him out at the gas pumps of any station in the county, measuring fuel. It works like this: He fills a five-gallon can with each grade of gas and measures what his can tells him against what the pump tells him was just dispensed. If they match up, great. If they don't, well... it depends. If the pumps are issuing too much gas—that is, if it's in the customer's favor, Luxon can't shut it down. But you can bet, he says, that the station will have that fixed pretty quickly. If the pump is issuing less fuel than it says, then the station owner is notified and the pump can be shut down if it isn't fixed. Luxon tells me that he has never had to fine anyone before, and folks always fix a problem once they're aware of it.

(In case you're wondering: the pumps are permitted a tolerance of plus or minus six cubic inches per five gallons, which is about 1,155 cubic inches total.)

Often, too, Luxon will take samples of the gas that he then sends to a lab in New Jersey to be tested for octane and to make sure there isn't too much of this or that in the gasoline. He says that there's never once been a failure in Genesee County since he took over the job nine years ago.

Such work also gives you a pretty good handle on how the pumps work. Luxon says he often hears folks say that the temperature outside ought to be a clue on when folks should fuel up because the gasoline will either expand or contract depending on how cold or warm it is. Sure, that's true to an extent, he says. But most of the gas is in big tanks underground where there are no significant shifts in temperature. Whether it's hot or cold outside will only really affect about the first half gallon of gas that's in the tube that runs from the handle back into the tank.

Another rumor that turns out has some merit to it is that folks shouldn't fuel up when they see a tanker filling up the underground tanks. It's believed that in filling up those enormous tanks, the gasoline gets all jostled about and some of the sediment and particulates at the bottom of the tank get stirred up and can end up in your tank. That's true, too, to an extent, says Luxon. It's a fine rule of thumb to keep away from the pumps when you see they're being refilled, but if you do fill up at that time, the chances that you'll get the crud in your tank are pretty slim.

Luxon's job isn't all about the gas pumps, though. He also checks other tanks: milk tanks. Just as often as he'll head out to a gas pump, he'll head to a dairy farm to make sure that a 10,000 gallon milk storage tank is really holding 10,000 gallons.

That's the measures side of the gig, but Luxon also does a lot with weights. In fact, he checks every single scale in every grocery store, quarry and pharmacy in the county: whether it's used to weigh a tomato, a trucker's haul, a slice of head cheese, a flank steak or a dose of valium.

City residents have been notified. Batavia is taking applications for positions on several of its boards and committees. We received a press release yesterday detailing the openings and the requirements for each volunteer position.

• Cable TV Advisory Board: There is one opening.
• Historic Preservation Commission: There is one opening. Any architects, historians, residents of a historic district or residents that have demonstrated a significant interest in the commitment to the field of historic preservation are encouraged to apply.
• Planning & Development Committee: There are three openings and one opening for an alternate member. Residents from Wards 2, 4, and 6 are needed.
• Zoning Board of Appeals: There are two openings. At least one resident from Ward 2 and 5 are needed. 

If you're interested or you want more information, contact City Clerk Heidi J. Parker at (585) 343-9221. You can also download an application from the city's Web site. Applications must be submitted to the clerk no later than November 21.

WBTA's Dan Fischer reports this morning that a worker at the Alliance Energy power plant in Batavia was injured last night when he became trapped under a garage door. The man has not been unidentified, but Fischer reports that he was working alone when he became trapped and used his cell phone to call for help. He was taken by Mercy Flight to Strong Memorial Hospital after being freed by Batavia fire crews. His injuries were thought to be serious, but he has since been examined and found to be "OK."

I hate robocalls. I hate any unsolicited call from people, organizations or businesses I don't know -- political, telemarketing or otherwise.

For voters of Genesee County, they're about to get one more caller: Jon Powers.

The D&C reports that Powers is going to record a robo call for Alice Kryzan, the 26th district congressional nominee for the Democratic party.

Powers lost to Kryzan in the primary and recently endorsed his former opponent.

Powers will also be in the district between now and election day making public appearances on behalf of Kryzan.

Hi to all my friends in Batavia and Genesee County.   This is Paul Weiss.  Many of you may remember me from the City Council and Notre Dame High School.  I now live in New Smyrna Beach, FL and as many of you might guess, I have become involved in Democratic Party politics, especially the Obama campaign.  

Because Florida is a swing state and my county (Volusia) was one of the few counties to support John Kerry and Al Gore, the campaign is much more interesting that anything I have ever experienced. 

