A few of you may remember our efforts to get all of the local candidates running for state Senate and Congress to answer three questions about Genesee County. That was well over a month ago now. We had previously heard back from Chris Lee and Alice Kryzan. We were still waiting on Joe Mesi and Mike Ranzenhofer. In all fairness, however, we were late on getting out the questions to Ranzenhofer, who only received them a few weeks ago.
Well, today Ranzenhofer got us his responses. Here they are:
What is your favorite thing to do in Genesee County?
Play golf at Terry Hills or meet friends for dinner at Bones or Red Osier.
When you meet a person who has never been to Western New York, what is the first thing you tell him or her about the region?
We have the nicest summers on earth.
What is your favorite book about Western New York?
Water For Elephants, by Sara Gruen.
Other responses to the three questions:
I think he should check the
I think he should check the sign next time he eats out - "Bones"? or maybe better yet - Bohns.
Apparently he is so hungry he runs in without even looking at the building or sign on his drive into the parking lot.
He may be all excited from
He may be all excited from his golf game?
Perhaps he really hasn't
Perhaps he really hasn't spent much time out here and doesn't actually know better?
Mike Ranzenhofer....typical
Mike Ranzenhofer....typical Republican clap-trap, after being a County Legislator for over 20 years he still is way out of touch with Western New York, funny how when calling his district no one knows who he is. Joe Mesi has downstate contributers too, but he's also supported by business and labor leaders both throughout the district and has the support of successful businessmen like Tom Golisano
One more thing, if Mesi is a "socialist" because I can see the charge coming, why was he endorsed by Tom Golisano, who's mantra is fiscal responsibility and by the Erie County Conservative party? Because both felt that unlike his opponent, he was much more willing to commit to fighting fraud in entitlement programs and is committed to looking at the state government line by line and cutting out waste. Mesi's non-profit work and business experience (with Baby Joe LLC) gives him the best perspective to solve our problems.
Think about it before you vote for another career politician, especially one who followed Joel Giambra even as Erie County went down in flames like Mike Ranzenhofer, or Chris Lee, a typical neo-conservative hack with the same policies of the past 8 years.
Is Mike Ranzenhofer going to change anything? No.
But why blame Mike? Isn't it
But why blame Mike? Isn't it possible that Philip spelled Bohn's wrong? Shoot, I almost just spelled it the wrong way!
I copied and pasted the
I copied and pasted the answers directly out of the e-mail received from the campaign. So, no, Philip didn't spell anything wrong—in this instance, anyway.
Lets look at some facts. Of
Lets look at some facts. Of the recent (approx.) $140,000 that Mesi raised, only $350 came from the district. Not much. The roughly $147,000 came from NYC, Albany, and Washington. As well, Ranzenhofer has both the Conservative and Independence party line in both Genesee and Erie County. The Bohn's thing came from a staffer, Mike did not type it himself. Good grief.
One thing that Mr.
One thing that Mr. Ranzenhofer mentioned in his speech is to "follow the money trail,"....I did just that, he recieved about 176k from the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, which accounts for most of his money raised. Take a look at where a vast majority of those contributions are coming from, Lower Manhatten, Nassau County and the rest of Long Island. http://www.elections.state.ny.us:8080/reports/rwservlet?cmdkey=efs_sch_…
Mike Ranznehofer has much more money from downstate than Mesi has. Mesi also has the support of Tom Golisano, a person who spent his life and money creating jobs in WNY. If Mesi is taking bad for taking money from downstate, then Ranzenhofer is far worse.
Thats also not true about
Thats also not true about Mesi not having raised money from Buffalo, look at his filings. http://www.elections.state.ny.us:8080/reports/rwservlet?cmdkey=efs_sch_…
Dan: the $350 is true. You
Dan: the $350 is true. You have the wrong filing dates. As well, how do you explain Mesi's father being paid more from his (Mesi's) organ donation charity than what actually went to the cause? Shades of Power's war kids relief, perhaps?
You said that it was out of
You said that it was out of the total 140k that he raised, it may have been true of one filing period....but not his entire race. I used that period as an example of him raising a lot more than just 350 dollars from WNY total.
Really getting desperate in the race are we? Are you guys even going to talk about the issues or just personalities?
Anyone who gets an
Anyone who gets an endorsement from Mr. Tom Golisano should be taken seriously.
Mr. Golisano has put his money where his mouth and track record is when it comes to reform.
Despite party or platform when a person has a successful business and invests those profits back to the community that the money came from in order to better that community you have to think twice.
The financial problems of our whole nation will not be solved by any politician saying or running on ideas but it can only be solved on money making, jobs created and how much any one businesses profits will be re invested into that areas economy.
That is never going to happen when so much money is wasted just to prove that one candidate is less crooked than the other.
Jay, I consider you a good
Jay, I consider you a good guy and your opinion does matter to me. But, I need to get past this traditional political BS about who donated to who’s campaign. Let me ask you a few honest questions that I would like clear answers to. Not talking points or things from his literature. I want plain answers from Jay, the guy I know.
Did you know Ranzenhofer before he started his run for office, or was he just a party guy from Erie County who showed up to a committee meeting asking for an endorsement?
How do you know that Ranzenhofer will work for Batavia, Leroy and the rest of GC County and not just forget we exist the day after the election?
