"It's just another example of the culture of corruption in Niagara County," Niagara County Democratic Chairman Dan Rivera said.
If anyone would know about corruption, it would most certainly be Rivera, who is personally responsible for more of it than anyone currently serving in any elected political position here. He was referring to the case of Andrea McNulty, a Democratic county legislator from North Tonawanda. McNulty, an outstanding young Dem who has shown the ability to think for herself, is exactly the kind of elected official the odious Rivera has spent much of his time purging or marginalizing.
Because the Niagara County Democratic Party is actually not democratic at all. It is a dictatorship run by Rivera, with the able assistance of lackeys such as Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster and Lewiston Supervisor Fred Newlin.
Rivera's cooked up some crazy story about McNulty living in Pendleton, in order to have her removed from the legislature. McNulty says she still lives in North Tonawanda.
We here at the Niagara Falls Reporter know all about being the target of Rivera's outrageous accusations. He was the "brains" behind the congressional candidacy of Jon Powers last year, and we reported extensively on Powers' previous criminal record, the phony charity he created to live off money raised for Iraqi war orphans, and more.
Reasoning that we must be taking money from one of Powers' opponents in the race, Jack Davis, Rivera had us subpoenaed by the state Board of Elections. They demanded all business records, financial documents, e-mails and anything else we had concerning our dealings with Davis.
But we didn't have any. Jack Davis had never given the Reporter one cent for any reason whatsoever. No one here had even ever spoken to Davis or any of his campaign people on the telephone.
Since being fired from his job as an insurance investigator after using his position to obtain sealed court records damaging to another Democratic candidate, Rivera moved on to the good offices of Marc Panepinto, an attorney and former Laborers Local 210 organizer who is a prime mover in the Erie County Democratic Party.
It was Rivera's final sellout of Niagara County, since his marching orders now appear to come directly from Erie County Democratic Party boss Len Lenihan.
For as long as he is allowed to remain in control here, the loathsome Rivera will continue attacking members of his own party, since he has demonstrated a complete inability to successfully attack Republicans.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | May 19 2009 |