Stories from

Many of you noticed a week or so ago, we added a box on the left side of the site called "Our Towns" and we list links to the towns of Genesee County so you can view news for just those towns.

The links are proving very popular.

If you live in one of those towns and want to add any kind of news about your town to the site, here's how you do it.

1. You must be a registered users and logged into your account
2. When logged in, on the left side you will see a link called "Create Content." Click it.
3. Then click "Blog Entry."
4. Fill in the title field -- try to use a sentence to describe what you're going to post about.
5. In the tags field type the name of your town, such as "Bergen" or "Oakfield."
6. Write your post.

Note:  Step #5 is the key to getting your post to show up on the proper town page.

If we think your post is interesting beyond just your town, we'll add it to The Batavian's home page (front page).

If your post is about some church dinner, government meeting, fund-raising drive, birth or wedding, you can also have it show up on the "Announcements" page by tagging it (using that Tag field) as "announcements."  If the post is also about local sports, tag your post "sports."

What is news? Anything you find interesting and want to share with other people.

Alice Kryzan can't do a thing about the attack ads the DCCC is running against Chris Lee, her her spokesperson Anne Wadsworth told me this evening.

Kryzan, she said, is not happy with the ads. They don't represent her, but campaign law prevents her from speaking with the arm of the DCCC financing and producing the ads.

Wadsworth said the DCCC probably did polling that suggested the line of attack that would work in the 26th District. She called them hard hitting and agreed the ads are negative.

Yesterday, I did a blog post about the candidate debate broadcast on WXXI and I didn't buy Kryzan's assertion that she hasn't run negative ads against Lee. I do agree that I am not aware of any attack ads funded by Kryazan.

I told Wadsworth that when I worked for a Democratic assemblyman in California, the state Democratic party didn't do anything with out the advice and conscent of the nominee, even while the candidate often disclaimed responsibility for some of the attacks launched in his name.  Wadsworth noted that campaign laws, particularly federal campaign laws, have changed a good deal in the past few years.  Kryzan is prohibited from even the slightest communication with the DCCC committee responsible for the ads.

OK, so let's assume the DCCC is savvy enough to find this blog post about its candidate. Here's my message: Grow up! Stop foisting on voters the negative attack ads and get in step with a candidate who clearly wants to promote a campaign based on issues and ideas.  Kryzan is the nominee primarily because she refused to associate herself with spiteful messages. Don't be idiots.

When I was involved in California politics, both as a reporter and a legislative aide, one of my great pleasures was to get to meet and know Lucy Killea. She is a political legend in California.  Alice in some ways reminds me of Lucy, and one of the hallmarks of Killea's entire political career was that she never once attacked an opponent.  She always ran on issues and ideas. To me, there are few things more admirable than a candidate who disclaims attack ads and runs on issues and ideas.

Now, don't get the idea I'm endorsing Kryzan.  I'm just saying, this is an admirable characteristic, one Chris Lee would do well to emulate for the remainder of the campaign, if not the rest of his political career (should he be fortunate enough to have one).

During our conversation, Wadsworth mentioned that Kryzan will be in Batavia tomorrow, walking precincts and she will make a campaign appearance for lunch at Larry's Steakhouse, the new restaurant on Main Street.  (FWIW: I had lunch there today and liked it).

Anne also mentioned something about Kryzan's site I hadn't paid much attention to before -- her photo journal from her campaign.  She invited use to use photos from the journal any time we like, which is where the photo for this post is taken from.  This is a nice use of the web by a campaign. Now, if we can just get Alice to blog.

"Social Networking" is a wonky term for the ability of people on a web site to connect with each other by, among other things, tagging each other as "friends."

We now have this "friends" feature on The Batavian.

Now you can go to a person's profile page and see all of their blog posts and comments, sign their individual guestbook and, if you want, invite that person to be your friend.

You can then go to your own profile page and look at your friend's activity.

This is a brand new feature on the site, so your feed back is welcome.

Over the next few days, I'll invite all registered users to be my friend -- this will make me, I suppose, a bit like Tom on MySpace, but we want to be sure everybody gets introduced to this new feature.

Well, well, Jon Powers has finally made a statement about the status of his campaign -- it's officially over, finally -- and his move out of Western New York.

Alan Bedenko received an e-mail from Powers, which he quotes in full.

The letter is notable for it's lack of a clear endorsement of Alice Kryzan, and how quickly Powers has been willing to abandon WNY.  He doesn't say in the least that he moved out of state in order to help Kryzan's campaign.  He took a job that gave him an opportunity to be nationally focused, rather than focused on WNY.

He does thank his supporters:

We want to thank each of you for your hard work and dedication. Please continue to serve in your community and find a way to get involved in this year’s elections.

This campaign was never about an individual, it was about this community. If you believe that together we have the power to change Washington, then please continue to work toward the dramatic change our country needs.

So I sat in front of the TV tonight watching WXXI trying like hell to figure out why either Chris Lee or Alice Kryzan is qualified to represent the 26th District in Congress.

And I sat here trying like hell to figure what what the real differences are between the two candidates.

