Almost four months after the Buffalo School Board Election which took place on May 5, a new court decision may shed more light on the political contributions made to current board member Christopher L. Jacobs.

Four months? Why so long?

Because in that time, despite our efforts in court, Jacobs has still not filed complete campaign finance disclosure forms. We feel we’re just pursuing accurate information, and that takes time, not to mention expert legal representation from Peter A. Reese.

Jacobs’s attorney, Paul G. Joyce (pictured), disputes our motives. He claimed in an affidavit to the court that we were capriciously and frivolously trying “to harass and maliciously injure Mr. Jacobs.”

The Hon. Frederick J. Marshall did not agree. Here’s the transcript of Tuesday’s proceedings, including his ruling from the bench.

On July 17, two months after the filing deadline, and without notice to the litigants pursuing the records (us), or to the courts, Jacobs filed a somewhat more complete campaign finance disclosure form with the Buffalo Board of Education. That filing omits addresses and full names of contributors. Nonetheless, Joyce used that belated, incomplete, and unannounced filing as a rationale for calling our litigation frivolous and capricious. Here’s the affidavit. At the end of that document, you’ll find Jacobs’s July 17 disclosure. Click here to read Reese’s responding affirmation.

Let the guessing games begin. Assign last names to first names in the document, or vice versa, and win fabulous prizes from Artvoice for accuracy, and/or originality. Judging will take place if and when Jacobs meets the judge’s order to comply with the law within 20 days.

Despite Joyce’s claim, this all began because we were interested not so much in Jacobs, but in an undocumented and seemingly illegal entity created by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership called Buffalo Students First. The group spent more than $30,000 to back the incumbent at-large candidates in May’s school board election.

According to Jacobs’s July 17 filing, his campaign spent almost $54,000 on top of whatever backing he received from the Partnership.

Here’s the decision and order handed down by Judge Frederick J. Marshall today, regarding the show cause order brought Monday, May 4, to compel the speedy disclosure of campaign finance information pertinent to the Tuesday, May 5 Buffalo school board election.

In a nutshell, we, the plaintiffs, lost. Marshall ruled that we “did not exhaust (our) administrative remedies” under FOIL. Of course, exhausting our administrative remedies would have provided us with the information only long after the school board election was over, so what were a handful of curious citizens to do?

Speaking to this issue, the Judge writes: “As enunciated by this Court at a hearing held on May 4, 2009, Section 1529 of the Education Law does not require the Clerk to make copies of candidates’ financial disclosure statements, but only provides that the records ’shall be open to public inspection.’ Such is the will of the New York State Legislature with respect to financial disclosure of Board of Education candidates, even though with respect to other elections, copies of financial disclosures are freely provided to members of the public and the requirements of FOIL are not, to the knowledge of this Court, ever invoked. The New York State Legislature is advised to address this issue should it so desire.” (emphasis added)

Addressing the issue of Buffalo Students First expenditures, “the Court finds that there is no evidence supporting the petitioner’s contention that the expenditures by Buffalo Students First were made with the permission of any of the respondent candidates. And while Education Law Section 1528(1)(c) does not require a non-candidate to list expenditures, the statement filed by Buffalo Students first lists expenditures of over $30,000, exceeding the $25 limit imposed by that section. Again, however, the Legislature has provided no remedy to an aggrieved party, nor does it define such conduct as a criminal offense. Again, this is an area that the Legislature is advised to address should it so desire.” (emphasis added)

Further, “Since Buffalo Students First, as an affiliate of Buffalo Niagara Partnership, has filed its required disclosure statement pursuant to Section 1528(1)(c) of the Education Law that portion of the petition requiring them to do so is dismissed as moot. This Court has not overlooked the fact that the statement filed by Buffalo Students First was not filed until after this proceeding was commenced. The statute implies, in this Court’s opinion, that a sworn statement should have been filed with the Clerk and the Commissioner prior to the making of such expenditures. Yet again, the Legislature provides no remedy.” (emphasis added)

While further legal actions are being contemplated, we hope the suggestions of the Court are considered by State Legislators Crystal Peoples and Antoine Thompson, who both appeared on a Buffalo Students First mailer supporting the incumbent school board candidates—mailed in violation of the Education Law spending limits, and likely the statute that prohibits the use of assumed names which have not been properly registered.

