Joe Illuzzi: The Bright, Hard Center of Nothing
At the risk of drawing to him the attention he so craves, I will respond to Joe Illuzzi’s rant about the post three below this one, in which I reported that Stonewall Democrats of Western New York has endorsed Mickey Kearns for mayor. Outcome magazine reported that Mayor Byron Brown was ineligible for the endorsement under Stonewall’s rules because Brown advertises with Illuzzi, who Stonewall considers to be an opponent to LGBT rights.
Illuzzi responded to the post thusly:
I have just been told by an impeccable source that this entire Artvoice – Outcome scheme was orchestrated by Assemblyman Sam Lollipop Kid Hoyt & Artvoice scribe former Giambra Deputy Erie County Executive Bruce Fisher.
In fact what we have here is Hoyt & Fisher using their resources, GLBT advocate Artvoice, GLBT Outcome & the Stonewall Democrats, to extort from political candidates a commitment not to advertise with PoliticsNY.Net or lose the Stonewall endorsement (which means absolutely nothing).
Please remember two years ago GLBT Outcome, Hoyt, et al., tried the same thing. This time they got dirt/scum bag Deputy Erie County Executive Bruce Fisher & GLBT advocate Artvoice to go along. Fisher not only writes for Artvoice but he is a neighbor & friend of Publisher Jamie Moses. Outcome actually writing that Hoyt was innocent of the charges laid against him with the NYS Assembly. Please recall the Assembly ethics committee found against Hoyt predicated on one of his very young vicitms testimony; later Hoyt admitted to at least one violation of his oath with a student. Hoyt was thrown out of the Intern program for his malfeasnace. The story is far more egregious than a simple affair with a student 15 years younger than Hoyt. But why inflict any more pain on his very young victims for making bad choices. Hoyt’s statement about protecting his family were all lies. He got caught with his pants down via his published emails. Bruce Fisher isn’t much better an ego driven dirt/scum bag, the Biblical fool. It is worth repeating other than Giambra I have not found one person in Giambra’s inner circle who does not say former Deputy Erie County Executive Bruce Fisher was the heart & soul of Giambra’s failed administration other than Giambra himself. …On background a few days ago I saw Artvoice writer, former & all around dirt/scum bag former Deputy Erie County Executive Bruce Fisher huddled with Sam Lollipop Kid Hoyt at an Elmwood coffee house. Fisher is the central figure in the failure of the Giambra administration other than Giambra himself.
Artvoice this week under Editor Geoff Kelly’s by line does a hit piece on yours truly for my position opposing gay marriage (scroll down) using the same Stonewall questionnaire. I have always held back with respect to Artvoice because of my regard for Publisher Jamie Moses. I will write I was Artvoice’s principle source via the City Charter review 10 years ago & the original source when Moses decided to enter the fray with respect to the Golisano/Sabres story a few years back. However, in this weeks’ edition, & I know this is Bruce Fisher not Kelly, Kelly starts quoting Hoyt’s favorite BI weekly or BI something “Outcome” in a personal attack against yours truly. I am very disappointed Moses would allow this to happen. I know Moses story! But you know what … so what … we’ll just let this one pass! …
So many inaccuracies. Here are a few:
1. Illuzzi was not AV’s primary source on our coverage of Buffalo’s charter revision process. How can I be sure? Because I wrote many articles in Artvoice about the Charter Review Commission, and Illuzzi and I have never met or spoken. My primary sources were Jim Magavern and George Arthur. (In an email, Joe said he spent time talking with another Artvoice correspondent on the issue. Okay, sure. But another journalist, if that’s what Illuzzi fancies himself, has never been a “primary source” for any AV article about local government.)
2. This was not a hit piece on Illuzzi. Just because his name is mentioned in a story, it does not follow that he is its subject. The subject was Stonewall’s endorsement. Pride goeth before the fall, Joe. (In his email, Joe continues to insist the post was entirely aimed at him.)
3. Illuzzi’s “impeccable source” is a liar. Neither Hoyt nor Fisher put me up to writing that innocuous blog post; neither of them is capable of steering me, or Jamie Moses, or any other writer at this paper to do anything. That they can is a fantasy concocted in the fertile, paranoid imaginations of Joe Illuzzi and possibly the mayor’s office. (Illuzzi’s response: “No! Geoff you are the liar!” Welcome to the schoolyard.)
4. Fisher is my friend and Jamie’s. He is not a neighbor to either of us. All of our addresses are simple to find, but I don’t think Illuzzi is big on fact-checking.
The first example suggests Illuzzi is deluded; the second that he is self-absorbed; the third that he will believe—and publish—anything anyone tells him; the fourth that he can’t be bothered to check if what he writes has any validity to it. Why then should anyone believe anything he publishes?
To borrow one of Joe’s favorite phrases: That’s rhetorical.