And frankly, I'm stumped.

Both were tentative in their presentations and offered up little more than platitudes and facile analysis of the issues facing the country and the district (to be fair, the format sucked -- no more than a minute for any sustained statement from either candidate, and often less).

On the bailout: Both essentially support it.  Lee talks about updated regulations, Kryzan talks about new regulations, but neither questions whether the entire pretext for the bailout isn't just trumped up by the power elite in Washington.

(Though, I gotta say, Kryzan could have given a little stronger shoutout to The Batavian.  During the discussion, she noted that Lee had been silent on the bailout issue until this past Saturday. Well, the first place that had any solid information on Lee's position on the bailout was The Batavian -- come on, Alice, give us some credit! -- It wasn't the Daily News, nor the Buffalo News, nor the D&C that sought Lee out and tried to get him on the record on the topic -- it was The Batavian ... though, perhaps I brag too much).

On the war in Iraq, both agree the troops should come home, but neither addressed  troops in Iraq in context of the current financial conditions in the United States: How the frig can we justify even one more day of this expense?

Both candidates think we should get more militaristic in Afghanistan.

On taxes, both claim they will cut taxes, but neither address how the can do that in current economic conditions, and neither question the current state of the large and growing central government.

On education, both candidates say there needs to be reforms to "no child left behind," but neither question why education is a national government issue at all.

On the environment, both talk about being green and bringing green jobs to Western New York. Neither offer any concrete examples of how they might create green jobs in Genesee County.

if I have bones to pick with either candidate, it would be with Alice Kryzan.

First, Kryzan called herself a fiscal conservative, but the only example she could offer to support that claim is that she knows how to balance her family finances. Big whoopee do! Can't we all do that? That doesn't address the issue of federal taxation and spending when the government has the power to A) raise taxes or change tax codes as it likes; B) because of the fed, print money at will; C) borrow money from over seas lenders at will. 

I really want to know how Kryzan can qualify as a fiscal conservative? What taxes will she cut, specifically? What government spending will she cut, specifically? How will she reign in the Federal Reserve? How will she end deficit spending?  What federal programs will she end in these tight economic times?

Second, Kryzan accused Lee of lying when Lee said she has run negative ads against him. Kryzan is, she said, running a campaign on issues and she hasn't run a negative campaign. I have two words for Alice: Bull and shit. It may not be her campaign directly funding the attack ads on Lee (and I tend to believe Chris at this point that the ads are unfair and inaccurate, and I will believe that until somebody can prove Chris wrong), but I have enough experience in politics to know that if Alice really objected to those ads, they would not be running. (see this post updating this point).

I doubt many people watched this debate tonight, but if any undecided voters did, I can't imagine this debate helped them come to any sort of conclusion about who to vote for, and for the rest, all of the people who already decided that they will support  either the Republican or the Democrat, you probably believe your candidate won and the other candidate is an idiot.  That's the nature of these things, but really -- there isn't a hairs worth of difference between either Republicans or Democrats in any race.

Now, more than ever, this country could use some independent-minded voices calling for real change. We're just not getting it.

Are you ready for higher heating bills this winter?

The D&C reports that natural gas heating is expected to be 18 percent higher this season.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration projected this week that Americans who heat with natural gas will pay an average of 18 percent more this winter than last.

In the Rochester region, where natural gas is the most common fuel for heating, this would mean the average consumer would pay $274 a month for a total of $1,370 from November through March, up more than $200 for the season.

Do you have conservation tips to share?

I think we'll be burning more wood.

Has Jon Powers moved out of state without saying goodbye?  That appears to be the case.

Here's a Rochester Turning post on Powers being taken off the Working Families line:

Apparently, the move is now possible because Powers has moved out of the state. I can’t find that from any other news source, but if it is true, it is very disappointing. That, combined with his continued inability to just endorse Kryzan, is the kind of thing I would have expected from the Jack Davis campaign. But it seems all too clear now: Powers was in the race mostly for personal ambition and he’s just too bitter about losing to campaign for Alice Kryzan.

The Buffalo News reported Powers apparent relocation two days ago.

Alan Bedenko posted his thoughts, as well.

Who knows what's going on, but the fact that Democrat supporters are questioning events makes Powers quiet move out of state look sketchy. Was he really in this to make a difference for Western New York?

WHAM was in Batavia yesterday to cover a class project for 7th grader to interview their parents and others about the election. The big concern: the economy. Here's the video.

Most viewed posts for September:

• Responding To Mike Wrona, by Robert Harding
• Your thoughts on the Republican veep..., by Philip Anselmo
• See you at the Pole, by Nancy Baxter
• Letter to the editor flat out wrong about Senator Obama, by Philip Anselmo
• Chris Lee appears to be dodging debates and questions, by Howard Owens
• The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, by Tom G.
• Alice Kryzan's position on financial crisis and bail outs, by Howard Owens
• Palin stumbles in first televised interview. Just the jitters? Or more?, by Philip Anselmo
• Muckdogs sweep Jamestown to win NY-P crown, by Howard Owens
• Driving in Batavia, by Melissa George