Maybe they can introduce changes to the Education Law in Albany that would bring it more in step with Election Law when it comes to the release of campaign finance information to the public and the press.

Artvoice has obtained this email sent today from Buffalo Niagara Partnership President & CEO Andrew Rudnick, imploring the receiver to forward it to “colleagues, friends and family, especially those who are registered voters in the city of Buffalo – and ask them to forward it along to others.”

Even though it didn’t land in my email directly, we thought it would be a nice gesture to shine a light on it for all our readers.

This intimate appeal is in addition to the over $30,000 in assistance the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and/or their offshoot Buffalo Students First (which has yet to file a DBA, as we learned in court today) has spent promoting the incumbent school board candidates in tomorrow’s election. The incumbents did not authorize the support from Buffalo Students First, and the assistance they provided was over the $25 limit prescribed by law—by at least $30,000 as of April 30.

Tomorrow, May 5, elections for the Buffalo Public School Board will be held.

Please forward this email to colleagues, friends and family, especially those who are registered voters in the city of Buffalo – and ask them to forward it along to others. Buffalo School Board elections (given they are months from “general election day”) have dismal turnout, and races often have been decided by a few hundred votes. Thus, each vote can make a big difference.

The Partnership is supporting at-large candidates Dr. Catherine Collins, Florence Johnson and Christopher Jacobs. We believe these candidates are the best qualified to manage the schools’ $600+ million budget, will stand up in favor of reform in the system and are not beholden to the efforts of Buffalo Teacher Federation President Philip Rumore — which for too long have obstructed the change that is in the best interest of Buffalo’s school children.

Why should you care? Even if you don’t have children in the Buffalo Public Schools?

1). Buffalo is our region’s core  — and the success or failure of the Buffalo Public Schools is directly linked to how the city fares. Currently:

Buffalo is the nation’s third-poorest city, according to the U.S. Census.
The Buffalo metro area has the highest black male jobless rate (51.4 percent) among American’s 35 large cities, according to figures cited by Professor Marc V. Levine of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Nearly two-thirds of adults in Buffalo function at the two lowest levels of literacy, meaning they can’t function at the minimum level of literacy employers in our region require for any job higher than entry level.
Thirty-five percent of Buffalo Public School children don’t graduate high school.
2). At a time when many students are not graduating from high school prepared for postsecondary education and work, 60 percent of the new jobs being created require advanced training or a college education. If our region’s workforce can’t meet employer needs, we will lose existing companies, and will not be able to recruit new businesses to invest in our region.

3). The availability of high-quality human talent is a top issue facing businesses today. Nationwide, business leaders increasingly place improving public education at the top of their list of priorities because they believe the education system in the United States fails to produce graduates prepared to compete both locally and in a global economy.

Buffalo’s young people deserve a better future, and our employers need them to graduate from public school prepared to contribute to the local workforce – in order ensure their own businesses have future viability in our community. Public education in the city is one place to start, and the Buffalo Public School Board elections will play no minor part.

Please vote tomorrow for Dr. Catherine Collins, Florence Johnson and Christopher Jacobs. Thanks – a lot of our future depends on the outcome.
Andrew J. Rudnick
President & CEO
P:  (716) 852-7100
F:  (716) 852-1756

Jody Vohwinkel, Executive Assistant to the President & CEO
jvohwinkel@thepartnership.org

The Partnership extends its thanks to the member businesses in its Leadership Circle.
These companies represent the Partnership’s most significant financial supporters.

WIVB Channel 4 reporter Rich Newberg just reported on today’s lawsuit during the 5pm broadcast. Tune in WIVB at 6pm tonight for more details.

Buffalo school board elections are tomorrow, May 5. Don’t forget to vote.

What’s the message Buffalo Students First is sending to voters this weekend promoting the incumbent candidates, three days before the school board election? That depends on where you live in the city of Buffalo.

