While a state Assembly investigation into a pair of tawdry extramarital affairs between state Rep. Sam Hoyt and a brace of comely young Albany interns has attracted the attention of The New York Times and other major media outlets, Hoyt's hometown paper, the Buffalo News, has focused its coverage on an alleged conspiracy involving the Internet blogger who scooped them on the story.
Last month, Buffalo political blogger Joe Illuzzi began publishing excerpts from a series of sleazy e-mails between the horny Hoyt, 46, and Lori Gradwell, a 19-year-old intern in the office of Rep. Teresa Sayward. The e-mails covered a period between November 2003 and January 2005, when Gradwell broke the relationship off after accusing the married father of two of cheating on her with an intern in his own office, Yolanda Amecia de Moya.
In addition to publishing the e-mails on his PoliticsNY.net Web site, Illuzzi sent them to the state Legislative Ethics Commission and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who immediately ordered the investigation of the assemblyman's sexcapades.
The New York Post said Hoyt was "Caught with his virtual pants down," while New York magazine opined that reading the e-mails was "like overhearing other people having sex -- it's kind of riveting, but it makes you embarrassed to be a human." The magazine characterized the correspondence as "pretty tawdry and kind of gross."
One of the more titillating and widely published e-mails sent to the teenage Gradwell by Hoyt is entitled "what I wish ..." "that I could be painting your toenails right now ... that I could see you do that little cheerleader move ... that you could be my human alarm clock ... that I could be your human lollipop ... that I could be modeling my cool penguin boxers for you tonight ... that you could tell me I am yummy (I love that) ... that I could see your ducks ..."
In another spicy post, Hoyt wrote Gradwell about his idea of a perfect evening.
"i chose you over buffalo. flying back tonight! if you are interested, would love to meet you at my place. I will leave the door open and the a.c. on. interested? if so, i am going to go crazy on you and then cuddle with you for a bit then fall fast asleep! let me know what you think."
But hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, and in June 2004, Gradwell fired off a scathing e-mail after finding out about Hoyt's tryst with de Moya.
"You f***ing scumbag liar ... I knew you were f***ing around ... how many girls do you have exactly??? I hate you. I knew you were lying, but I was so stupid ... you scumbag ... f*** off ... leave me alone and go with your other girlfriends ... her ... and who else??? All I asked you for was honesty ... that's it ..."
Apparently worried about losing his human alarm clock, Hoyt responded quickly.
"I could care less about Amecia or her feelings," he wrote. "Sorry if it came across that way. I care about you and your feelings not hers. Could not care less. It was a one-time mistake and I regret it. I could care less if I ever talk to her again, but this is killing me. Please see me tonight."
The e-mails posted by Illuzzi and sent to the Legislative Ethics Committee end on Jan. 30, 2005. But while the Times, the Post, the Daily News and New York magazine published them as evidence of another sickening Albany sex scandal, the Buffalo News chose not to share them with its readers and instead attacked Illuzzi for allegedly trying to derail Hoyt's re-election bid.
Hoyt is locked in a tough primary race with out lesbian and popular former Buffalo Common Council member Barbara Kavanaugh for the 144th District seat, which covers most of the city and Grand Island. One of Hoyt's spokesmen, attorney Jeremy Toth, went so far as to publicly accuse everyone from Mayor Byron Brown to Buffalo Sabres owner Tom Golisano of being behind the e-mails' release.
Illuzzi cited the well-known principle of journalistic confidentiality in declining to name his sources, but was critical of Hoyt and the News for attempting to shift the focus of the investigation to him.
"Sam Hoyt has one person to blame for his current situation, and that's Sam Hoyt," he said. "Now they're attempting to vilify the messenger, but it's not going to work."
Buffalo News editor and vice president Margaret Sullivan penned a carefully worded letter published in the Aug. 24 edition of the paper that not only falsely claimed the News had "broken" the story, but compared Hoyt to the Kennedys and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, implying that marital infidelity on the part of elected officials has always been widespread.
The only thing that has changed, Sullivan wrongly told her readers, is the way such dalliances are treated by the media. She expressed concern that her paper might be "playing a part in perpetuating dirty politics," and said the decision was made to publish a bowdlerized version of what had already appeared in the Times and other media outlets only after the affairs became the subject of an official investigation.
"When do rumors turn into legitimate news?" Sullivan asked naively in the letter, entitled "Handling the Hoyt sex story with restraint."
The answer, of course, is that they turn into legitimate news the very moment the editor and vice president of some newspaper decides they do. The News routinely publishes rumors -- including several concerning the ownership of the Niagara Falls Reporter -- that have no basis whatsoever in fact.
Sullivan offered no explanation about why she elected not to provide News readers with excerpts from the e-mails themselves, as had the Times, the Post, the Daily News, the Albany Times Union, the Associated Press, Fox News Network and New York magazine. Clearly, Hoyt's randy behavior was a matter of public interest. Online comments at the Albany Times Union's Web site ran on for more than 15 pages.
"The Buffalo News is a dying newspaper in a dying city," wrote one poster. "People are sick of the continued liberal slant by the Buffalo News."
"It's funny how it took Channel 4, The New York Times, the Albany Times Union and the New York Post to get the Buffalo News to finally notice Sam and his possibly illegal activities," another added.
Hoyt and the News were quick to point out that rules against having sex with interns weren't officially introduced in the Assembly until 2004, and that Hoyt's dangerous liaisons might fall under an aptly named "grandfather clause" that exempts members whose illicit affairs began before that date from discipline, even when the workplace trysts continued afterward.
"The credibility of Joe Illuzzi is certainly suspect," Hoyt told the News. "No rules were broken, no laws were broken."
He vowed not to do the honorable thing and give up his all-important re-election bid, despite the public humiliation continuing revelations will cause his wife and two sons.
"It's sad when my political opponents have chosen to resort to the lowest tactics by dredging up a private matter from years ago," he said in a statement admitting the Gradwell affair on the day the ethics investigation began.
Assembly Speaker Silver disagreed with Hoyt's assessment, and said he is taking the matter very seriously.
"We have a strong policy against fraternization," he said. "The committee is doing an appropriate investigation."
Regardless of whether or not disciplinary action is taken against Hoyt, his reputation as a cheater and a dirty old man seems secure.
And despite the protestations of Margaret Sullivan, the partisan pandering of the Buffalo News has made the paper a laughingstock from here to Montauk Point. Why she would chose to stake the reputation of the venerable institution she controls on defending a known liar, philanderer and public disgrace like Hoyt is anyone's guess.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Sept. 2 2008 |