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Letters to Artvoice

LAUGHABLE JOURNALISM

As a staunch supporter of both Mayor Brown and the candidacy of Jessica Maglietto (or, as Mr. Kelly refers to her in his infinitely well-informed article, “Jennifer” Maglietto), I feel compelled to respond to Geoff Kelly’s repugnant piece, the “The Bully’s Pulpit” (Artvoice v6n29).

While I long ago conceded that it is Artvoice’s trite, careworn and self-appointed role to oppose anyone in local power (good or bad) in its ongoing attempt to remain Buffalo’s answer to New York’s far edgier and more intelligent Village Voice, I still found myself shocked by the sweeping charges and hackneyed reporting present in Mr. Kelly’s “news feature.”

In his one-page missive, Mr. Kelly manages to slander both Mayor Brown and Deputy Mayor Casey’s reputations, as well as cast two legitimate candidates for Buffalo’s Common Council as mindless puppets. In addition, he denigrates intelligent, hard-working City Hall employees by inferring that they are (alternatively) timid, weak-minded zombies being intimidated by the administration, or vicious thugs that bully their co-workers at the behest of our presumably Rasputin-like Deputy Mayor Casey. With all of this palace intrigue, whenever do they find the time to process all of my parking tickets?

Even more comically, Mr. Kelly then veers direction, and tries to paint the Mayor as the sinister force in local politics by relating a conversation he had with a candidate for Common Council at his son’s basketball game. In this conversation, the Mayor asks the candidate how he is doing, and then empathizes with some of the perceived struggles the candidate is experiencing (gasp!). Clearly, the Mayor works for Satan and should be banned from all future amateur, and even professional, basketball games.

However, there is a serious and disturbing element to this article that should not be ignored. Mr. Kelly makes numerous allegations of bona fide criminal activity in his piece. Allegations of this type are serious, and should not be made without careful reflection. If Mr. Kelly believes these allegations to be true, and has definitive proof of them, then this proof should be brought to the fore. However, there does not seem to be any real proof available - just a few anecdotes and conversations.

In fact, the primary source material for this article seems to be political opponents of the administration. Interviewing a group of people that will inevitably have negative things to say about the Mayor and his administration hardly makes for a credible piece of investigative journalism. Furthermore, the dearth of actual journalism present in this invective reveals it for precisely what it is—a piece of mudraking gossip, rife with second-, third- and fourth-hand stories. It has all the weight and import of a Page Six article about Paris Hilton’s most recent night out.

Sadly, the people mentioned in this article who endure the worst treatment at the hands of Mr. Kelly are Ms. Maglietto and Mr. Savage. It is one thing to be attacked outright in a newspaper column, it is quite another to be marginalized through the insinuation that you are the instrument of another person’s ambition. In Ms. Maglietto’s case, I have been fortunate to know her, and she is clearly an independent, intelligent and articulate voice for the future of Buffalo. She is certainly being given short-shrift by Mr. Kelly. Perhaps he should take the time to meet her.

It is my fervent hope that, before Mr. Kelly puts pen to paper for the next round of his laughable brand of journalism, he evaluate the comfortable position he enjoys writing from his own bully pulpit. It must be liberating to compose “news features” without the having to use those pesky “facts” that most journalists have to spend time researching.

Aaron Siegel

Buffalo

CASINO CHRONICLES

I’ve long been an admirer of Bruce Jackson, both as a scholar and as a community activist. But I grow weary of his rants in opposition to the downtown casino (“Can the Senecas buffalo Judge Skretny?” Artvoice v6n29). Rather than argue with some of the unsubstantiated assertions in his most recent Artvoice article, I offer this modest proposal. Since it seems almost certain that a full-fledged casino will succeed the dinky one already in place, let Dr. Jackson list six or seven dire consequences he expects will be evident in a years time. It would be helpful, but not necessary, if those consequences are quantifiable.

Then let’s see what actually occurs. If by this time next year Jackson has been proven right on most of predictions, I’ll join him in whatever efforts he cares to mount to close or curtail the casino.

Jack Dumpert

Kenmore