First, here’s a mailer sent by Buffalo Students First to voters in the 144th Assembly District, represented by Sam Hoyt. The message on the back begins: “The politicians and special interest groups want to take over control of our schools. We can’t allow that to happen…”

If that’s the case, what does one make of  this mailer sent by Buffalo Students First to city voters in the 141st Assembly District, represented by Crystal Peoples? Voters there, primarily African-American, received an open letter from Mayor Byron Brown, Assemblywoman Crystal Peoples, and State Senator Antoine Thompson, endorsing the incumbent slate of Florence Johnson, Catherine Collins, and Chris Jacobs.

Are Brown, Peoples, and Thompson not politicians? And is Buffalo Students First and/or the Buffalo Niagara Partnership  not a special interest group? News Flash: THE POLITICIANS AND SPECIAL INTERESTS CURRENTLY HAVE CONTROL OF OUR SCHOOLS. And it’s clear they will spend a great deal of money in the hope of keeping it that way.

The blatant hypocrisy displayed by Buffalo Students First in sponsoring these two divergent messages should be offensive to every voter in the city. But there’s plenty of shame to go around here. Why would Brown, Peoples, and Thompson lend their support to a slate of candidates in an election that is held in May for the express reason that it should not  be political?

And why would the Buffalo Niagara Partnership hide behind a phony name like Buffalo Students First, when it is clear that they are directly involved in the funding of this campaign that preaches two different messages to urban voters based largely on the color of their skin? The evidence of their involvement is here in this one-page financial disclosure form, signed by Glenn Aronow, Director of Government Relations for the Buffalo Niagara Partnership.

Then there’s Saturday’s Buffalo News, which contains this editorial endorsing the incumbents.

(While writing this blog, I have received a report from a resident of University Heights that all the cars in the neighborhood had anonymous flyers on the windshield this morning, referencing this Buffalo News endorsement of the status quo.)

“Ideally, a School Board member encompasses a strong work ethic, willingness to do the necessary homework and the ability to ask the right questions and to come to a fair decision without undue political influence. Florence Johnson, Christopher Jacobs and Catherine Collins have done so, and deserve to continue in their current roles,” the News editorial staff opines, apparently with a straight face.

Is it not interesting that their very own columnists have offered contrary opinions? Consider Rod Watson’s May 29, 2008 article that begins, “Despite the many things the Buffalo Board of Education is probing in the McKinley High School fiasco, one critical issue has yet to surface: What to do about board members who appear to lie to the public?”

Or Donn Esmonde, who wrote on April 16, 2008: “Put the pieces together, and you get a picture of what happens when a school system is run by the integrity-lite and the ethically challenged. They all will tell you that nothing matters more than the kids. Amazingly, their noses do not grow an inch when they say it.”

Watson summed it up also on July 3, 2008 in an article entitled: School Board lacks guts to do right thing. He begins: “Of all the reforms possible in the wake of the McKinley High School fiasco, the most obvious has yet to be mentioned: Students need a union. And lobbyists. And bigger allowances, so they can make campaign contributions to buy off legislators who write the laws that Buffalo school officials are hiding behind to avoid holding anyone accountable.”

“You can thank the unions and their grip on Albany’s legislative machine, as well as their intimidating ability to affect a School Board candidacy in elections with miniscule turnouts,” he continues.

Shall we also thank the editorial staff of his paper for their ability to try to do the very same thing?

Tuesday’s school board election will be decided by city voters. It should be decided by the parents of children who attend classes every day in the city of Buffalo, and by every city resident who recognizes the critical importance of improving the quality of education for the children of our impoverished city—where only 46% of students graduate from high school in four years—a number that has worsened over the past five years under the the questionable guidance of the incumbent at-large school board members, who now seek an additional five years to finish the job.

Their biggest success, they claim, is a $1 billion “state of the art” school renovation project that is so hopelessly out of touch with progressive green-building standards that the electrical bills to run the buildings will be an albatross around taxpayers’ necks long into the future.

The title of the Buffalo News editorial nails it on the head: Tuesday’s Buffalo school board vote will determine future of district.

