Teachers hit below the belt to defeat LILLY ... - The Vanguard

June 11, 2009 No. 1, Vol. 1
The
Cheney comes gunning for Obama over
waterboarding, War of Terror (Page 4-5)
________________________________________
ADA DeCastro accused of threatening
former school board member (Pages 7-8)
________________________________________
Democratic Party Chairman Rivera leaves
skid marks on the bowl (Page 3)
Favre melodrama a sad end
to a fine career (Back Cover)
________________________________________
Ruff & Regier back for another season of
mediocrity and underachievement (Back Cover)
________________________________________
Sotomayor poised to make history as first
openly racist Supreme Court justice (Page 5)
END OF
AN ERA AT
LEW-PORT
Teachers hit below the belt to defeat LILLY & STEPIEN
Controversial Lew-Port Board of
Education member Ed Lilly was finally
knocked out by Lew-Port’s teachers
union, eliciting wild celebrations and
tears of joy from those who claimed
his head. He and running mate Scott
Stepien were defeated by union
candidates April Fideli & Wendy
Swearingen for two seats on the school
board, but that may not be the end
of the story. The means employed by
union operatives and the candidates
to achieve their end may very well
result in more lawsuits for those
connected with what is arguably the
most politically corrupt school district
in New York.
During the campaign, Lilly
challenged the Lewiston-Porter United
Teachers (LPUT) to reveal which
candidates they were supporting.
Teacher union president Kevin
Jaruszewski, speaking on behalf of
the union, claimed the teachers were
not supporting any candidates, and
FideIi & Swearingen reinforced this
claim with public proclamations of
their own.
“I want people to look at this district
and see all that it has to offer and
for it not be tainted by the character
assassination and demonization of
teachers and community members
that typically go along the Board of
Education,” said Fideli when she
announced her candidacy. Sadly, both
she, Swearingen and the teachers
union did not practice what they
preached.
Several days before the election, a
web site called “Fideli & Swearingen for
Lew-Port” published an e-mail allegedly
sent by Scott Stepien to another board
member last June. Swearingen accused
continued next page

Stepien of referring to Title
IX, the federal legislation
that requires equal funding
for boys & girls sports, as
title “69”.
That’s where it really
begins to get ugly.
Swearingen, apparently
horrified by the e-mail,
attacked Stepien on the web
site.
“I don’t know about
you, but it appalls me
that a Lewiston-Porter
board member is not only
completely unprofessional, but
views girls and young women in the
school as sex objects. Maybe more
disturbing is that the board tolerates
this unprofessional and despicable
behavior.” She offered no evidence for
these serious accusations, but that did
not prevent her unrestrained diatribe
from continuing:
“I have to believe than in any
“normal” school district, a comment
like this would, at the very least, be
addressed by the board president and
counsel. How do you think the girls
and young women in the Lewiston-
Porter School District will feel when
they realize that their representatives
on their Board of Education not
only allow sexist remarks, but foster
an environment where this sort of
unprofessional behavior is acceptable
and not punished? I’m a woman and I
am sickened by it. If I had daughters
in the school... Well, I don’t, but I am a
daughter. I have sisters. I have nieces.
I have a mom. I am a mom. If you
are a woman, have a daughter or a
mother, or know a woman, you should
NOT be voting for the Lilly-Stepien
ticket. The most ironic thing about
this whole sordid affair is that the last
election when Lilly and Stepien stuffed
mailboxes, they talked about other
candidates allowing drug users and
perverts to stay at Lew-Port. I didn’t
know at the time that they had firsthand
knowledge of perverted behavior.
Right there on the Board of Education.
Please, protect your daughter’s rights.
Vote Fideli and Swearingen. We are
moms who care. We won’t let the “old
boys’ club” forfeit your daughter’s
right to equality.”
Despite presenting herself to the
public as an innocent soccer mom,
Swearingen proved with this astute
political calculation that she was much
more than that. Arguably the most
easily manipulated segment of our
populace, the legion of naïve desperate
housewives who have gravitated to
Lewiston’s faux aura of “respectability”
swallowed her shrewdly slanderous
END OF AN ERA
“I’m disappointed in the
many lies that were told
about myself and Mr.
Stepien,” Lilly said.
“It’s clear that they’re the
teachers union candidates
and they’re going to be
using taxpayer money.”
accusation hook, line & sinker. Many
of them flocked to the polls with their
children to eradicate two “evil men”
from the community. Hopefully, no one
ever attempts to entice any of these
women into jumping over the falls.
Swearingen also accused Lilly
of possessing “first-hand knowledge
of perverted behavior” but could only
support this charge by referencing his
dissatisfaction with the handling of
the Brian Gunby sex scandal. Gunby
was allowed to resign last year after
admitting to an inappropriate sexual
relationship with a female Lew-Port
senior. The incident was covered up
by the teachers union with assistance
from underlings within the Niagara
County Office of District Attorney,
specifically, former Lew-Port school
board member Heather DeCastro.
Ironically, Swearingen & Fideli’s
tag-team routine managed to pull
off what DeCastro had failed to
accomplish during her tenure on the
board: Getting rid of Ed Lilly.
“I’m disappointed in the many lies
that were told about myself and Mr.
Stepien,” Lilly said. “It’s clear that
they’re the teachers union candidates
and they’re going to be using taxpayer
money.” He did not rule out the
possibility of a lawsuit, and said he
believes Stepien has grounds as well.
Lilly has acquired copies of the
petitions filed by Swearingen & Fideli
from the district, and claims they
prove that the newly-elected board
members and LPUT President Kevin
Jaruszewski lied about the union’s
endorsement during the campaign.
According to Lilly, the majority of
names on the petitions are of teachers
or other employees of the district. If his
accusation is correct, then Swearingen,
Fideli and their union handlers have
some explaining to do.
“We didn’t endorse but I hope the
women win, I hope Lilly loses,” union
President Kevin Jaruszewski managed
to say with a straight face before the
results were announced. “They ran a
clean campaign and deserve to win.”
Fideli also denied running a negative
campaign, attributing the victory
to “hard work”. “It’s just amazing that
the good guys, well good girls, won,”
said Fideli, who sobbed uncontrollably
during an embarrassing post-election
celebration. A less than gracious
winner, she continued, offering this to
her vanquished opponent in lieu of a
handshake, “[Lilly] always tells everybody,
‘If you don’t like it, vote me out,’
and that’s what they did.”
If baseless accusations about
perverse behavior, sexism and
dishonesty are what pass for a “clean
campaign”, then Swearingen and Fideli
will no doubt be a welcome addition
to Lew-Port’s greed-inspired cadre of
“win-at-all-costs” political cutthroats.
The greatest irony is that these women,
with their disgusting smear tactics
and questionable honesty, have only
reinforced the unfortunate truth that
the girls can scum it up just as well
as the boys. The deplorable behindthe-scenes
political attacks waged by
Wendy Swearingen, April Fideli and
the teacher union’s ruthless character
assassins may not have been mandated
by Title IX, but it was another show
stopping cameo by low-class members
of Lewiston and Porter’s parasitic
education underbelly, who only ooze
to the surface when their precious tax
dollars are endangered.
by Rhonda Behagen
Submissions,
comments, letters or
rants to:
vanguard.letters@
gmail.com

