Last week, State Senator Mark Grisanti submitted a pleasant but innocuous bit of legislation commemorating the 175th anniversary of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library system. Isn’t it remarkable, he said to this colleagues on the floor of the State Senate in Albany, to consider that in 1836 Buffalo’s library circulated 5,500 books, while last year the system circulated more than eight million items and hosted more than four million visitors?

Then Grisanti seized the moment to launch an attack on the policies of Erie County Executive Chris Collins, a fellow Republican:

“It’s unfortunate that in my district, in Erie County, library funding is always getting cut, as well as arts and culturals,” Grisanti said.

“That’s one of the reasons that yesterday I voted against that tax extension,” he continued, referring to a vote on whether the state would permit Erie County to continue to collect the 1.75 percent “extra” sales tax that has been in place so long that few can hope it will ever be repealed. “Some of that money should be used for libraries that benefit all the people of Western New York. That money should be used for the culturals. Money should be earmarked to protect libraries at all costs so that children have access to computers who can’t afford them.”

—geoff kelly