Wouldn’t it be a surprising miracle if, when voters step into the booth this Tuesday, May 5, they remember the little voices of the children who deserve so much better, and forget the propaganda dumped upon them by business people from Niagara Falls and the suburbs, who would have us believe that things are just fine in the Buffalo Schools?

Vote!

According to documents obtained by Artvoice today, Buffalo Students First has spent $30,036 to advance the campaigns of Buffalo school board incumbents Catherine Collins, Chris Jacobs, and Florence Johnson, as of April 30.

Buffalo Students First is described by Buffalo Niagara Partnership Director of Government Relations Glenn Aronow as “a coaltion of businesses, community organizations and stakeholders, and school choice advocates that support progressive reforms and policies in educating Buffalo school children.”

Among the beneficiaries of BSF’s expenditures is Unity Coalition, Inc. The group received $4,000 from BSF between March 5 and April 3. According to records filed with the Erie County Clerk’s Office in 1995, Unity Coalition, Inc., was formed “to promote political action and awareness, and to do any other act or thing incidental to or connected with the foregoing purposes or in advancement thereof.”

The unity coalition incorporation documents were signed by Arthur  O. Eve, Jr., who is currently in line for the position of Democratic Deputy Commissioner of Elections.

In other important school board election news, the Erie County Board of Elections has indicated that any voters who have already submitted absentee ballots for disqualified candidate Fred Yellen may still cast a vote for another candidate by doing so at their designated polling place on the day of the election. We are awaiting word from elections officials on how else any such absentee voters can change their vote, now that their candidate is out of the running.

Yellen was scratched from the list of candidates last Saturday, April 25, after an objection to his signature petitions was filed by Herbert Bellamy, Jr—notarized by Aronow.

The Buffalo school board election is Tuesday, May 5—now just four days away.

Click here to read the Show Cause Order filed today by attorney Peter A. Reese seeking to impel the release of financial information pertaining to the upcoming Buffalo school board election on May 5.

Five qualified voters are the petitioners seeking, among other things, the release of this public information. The respondents are superintendent James A. Williams, BPS clerk James M. Kane, school board members Christopher L. Jacobs, Catherine Collins, and Florence D. Johnson, the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, Buffalo Students First, and NYS Commissioner of Education Richard P. Mills.

The court date is set for Monday, May 4 at 11am. Hon. Frederick J. Marshall, J.S.C. presiding.

Additional relief sought includes, in the alternative, the filing of revised campaign statements by the incumbents, or an injunction against further participation in school board elections by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership and/or Buffalo Students First.

“Of interest, the section of the education law which allows the judge to order filing or revision of campaign statements contains a provision allowing the judge to grant immunity from criminal prosecution and thus compell testimony. Such a course of action would require further proceedings and take much more time than can be accommodated prior to the May 5 election,” Reese adds.

The petitioners’ primary objective on Monday will be to obtain a bench court order requiring the immediate release of all documents filed with clerk James M. Kane, pursuant to the conduct of the 2009 Buffalo school board election.

On Saturday, Fred Yellen was scratched from the list of school board candidates for having insufficient signatures on his nomination petitions. Count this as a win for Herbert Bellamy, Jr., and Buffalo-Niagara Partnership Director of Government Relations Glenn Aronow—whose signatures appear on the specific objections paperwork, filed April 18.

The Buffalo-Niagara Partnership backs the incumbent slate of Collins, Jacobs, and Johnson through a “coalition” they call Buffalo Students First. Aronow claims they have also raised money and donated staff assistance to these candidates.

Challengers Rebekah Williams and John Licata’s petitions were still being challenged as of this morning. In the event they too are struck from the ballot, the field would shrink from nine candidates to six, one week before the election. This would leave Patricia Devis, Rosanna Hampton, and Bryon McIntyre as the only challengers to Collins, Jacobs, and Johnson.

No challenges were ever filed for the signature petitions of the incumbents.

Don’t forget tonight’s candidates forum at the Polish Cadets Hall, Grant and Amherst Street, 7-9pm.

Election Day is next Tuesday, May 5. In the last at-large Buffalo school board election, in 2004, fewer than 13,000 people voted. That’s only around 8% of registered voters. The winners will serve Buffalo’s schoolchildren for the next five years.