I ask this because half of Mesi’s family lives in this county and I know he isn’t going to turn his back on them. I know for certain I can call Joe up on his cell phone and ask him for help if the city needs something. Convince me Ranzenhofer is so good for our county and why I should turn my back on Joe who I have on speed dial? Tell me why Ranzenhofer is going to care about what happens so far away from Erie County? Tell me why you believe electing Ranzenhofer is good for GC and not just the Republican Party?
I have one simple comment -
I have one simple comment - the guy can't even answer a question - favorite book about western ny and he comes up with a NY Times best-seller NOT about western NY. Sorry but I want the guy who will actually LISTEN to the question. - Can someone explain that one - and yeah it does matter that he or someone else said Bones - because it shows he knows nothing about this area!
Charlie: I had met
Charlie: I had met Ranzenhofer before the election process began. He is not a huge party guy. He is a regular guy with a wife and two grown kids. Both kids live out of state for work and this gives him stress. I do not think he is real talkative about that. As for representation, think Mary Lou Rath. She was a Republican from Erie County who went out of her way for us in Genesee County, especially for Batavia, no matter if Batavia was being run by Republicans or Democrats. You have had instant access with Rath and you will have the same with Mike.
No doubt that Mesi is a nice guy. He is quite personable. I have talked with him. If he wins I will reach out to him. BUT...he talks about Sam Hoyt style IDA reform and this will kill the GCEDC that has been such a benefit to G.C. He favors the Taylor Law. You and I both know how much the Taylor Law costs the city of Batavia. Can the taxpayer afford Taylor law expansion. This is putting unions before the taxpayer. I get the feeling that he is being given talking points that he does not totally understand. Kind of like wind turbines. Has he been to Stafford, Oakfield, and LeRoy to see the opposition there? He has also made a promise to youth football in Batavia to provide them playing fields with parking. How is he going to keep this promise? He is either pandering or unaware of the costs.
Then there is the issue of downstate control. A Senate takeover by democrats means the state is controlled by 3 dems from New York City. We will be forgotten in WNY. This would be good for downstate dems, bad for all of upstate.
Ranzenhofer has an active law office here. No family that I know of here! Many parts of his Erie County district (Akron, Newstead, etc) are quite like G.C. He will represent us well.
If Mesi is so great, why did he not get the initial endorsement? You guys were strong for Ianello.
Charlie: sorry about the long
Charlie: sorry about the long winded response! Mike is a decent guy who understands the issues and has given his personal committment to our County and its needs.
O.K. your turn! Mesi is always saying he is "fighting" for this and "fighting" for that. Give me some specifics of his plan.
Remember, whoever wins, electeds like you and I need to make sure the winner keeps his focus on our needs here. Of that, I am sure we will continue to work together on. Take care.
First of all, I can say that
First of all, I can say that in terms of being long-winded, your both politicians, its what we've come to expect from all of you. :)
I can say that the Taylor Law is very much an over-hyped piece of legislation. When the teachers went on strike in Buffalo, they were in violation of the Taylor Law, when the sanitation workers go on strike, they are in violation of the Taylor Law. The real problem lies in the fact that we have an over bloated bureaucracy that is driving most of the ground work-force into lost wages, we need to tackle those spending cuts so we can pay the hard-working and good public servants appropriately.
That being said, it seems like a much more balanced approach to target our cuts just like we target our investment, cut with a scalple instead of a hammer. I was at a forum the other night, Mike Ranzenhofer didn't really specify which cuts or investments that he would make, instead he talked about cutting spending across the board 15 percent. How then, under his own proposal, would he find money to fund local projects that we need? The likelihood is high that the Democrats will take back the State Senate this year, with Antoine Thompson and Rick Dollinger as neighbors, and if Bill Stachowski is re-elected he'll be the State Senate Finance Chairman. I don't think that we'll be ignored by any means.
I met Mike Ranzenhofer the other night, he doesn't strike me as a bad guy, I think that he does care about Western New York, but I think that Mesi's non-profit and business experience has led him to be more specific and has a better handle on Western New York's needs across the board. I really like Mary Lou Rath, she's done a great job, but looking at the candidates side by side, I think that Joe Mesi is the better person to carry on in her tradition.
Jay thanks for your personal
Jay thanks for your personal feedback.
As for the local Democrats initially supporting Michelle, it wasn’t because we disliked Joe. Joe just wasn’t able to attend the endorsement meeting, he was sick. Michelle went out of her way to meet every committee member before that day. She beat Joe to the punch. Joe started late and didn’t get a chance to make the case and Michelle won the endorsement. That doesn’t mean that there was something wrong with Joe.
I don’t really care to debate the politics of this election. You and I both know this has to do more with having access and getting the door opened when we need these state people. Mary Lou Rath was good for our county; I just hope we don’t go backwards with her replacement.
Charlie: We will both work
Charlie: We will both work hard to make sure the County and City do not fall under the Erie County shadow!
Dan: if Mesi had an (R) after
Dan: if Mesi had an (R) after his name would you feel the same way?
If Mesi had the same
If Mesi had the same positions then yes. Although having such positions will sink you in the GOP, hence he's a Democrat.....because of his positions on the issues.
Would you be grinding it out for Ranzenhofer if he had a D next to his name?