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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v8n45 (11/04/2009) » Section: Week in Review


Seven Days: The Straight Dope From the Week That Was

by Geoff Kelly
About 400 supporters of Assemblyman Sam Hoyt turned out Thursday night for a fundraiser ($150 per person/$250 per couple) at Ani DiFranco’s Asbury Hall. Hoyt’s folks called a “Legislative Victory Party,” marking the assemblyman’s successful sponsorship of the Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit, the Reproductive Health Protections Act, the Main Street Revitilization Program, and Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s Government Consolidation Bill. What the event really marked, of course, was the beginning of Hoyt’s re-election campaign. Last year political operative Steve Pigeon spent $500,000 of Tom Golisano’s money trying to unseat Hoyt, and rumor has it that Pigeon and Golisano will double down this year, with help from some other deep pockets. (North District Common Councilman Joe Golombek, who lost a primary challenge to Hoyt in 2006 by just 400 votes, remains the odds-on candidate for challenger. Folks are already figuring out who will fill his Council seat should he win.) The most surprising face in the crown Thursday night: developer Carl Paladino, lately no good friend to incumbents or Democrats of Hoyt’s liberal ilk. But Paladino and Hoyt were chummy. Maybe Carl figures anyone so hated by Buffalo Teachers Federation chief Phil Rumore has got to be worth supporting.

Scorecard: The Week's Winners & Losers

by Zachary Burns
Calculating just how many of their 15 minutes of fame these two figures have used up.



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