Last Friday, we reported about the petition challenges submitted against every single challenger in the May 5 Buffalo School Board election. Thanks to a comment on our blog from Chet Morton, we learned that Glenn Aronow—the man who notarized all the challenges—is the Director of Government Relations for the Buffalo Niagara Partnership (pictured).

By Monday, I was on the phone with Aronow, asking if he could explain why a group known as Buffalo Students First shares the same address (665 Main Street, Suite 200) as the Partnership. Buffalo Students First put out this slick mailer endorsing Catherine Collins, Chris Jacobs, and Florence Johnson for the at-large seats on the board.

He explained that he was in Washington, DC, and couldn’t talk. I asked him again on Tuesday. He said he’d call me when he got back to town. I called him Thursday, and he told me not to call him on his cell phone anymore. He said he was at a lunch, and couldn’t talk to me. He reminded me that he told me he’d call me when he returned from DC. I asked him if he was in town. He said yes. I pointed out that he didn’t call me.

Aronow then called back later, and said he’d send me an email response to my questions: What is Buffalo Students First, and why all the aggressive challenges to every school board candidate who is not an incumbent?

Here is his reply:

Buffalo Niagara Partnership:

The Partnership, which is made up of approximately 2,500 local employers, has been involved in elections at all levels of government for many years. Our organization has supported races for Buffalo Public School board for approximately 10 years. We’re a regional organization, but understand Buffalo is at our region’s core  — and the success or failure of the Buffalo Public Schools is directly linked to how the city fares. Improving public education is a also priority of our members for a specific business reason: they need a workforce that is prepared to compete both locally and in a global economy. The Partnership strongly supports candidates Chris Jacobs, Florence Johnson and Dr. Catherine Collins. We’ve helped raise money for these candidates and have donated some staff time to assist with the campaigns, and the efforts of the coalition, Buffalo Students First.

Buffalo Students First:

The Buffalo Niagara Partnership is a supporter of Buffalo Students First, which is a coaltion of businesses, community organizations and stakeholders, and school choice advocates that support progressive reforms and policies in educating Buffalo school children.  Buffalo Students First advocates for and supports programs and policies that improve how education is provided in Buffalo’s Public Schools. Buffalo Students First is supporting candidates in this year’s school board election that share the coalition’s vision for education and putting Buffalo school children first.
Petition challenge:

There are very clear laws and procedures to be a candidate for any elective office in New York State, including Buffalo school board. Obtaining the required amount of vaild petition signatures is a basic legal requirement to get on the ballot that all candidates are fully aware of. When there is overwhelmingly clear evidence that signatures are not vaild or obtained in a fraudulent manner, those signatures should be challenged, and that’s what we did. To ensure fair elections, candidates should and must abide by the same laws and procedures.

Glenn Aronow
Director, Government Relations
Buffalo Niagara Partnership
665 Main Street, Suite 200
Buffalo, NY 14203-1487
P: (716) 852-7100, ext. 236
C: (716) 628-1367
F: (716) 852-2761

The Partnership extends its thanks to the member businesses in its Leadership Circle. These companies represent the Partnership’s most significant financial supporters.

They also advocate squashing the campaigns of any and all challengers. Click here to see the specific objections Herbert Bellamy filed against candidate Fred Yellen, notarized by Aronow.

But what is Buffalo Students First? There don’t appear to be any records at the state or county level showing that it’s a political committee, or an LLC, and there’s no DBA or assumed name certificate on file. Are there any actual students involved with Buffalo Students First? Or is it just a surreptitiously named gang of “businesses, community organizations and stakeholders” throwing their money around to advance the status quo of a struggling urban school district with a disastrous dropout rate in the third poorest city in America? Does every member of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership want to stand up and take credit for stifling this opportunity for the community to select a change when they step into the voting booth?

This morning, school board challenger Bryon McIntyre and community activist Peter A. Reese filed a complaint with the Erie County Board of Elections, requesting an investigation into the involvement of the Buffalo Niagara Partnership through Buffalo Students First in the ongoing Buffalo School Board Election process. The election is May 5.