I don't know if politics, as the cliche goes, actually makes strange bedfellows. Maybe it's due to meeting so many political types as part of the workday, but the saying has always struck me as a little too creepy to use brazenly.
Last Wednesday night at HSBC Arena in Buffalo, however, offered irrefutable proof that -- at least when mixed with hockey -- politics do, in fact, make interesting suite mates.
One of the suites overlooking the Buffalo Sabres' clash with the loathsome Dallas Stars -- an occasional bellowed "No goal!" could be heard, more than six years after Brett Hull's offending Game 6 tally -- contained a blend of occupants you wouldn't expect to find in one room simultaneously. Unless, maybe, there were a judge gaveling things into order or a steel cage available for sorting out differences.
There was Niagara Falls Mayor Vincenzo V. Anello, Niagara County Legislator Dennis Virtuoso, City Councilman-elect Sam Fruscione, Niagara Falls Redevelopment Vice President Roger Trevino, county Legislator Renae Kimble and sidekick Shirley Hamilton, Niagara Civics Club honcho Gary Parenti and a newspaper reporter, as well as a number of people who, to their credit, have no connection to elective politics.
Erstwhile heavyweight contender Joe Mesi, who routinely wore a Sabres jersey during his walks to the ring, was in an adjoining box, looking out over the arena that hosted his greatest fistic triumphs, a trio of nationally televised knockout wins.
Most of the above were invited by Parenti or Steve Pigeon, both of whom also work with Sabres owner Tom Golisano.
The most interesting pair, though, and the reason all the rest braved the 13-degree brutality to get there, sat several suites away, overlooking center ice.
That's where Golisano and President Bill Clinton watched Buffalo's 4-3 win over the Stars and discussed the undertaking that brought them together on this night, the Clinton Global Initiative.
Golisano's recent enrollment with the GOP in preparation for a possible gubernatorial run in 2006 caused some with short memories to gasp about Clinton's visit -- "Good God! A possible Republican statewide candidate consorting with the Democrat?"
While such chumminess might rile the loony right and party bosses who don't have Golisano's ear (which is just about all of them), the connection makes historical and political sense.
The billionaire founder of Paychex, then a Democrat, contributed to Clinton's presidential campaigns and lunched at the White House during the dark days of peace and prosperity that once beset the nation.
Golisano said he'll announce whether he'll run for governor in January, but his enrollment as a Republican was a sign he's thinking very seriously about it.
While he spent millions of his own dollars in three previous bids for governor, those third-party campaigns didn't produce a lot of value, in terms of votes, for his money.
"If you're running for an office like governor of New York, it helps to be a member of a major party," he said from experience during a news conference at HSBC Arena before the game.
There's always been an immense gulf between New York Republicans and their red-state cousins. Golisano expressed his opposition to the war in Iraq even before it started. He has maintained that position, among other stances that would certainly earn him hateful personal attacks and press leaks from highly placed White House sources were he, say, a Democratic member of Congress.
"Quite frankly, I didn't give a moment's worth of thought to that," Golisano said when asked whether palling around with a man some members of his party consider the devil incarnate might cost him votes next November.
Golisano was so impressed by the pitch he heard for Clinton's Global Initiative, he made a donation that he described as "more than seven figures," part of more than $2 billion raised before and during September's inaugural conference in New York City. He committed to being a sponsor of future conferences, as well as undertaking a project aimed at one of the Initiative's target areas.
"It didn't matter if we were Democrats, Conservatives, Republicans -- we just did it and it felt great," Golisano said of his involvement. "What people think of it is a side issue."
That's one of the things that sets Golisano apart from most other candidates -- when he says things like that, you actually believe him. He certainly doesn't need the money or the patronage-granting powers that come with the job. If anything, he'd have to take a serious pay cut if elected.
Of course, the political reality is there, whether or not Golisano gives it much thought.
Given New York's electoral math, any Republican would have to persuade some Democrats to pull the other lever. That's particularly true given the early appeal of the presumptive Democratic candidate, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. In a Quinnipiac University poll released last week, Spitzer led Golisano 60 to 22 percent and topped former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld 63-16.
New York Gov. George Pataki relied heavily on upstate support in his three winning runs. Golisano already has tremendous name recognition due to his business and philanthropy in the Rochester area and is quickly becoming as well-known in Buffalo, thanks in no small part to his rescuing the Sabres from the Adelphia implosion.
Clinton's continued popularity was evident late in the first period, when an arena camera panned to Golisano's box, the P.A. system blared the ex-president's familiar-if-grating campaign soundtrack, Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop," and the crowd of 16,575 responded with a standing ovation.
Pigeon, the former Erie County Democratic Party chairman who helped bring Clinton to Buffalo for a morale-boosting visit during the impeachment debacle of early 1999, was also instrumental in getting Golisano involved with the Clinton Global Initiative. He and Parenti, who is eying a challenge to Assemblywoman Francine Del Monte in next fall's Democratic Primary, worked the September conference with Golisano.
That session unveiled the Initiative's four main goals: "The Escape from Poverty," "Religion, Conflict and Reconciliation," "Climate Change: Business Opportunity and Challenge," and "Governance, Enterprise and Investment."
The locations of future conferences have yet to be announced. Not for nothing, but Niagara Falls is beautiful in late summer. And attendees could see most of the problems they're addressing up close.
The already-lengthy racketeering case against the deposed leadership of Laborers Local 91 got stretched out even further last week, when U.S. District Judge Richard Arcara ruled that prominent Buffalo defense attorney Paul Cambria could not represent ex-Local 91 president Mark Congi due to conflicts of interest.
Jury selection was to have started in January for the trial of Congi, Joel Cicero, Paul Bellreng and Albert Celeste. The trial, scheduled to begin early next month, has been postponed. A hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 23, to set a new trial date. Congi is expected to either appear with a new lawyer or file the affidavit claiming financial hardship required to request a government-appointed attorney.
Cambria originally represented the late Michael "Butch" Quarcini. Besides handling Quarcini's case, Cambria and his firm had represented both the union itself and a number of Local 91 members in various criminal and personal injury cases over the years. Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr., the lead prosecutor on the case, argued that Cambria had interviewed a number of potential government witnesses in the past and the judge agreed that he should be disqualified.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | Dec. 20 2005 |