Affable talk show host Tom Christy broke his silence last week about the aftermath of Mayor Irene Elia's failure to show up for a scheduled appearance on his live call-in program.
During an interview of county Legislator Brad Erck, several people from Niagara Falls called to apologize to Christy for the fact that the mayor chickened out, choosing to send City Administrator Al Joseph and Corporation Counsel Ron Anton instead.
Christy explained to Erck and the audience that, after calling his show and demanding to be on, Elia strung him along until minutes before showtime, when she assured him she would be late but would definitely be there.
"Over the last two weeks, I've called her repeatedly, and she won't return my calls," Christy said. "You know, you hear things about someone and you don't want to believe it's true. Then you have an experience like this and it makes you wonder."
Erck was sympathetic.
"No one has to appear on this or any other show," he said. "But when someone demands to be on, doesn't show up and then fails to return calls for two weeks, that's a different situation."
Elia lied to Christy and then treated him shabbily when he tried to call her on it. She has exhibited the same behavior with the city's unions, the African-American community, the Seneca Nation of Indians and, ultimately, the voters who put her in office.
Sending Anton and Joseph to dissemble and deny that she had been asked to leave the casino and been reported for passing stopped school buses merely compounded her lie.
For its part, the Niagara Gazette chose to ignore the incident, despite the fact that Elia misled hundreds or even thousands of viewers who tuned in to see her. Instead they hyped her appearance last week at a local church, which was attended by fewer than 20 of her own family members and employees.
Once again, Niagara Falls' self-proclaimed "newspaper of record" fell down in its responsibility to its readers and allowed Elia to pull another fast one.
For that and many other things, they should be ashamed of themselves.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 22 2003 |