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Jimmy Galie's got to be chuckling to himself. Our former mayor, criticized ad nauseam by his successor -- Mayor Irene Elia -- for involving the city in losing litigation, now gets to sit back and watch as Elia herself seems hell-bent on involving the city in more unwinnable lawsuits than any former chief executive.
First it was the firefighters and then the policemen and, finally, the Steelworkers. Currently, all eight of the city's collective bargaining units are involved in some stage of legal action against the city.
And rightfully so. Even if you're the mayor, you can't unilaterally change the provisions of negotiated, signed contracts. Every judge who's been involved in the cases so far has ruled against the city, a trend that is likely to continue.
A couple weeks ago, Thomas Hanna sued the city over another unilateral decision, to nullify his contract for concessions on the West Mall and award it to someone else. He'll win, and the taxpayers, not Elia, will be left to pay.
Last week, Fire Lieutenant Rick Horn sued, charging that he was passed over for promotion to captain because of his union and political activities. Horn is being represented by W. James Schwan -- one of the Niagara Frontier's top labor attorneys -- and if half of what's in the complaint can be proven it looks like he's got a pretty good shot.
On the horizon, local hoteliers and other property owners who were royally screwed in this year's reassessment, developers with significant and legally binding options on city property and individuals like Pete Stranges -- whose attempts to open a haunted house attraction downtown would be comical if they weren't so tragic -- are all meeting with attorneys and planning suits of their own.
Republican politicians from Albany to Youngstown are distancing themselves from Elia, and many of her strongest supporters in 1999 are conspicuously absent as she readies for her 2003 re-election bid.
Privately, top members of the county Republican and Democratic parties have met to discuss the possibility of finding a candidate who could conceivably get the endorsements of both sides. If the state and the Seneca Nation of Indians can get it together to open the casino before the next election, the mayor will get a bump, popularity-wise.
It won't be enough.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | April 30 2002 |