Notes on Hillary Clinton and Buffalo's latest 'savior'
BRIAN ACKLEY Political Columnist
It's unclear exactly how many new jobs Hillary Clinton has promised the fawning masses in Iowa - she's still about 199,900 short in this neck of the woods - but you can bet the workforce retraining money that for the next 12 months her attentions will be much more intensely focused on Des Moines than it will Depew.

Of course, that won't represent anything particularly new. Fawn all you want over her rock star-like status, there's no argument that things are no better in Buffalo Niagara today than they were when she first bamboozled state voters six-plus years ago.

Still, it was more than just a mild shock to see a pre-Christmas poll in which Clinton trailed even Tom Vilsack among Democratic hopefuls. She was a mere three points ahead of Al Gore of all people. Of course, Vilsack is the former governor of Iowa, but still, the numbers of John Edwards and Barack Obama were more than twice that of the former First Lady.

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Speaking of those who leave the distinct glint of drool oozing from the corner of onlookers' mouths, are we to believe that Buffalo's latest savior is a 28-year-old native of Kuwait?

Bashar Issa certainly deserves the benefit of the doubt for now; he hasn't dashed nearly as many dreams and hopes as Niagara Frontier saviors who have come before him. But it was interesting that the Buffalo News would just a couple of days after Issa's latest public love fest dig up the memory of Eddy Cogan, who moved the masses in Niagara Falls to believe his grandiose development plans there would revitalize the American side of the natural attraction.

Cogan's plan appeared well thought out and had strong financial backing. A decade later, those plans are no closer to being realized than they were when he first dazzled local leaders desperate for any shred of potential positive news they could latch on to.

Whether or not Issa turns out to be a repeat of that, or anything even close to a real deal, remains to be seen. Here's a guess, but maybe the politics in Manchester, England, where he has made something of a mark, aren't quite as horrific as they are here. Said politics aren't a convenient excuse for when things don't get done around here; they are fact, whether we like to put on our ruby red slippers and wish it away or not.

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L'Affaire Holt is hardly just a blot of Erie County Democrats, as much as partisans would like to hang legislator George's disgrace on just one party.

Of course, protecting his precious county paycheck despite criminal activity is something we would have expected from Legislative Majority Leader Lynn Marinelli, who was more than willing to enable the hot dog-stand owner to a feathery landing after he pleaded guilty for not paying state business taxes.

Her "It's not up to me, we'll let the voters of his district" decide dodge was yet another in a series of leadership abdications that is consistent with what seems to be the only key qualification to hold elected office in Erie County.

But she was hardly alone. While Republicans eventually came out with proposed legislation designed to capitalize on the furor over the mercenary Holt's hell-no-I-won't-go hissy fit, it was disappointing that wasn't the initial response of legislative Minority Leader John Mills. It's easy to forget that in early January, Mills was on the same Marinelli merry-go-round, spinning with the rationale that it wasn't up to fellow legislators to pass judgment in the case.

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Whoever becomes New York's next comptroller won't be nearly as interesting as the not-so-behind the-scenes drama over who in Albany is wielding the most power these days. Legislative leader and fellow Democrat Sheldon Silver is in the midst of a major snit with Gov. Eliot Spitzer over the process of picking Alan Hevesi's replacement. It's what happens when those who are used to always getting their way don't. The smart money on Albany's first major mano-a-mano stare down is still on Spitzer.

(Brian Ackley is a columnist for the Weekly Independent Newspapers of Western New York. For more information on WIN, or to provide feedback on this column, visit our Web site at www.wnynewspapers.com. Opinions expressed here are those of the author.)