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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v12n3 (01/17/2013) » Section: Week in Review


This Just In: District Attorney Sedita will appeal acquittal of peace protester Nate Buckley

by Geoff Kelly
On Wednesday afternoon, Artvoice learned that Erie County District Attorney Frank A. Sedita III had filed notice of his intention to appeal Judge Joseph A. Fiorella’s December 20 dismissal of all charges brought against Nate Buckley.

Campaign Finance Curiosities

by Geoff Kelly
State Senator Tim Kennedy’s brush with obsolescence in last September’s Democratic primary cost him a pretty penny: On January 7, Kennedy’s campaign committee paid $34,335 to the law firm Colucci & Gallaher for services rendered in the post-primary recount that eventually gave Kennedy a narrow victory over challenger Betty Jean Grant. This on top of a $25,000 payment to the law firm Connors & Vilardo on October 16, for a total of nearly $50,000. Grant’s attorney’s were volunteers, though reportedly her supporters enjoyed the fulsome cooperation of the Erie County Board of Elections during the re-canvassing of votes. In all, Kennedy spent $662,704.78 last year retaining his seat. Grant spent $33,273.75.

Let the Fracking Begin

by Geoff Kelly
The Ithaca-based Community Environmental Defense Council—also known as the husband-and -wife legal team of David and Helen Slottje—sent a letter last week to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the state Inspector General, laying out what they considered to be DEC’s violations of state law in the agency’s effort to create a framework for permitting and regulating deep-well, high-volume hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in New York State’s Marcellus Shale formation.

Small Talk
On Wednesday, January 16, Republican political consultant Michael Caputo re-launched PoliticsNY.net, the stump on which the late Joe Illuzzi stood to spew his often incoherent mix of political gossip and venom. In his first post, Caputo recalls how he first became aware of Illuzzi’s site:



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