Niagara USA Chamber CEO and Amherst resident Bobby Newman needs to get his story straight.
Several weeks ago, in the Chamber newsletter, he suggested that the $5 million or so that will be generated through the 1 percent Niagara County sales tax increase should be used for, among other things, a cut in property taxes.
Shortly afterward, county Legislator Dennis Virtuoso authored a resolution that would do just that.
So far, so good.
But those who had read his newsletter piece were surprised to read the editorial Newman wrote last week for the local daily. Though the piece also dealt with the increased sales tax and was substantially similar to the earlier one, there were a couple of significant changes.
Suddenly, no one knows how much the increase will generate, Newman wrote, calling Virtuoso's property tax relief plan an "election year ploy." It was the exact opposite of what he wrote just weeks earlier in the newsletter.
Why the change of heart? Perhaps it's because former Pine Avenue Business Association head Beth Mazza -- a close personal friend of Newman's -- has all but announced her intention to run against Virtuoso in November. State Sen. George Maziarz and Niagara County Republican Committee Chairman Henry Wojtaszek both confirmed that Mazza has discussed her candidacy with them, and she is expected to formally announce in April.
In other words, Newman had to completely reverse his position on how much revenue the sales tax increase will generate, and how it should be used, or run the risk of making Virtuoso look good and hurting Mazza's chances for election.
Had the resolution been authored by Newman's buddy Bradley Erck, we have no doubt that the Chamber head would have hailed it as the greatest thing since sliced bread.
Politics can be a tricky business and it's made even trickier by people like Newman, who are prepared to say and do anything to advance their own personal agenda.
While it is not our intention to say whether Mazza would or would not make a good legislator, having a powerful outsider with strong ties to the Buffalo interests in her corner is not an encouraging sign.
The election year ploy was perpetrated not by Dennis Virtuoso but by Bobby Newman, who ought to move to Niagara County before meddling in politics here.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | March 18 2003 |