MAZIARZ/ NIAGARA LEGISLATURE RIGHT ON NYPA

It was a real treat seeing Richie Kessel in action at the July 28 Niagara County Legislative session. I wasn’t sure if I should be grateful or go get my gun. But as Maziarz pointed out in his rebuttal of Kessel possibly more of the story is in what NYPA has failed to get Niagara and Western NY rather than the Yahoo success. And if Maziarz is correct—and I see no reason not to agree with him—the Yahoo story is more a matter of the pressure from the Niagara Legislature and the Lockport IDA.

Regarding the legal action of the Niagara Legislature, I think we have to back them if not thank them for someone finally making a concerted move against the imperialistic actions of NYPA. Their expropriation of profits from Niagara power is regional rape and the obvious re-appropriation of our wealth for downstate.

Antoine Thompson, on Access to Government, predicted that we would fail. Of course his actions and attitude have certainly not helped the matter. His vote along with that of DelMonte, Stachowski and Schimminger to OK the sweep of half a billion dollars to the state budgetary fund is treason. Even worse, it is stupid.

What Maziarz seems to be getting is that regional unity is the only way to truly save Niagara and Western NY. Thompson inexplicably seems to think that since NYPA has in the past raped WNY it’s ok to continue to rape it and even increase the degree to which it commits its atrocities against our region. Even if Maziarz had participated in such prior sweeps he’s apparently seen the light. But Thompson’s “reasoning” is so pitifully weak I fear for our region if that’s the kind of representation we have.

As a side note it was also somewhat frightening when a caller to Access to Government by the name of “Vinson” confronted Thompson on the radioactive waste problem, it seemed clear that Thompson was hearing about this for the first time. My God in Heaven how in the hell can this guy be so asleep regarding the fact and significance of this problem? Thompson’s interview on Access was a frightening if not demoralizing example of a politician devolving into a bureaucratic slumber, incapable of seeing the forest for the trees.

On the other hand Maziarz may well be more of a populist than I thought. His willingness to work with others in WNY to challenge NYPA is more than just crossing party lines. It has all the potential to spark some insight that the political parties are irrelevant when it comes to acting in the interest of our region.

Moreover if in fact the Legislature loses legally against NYPA, possibly it and Mr. Maziara will begin to understand that legality as it exists today is only one form of legitimacy. The actions of NYPA against our region may be legal but are clearly not legitimate. In fact legality is not the only legitimate form of political authority. So the ultimate battle here, even if Niagara wins the litigation, is political and not ultimately legal. Legality today has expropriated all legitimacy in its own name. Legality suppresses and hides the political process taking place behind its cover. When this happens systematically—and, enabled by the political unconsciousness, ignorance and weakness of will of the people and the politicians—the foundation is laid for bureaucratism at its worst. Witness the interpretative sleight of hand of Richie Kessel sweet talking the Niagara Legislature. To their credit I’m quite sure they aren’t buying it.

Such bureaucratic centralist legal invalidation of our claims to NYPA profits if not control is the political de-legitimation of the entire polity of WNY. It is by no accident or afterthought that the New York Power bureaucracy is called an “authority.” When laws are no longer the codified expression of how people want to live their lives but controls upon their rights and political voice, the law becomes a repressive and coercive force cloaking the interests of the political powers and peoples asserting their will over us. The false neutrality of State law is hidden within the proceduralist processes of state government and complicated by the power struggles of irrelevant self-aggrandizing political parties and often career minded politicians climbing the “go along get along” ladder of professionalized ‘political’ career success.

Not only is all politics local politics but really all political power is local power. If it were only true that NYPA has the interests of the whole of the State at heart, they might have an argument for their mode of existence. But given that they are a front for downstate at the expense of WNY, their legitimacy is tainted despite the mirage of legal authority.

Maziarz's challenge with respect to future leadership clearly lay in unifying political representation in WNY and debunking the claims of the Authority and the hapless 4 musketeers who have not yet grasped the power and legitimacy that lay in local unity and concerted political action. If such unity were even close to being realized then the inevitable upsurge of popular support could sway our way any straggling believers in the good will and efficacy of Albany bureaucratic nightmare. With a unifed contingent of local politicians and a population behind them, WNY may well have a chance to move itself beyond a feudal state or better a territory occupied by a ‘foreign’ power.