NY-27: Roberto Calls Higgins Bass Pro Deadline Disingenuous

Brian Higgins recent posturing over the Bass Pro deadline might have been good political theater, but his Republican opponent is not letting him get away with it. In a recent press release Lenny Roberto called Higgins’ deadline disingenuous.

Roberto said that “Higgins surely knows that the $35 million in public subsidies offered to Bass Pro to anchor the Canal Side project has been recently ruled unconstitutional by the New York Appellate Courts, and that the ruling may end the ability of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation to legally subsidize Bass Pro at all.”

Referring to the recent decision by the New York State Appellate Court in the Bordeleau case, which was championed by local tea party activists, Roberto believes that Higgins knows the days of corporate welfare and public subsidies to private business may become a more difficult proposition in New York State.

“Yet,” Roberto commented, “Brian Higgins wants to appear as if he was the one who single-handedly ended Buffalo’s unpleasant saga with Bass Pro.”

If you believe Brian Higgins, you’d think he was directly responsible for all the positive things that have ever happened  in Buffalo… He has to do this to appear as if he’s actually done anything, since there is so much that hasn’t been done. Most of us would love to see that new signature Peace Bridge built. Higgins might have to negotiate with the terns first to get that done. And then there’s the Skyway… the bridge he has said for years and years was not safe but still remains. I’m getting tired of it. I’m sure a lot of us are too.

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Matt Margolis is co-author (with Mark Noonan) of Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority. He also blogs at Blogs For Victory. Follow Matt on Twitter.

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