Barack Obama was in Daytona Beach a couple of weeks ago and John McCain was here today.   Tomorrow Joe Biden's wife will be here and many people believe Hillary Clinton will make a campaign stop bfore election day.

The major effort now is early voting.   There are five places you can go to in the County to vote any day between 8 am and 4 pm.   In just four days, more than 17,000 voters have already cast their ballots.   Democrats are out voting Republicans by 2 to 1 ratio in early voting.The Obama campaign is very organized to get out the early vote and they expect a big effort on Saturday.   The Obama campaign is independent of the Democratic Party and they have 10 paid staff members in the county along with hundreds of volunteers.   The McCain campaign runs through the local Republican party.   I'm not quite sure what they are doing as about all I see from them are lawn signs. 

I'll try to keep you posted.  

Remember--Go Bills!

 All of the high school football previews are set in sports. Here's the list of playoff games with links.

Batavia at Geneva

Attica at ER/Gananda

South Seneca/Romulus at Le Roy

Dansville at Oakfield-Alabama

Bishop Kearney at Pembroke

Perry vs. Notre Dame, at East Rochester

Pool Play roundup

And just in case you missed it earlier in the week, here are the Genesee Region League all-stars.

Batavia City Police have confirmed a burglary downtown at the Elks Lodge on Main Street. No further information is yet available. We will provide the details when we get them.

(UPDATE 6:25pm): Det. Todd Crossett told us that there is not too much information available at this point.

"It's an ongoing investigation," he said. "We can say that it was entered, and property was stolen."

Det. Crossett could not say what was stolen from the lodge. He did not know when the break-in occurred, but he was able to say that the burgler accessed the lodge through a window.

We have few details about the accident at this time. No bus passengers were hurt. A person in one of the other two vehicles was reportedly injuried. We'll update this post either later this evening or tomorrow morning.

(UPDATE 5:59pm): Genesee County sheriff's deputies are still investigating the crash and have not yet put together a report. We have been told that no information will be available until that happens. We will be sure to pass along that info once it comes our way, hopefully by morning.

(UPDATE 7:59am): Genesee County sheriff's deputies released a report on the crash early this morning. The Byron-Bergen school bus was stopped on Route 237 in Byron. Its red lights were flashing, and a student was getting off the bus. Kathleen A. Miller, 44, of Byron, was stopped in her SUV behind the bus. James A. Wright, 51, of Le Roy, had been unable to stop in time and crashed into the back of the SUV, pushing that vehicle into the back of the bus. No students were injured on or off the bus. Miller was taken to the hospital for treatment of a minor head injury.

Yesterday, Alice announced the formation of Green Businesses for Alice, a bipartisan group of green business representatives from Western New York who are supporting her candidacy. The group is the result of Alice's work in the community bringing these businesses together, showing the leadership skills we will need to help us realize the promise of the green economy and encourage the growth of small businesses.

Local businessman Andrew McLellan, who runs Environmental Education Associates, commented: "During her campaign she's reached out to green businesses across our community, and her efforts to bring us together have served as a catalyst for the formation of an ongoing association of green businesses that will work to bring good-paying jobs here to the district and help us take advantage of the growing green economy."

Alice is already taking steps to make her policy goals a reality once she is elected. For too long we've had politicians who seem more concerned with empty talking points than with getting things done. Alice is the only candidate in this race to put out real plans on how she'll lower taxes, bring jobs to the area, and encourage the growth of small businesses. That's the kind of leadership we need in Washington.

Anne Wadsworth

Kryzan for Congress

www.kryzanforcongress.org 

The village of Le Roy will consider paying $15,000 in consulting fees to look into becoming retailers of electricty, according to the Daily News. Mayor George Brady invited "a company that helps villages establish such projects" to come to a future meeting so that village trustees can learn more about what's involved and what it means if a municipality turns retailer.

Of course, nothing has yet been decided, but reporter Scott DeSmit reports that the village of Hilton in Monroe County has become a retailer of electricity, selling to its residents and saving them about $40 per year as a result.

One question: How much would the $15,000 consulting fees cost residents in a year? Less than $40?

In other news, Roger Muehlig put together a fantastic piece on the upcoming 62nd season of the Genesee Symphony Orchestra. Muehlig concentrates on one member of that orchestra, 11-year-old Leighann Howland, a violinist. The GSO will open the season this Sunday at 4:00pm at Genesee Community College, then at St. Mary's Church in Medina on Monday at 7:30pm.

Today's issue also features a few stories on upcoming Halloween fests and frights for those who are wondering what to do this weekend and next.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.