Published: July 26, 2008 11:52 pm      

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK: Long time coming

North Tonawanda resident and state Senate hopeful Don Hobel got a chance Tuesday to gaze at something he’s been wanting to see for years — a giant oversized check for $2 million from the Industrial Development Agency.

The big, fake check served as a ceremonial stand-in for the real thing that will be delivered to the county’s coffers as payback for a loan the NCIDA received from the municipality to form an assistance program back in the 1980s.

Hobel has questioned the legality of the transaction and has for years suggested the county be made whole for the loan, with interest.

“Don Hobel, take a look,” said Legislature Chairman Bill Ross, C-Wheatfield. “You’ve waited all these years.”

Hobel, a regular speaker at Legislature meetings, said he wasn’t aware the IDA and the county had planned a public presentation for Tuesday’s meeting.

During his time at the microphone, Hobel said simply: “If I could speak for the taxpayers of Niagara County, thank you to the IDA for returning the

$2 million.”

Taxpayers may give thanks for the money later this year when county budget talks resume.

Members of the Republican-led Majority Caucus went on record this week as saying they plan to commit all $2 million to tax rate stabilization — meaning if there is the hole on the revenue side by year’s end, the money could be used to fill it and, perhaps, maintain the current tax rate or even lower it.

“These monies will be used to offset the county tax rate,” said Majority Leader Richard Updegrove,

R-Lockport.

The Lou Gehrig

of lawmaking?

Ross took a moment during this week’s meeting to draw a little attention to himself.

The veteran lawmaker proudly announced he was presiding over his 100th legislative meeting.

Ross noted the only other lawmaker who was still with him after all these years was Niagara Falls Democrat Sean O’Connor, who himself is a 23-year legislative veteran. While public officials often take a lot of heat, Ross said guys like him and O’Connor have given up a lot of their free time to attend meetings and other functions related to their jobs over the years.

The 100th anniversary announcement drew a standing ovation from members of the legislative body and calls for the chairman to pick up the tab on refreshments.

“I wasn’t looking for that, but it felt good,” Ross said of the response from his colleagues. “The pizza and the chicken wings will be on me.”

“That’s not in writing,” he added.

Credit due

A reader sent an e-mail to point out that my Legislature story about the county’s move to block PCBs from coming to the area left out a couple of key players in the effort — Legislators Clyde Burmaster, R-Ransomville, and John Ceretto, R-Lewiston. The reader suggested both men deserved credit for acting on resolutions aimed at preventing the Department of Environmental Conservation from trucking 75,000 tons of waste from a cleanup site in Warren County to the CWM landfill in Porter.

Ceretto sponsored the resolution that called on the DEC to come up with an alternative cleanup plan and Burmaster sponsored a second measure aimed at placing a $200 per ton tax on the material.

Both measures were approved by a unanimous vote of the Legislature.

As I told the reader, these things happen, especially when Legislature meetings run long as they did Tuesday. Two hours of presentations before any decisions are made can be a nightmare for people with deadlines.