Higgins misplaces testicles, blames businesses

Christina Abt posted this article on BuffaloPundit’s site about Brian Higgins’ self-back-patting session in Eden yesterday.

Higgins agrees with those who say the settlement was not enough. He also agrees that there is much more to be mined. However, at this point, the Congressman notes that it is going to take greater pressure by a more united group of politicians, business people and community leaders to make that happen.

He also very plainly stated that one of the reasons that a better settlement was not attained was the lack of interest, concern and pressure from the WNY business community.

WHAAAAT? So… if you don’t think you got a good deal from an authority you know is corrupt and vow to take down, do you:

1. Sign a 50-year deal so you have no shot at ever renegotiating
2. Drop all calls to investigate said corrupt authority
3. Blame your constituents for not kissing your ass enough
4. All of the above

Ok, so that question was a bit loaded. Only Higgins himself could find an answer he liked in that list.

Of course, then the good Congressman went on to trumpet his other favorite issue (and one of mine as well) – tearing down the Skyway!

In discussing the waterfront plan being touted by Uniland Businessman, Carl Montante, Jr., the Congressman acknowledged that he is working in alliance with Montante, but labeled him “wrong” over Montante’s recent public statement that the most important thing people can do to help encourage waterfront development is to prevent the deconstruction of The Skyway.

So the guy with the company that’s actually going to develop some of the waterfront says tearing down the Skyway is a bad idea. Of course, as is the case with all politicians, they always know better than everyone else. It’s a side benefit to having a degree in public policy. If Higgins does as thorough of a job on the Skyway as he did cleaning up the Power Authority, we’ll have a beautiful series of towering pylons with no road deck, and no new bridges in it’s place. Then he can say, “Well if there was more support from local businesses you could have bridges too. Until then, enjoy this beautifully repaved Furhman Blvd and repainted Ohio St bridge!”

The great thing about building bullet points for your resume is that you keep them nice and short and get to trim off all the fatty details. Higgins is a bullet-point kind of guy, and the quintessential Buffalo politician – no long term plan, other than making sure he gets re-elected.