Bryon McIntyre

Buffalo fireman Bryon McIntyre lost his tenuous lead in the three-way race for the third and final at-large seat on the Buffalo school board today, when absentee ballots were tallied. Incumbent Florence Johnson won the seat; McIntyre fell behind both Johnson and incumbent Catherine Collins.

So it’s John Licata, Chris Jacobs, and Florence Johnson in the at-large seats.

McIntyre stopped by the Artvoice offices after the voted were counted. You can watch Buck Quigley’s interview with him on AVTV in the morning.

Over at the Buffalo News, Peter Simon keeps insisting that the election was a referendum on Superintendent James Williams. I guess there’s an argument to be made there, though I think that’s simplistic.

This, though is puzzling. Simon writes:

The chances of Buffalo Schools Superintendent James A. Williams retaining majority support on the Buffalo Board of Education brightened today when incumbent Florence D. Johnson captured the board’s third at-large seat…

With Johnson, Williams has four supporters on the board. With Licata, he’s got five critics. Are things really so bright for Williams?

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.