Local Dems continue to devour each other
as Rivera initiates another feeding frenzy
Niagara County Democratic Party
Chairman Dan Rivera has sent another
female Democrat into semi-retirement
and he didn’t even have to grab her
nose to do it. His recent attack on
North Tonawanda legislator Andrea
McNulty proves once again that this
is one political operative who doesn’t
mind leaving skid marks on the bowl.
McNulty announced last week that
she intends to remain in office for the
remainder of her term, but will not
seek re-election after being called to
task by Rivera for allegedly violating an
election law provision requiring office
holders to live in the communities they
represent.
Based on information obtained
through the Freedom of Information Act,
Rivera accused McNulty of “perpetrating
a fraud against the citizens of Niagara
County” by maintaining a residence
in the Town of Pendleton with her
husband, Randall Klyczyk.
According to Rivera, election law
requires that the ninth district legislative
seat currently held by McNulty be
vacated and she should reimburse the
county for pay collected during the
period in which he says she did not
call North Tonawanda her permanent
residence.
Under election law, public officials
who cease to live in the state, political
subdivision or municipality they
represent must vacate their positions
in office.
“I think it’s clear that the office is
vacant and she needs to pay all that
money back for the checks she received,”
said Rivera.
Rivera’s political Pearl Harbor
job would not have been possible
without the sworn affidavit of Town
of Pendleton Democratic Committee
chairman James Sacco Jr., who lives
in the same neighborhood as Klyczyk.
Sacco apparently confirmed his worst
suspicions regarding McNulty’s unusual
residential arrangement by simply
knocking on her door.
As evidence that she lived at the
Pendleton address with her husband,
Sacco reported that McNulty answered
the door in a bathrobe.
“I dare say that if I was not a female,
that the issue of me answering the
door in my bathrobe would not have
been printed,” she said. “It is because
of these mean-spirited, personal and
destructive tactics used in politics
today that good people with new and
fresh ideas do not get involved and run
for office,” said McNulty in a statement
released to the media last Monday. She
no doubt is referring to Rivera’s past
history of sabotaging the careers of
female Niagara County Democrats who
refuse to remain under his thumb.
Who can forget the sordid saga of
Rivera and former Democrat Executive
Committee Vice Chairperson Diane
Roberts of Lewiston, who resigned last
summer after a now notorious nosegrabbing
incident.
The controversy arose when Roberts
alleged in her letter of resignation that
Rivera grabbed and puller her by the
nose at one of Mayor Paul Dyster’s preelection
fundraisers. Roberts, however,
insisted that she never meant for the
contents of the letter to become a
public issue.
“Dan Rivera is
the poorest excuse
for a party chairman
in memory.”
- Nick Foster
Despite the original intent of
Roberts’ letter and against her wishes,
Kathryn Maziewski, a local woman’s
rights advocate, organized a handful
of similarly inclined bra-burners to
disrupt a Democratic Party fundraiser
that was to be attended by the state
Senate’s top Democrat, Minority Leader
Malcolm Smith at the Niagara Falls
Red Coach Inn. Smith ran for the hills
when learning of the protest upon his
arrival.
Smith spokesperson Cort Ruddy said
that Smith’s decision not to attend was
“due to the nature of the allegations.”
Speaking for himself, Smith said
that it was “easy to do the right thing”
because he respects the rights of women.
Rivera himself addressed the Minority
Leader’s decision more realistically:
“It’s a shame that (he) was put in such
an awkward position by people that
had ulterior motives. At the end of the
day, they hurt the area – this man will
probably be the second or third most
powerful man in the state.”
by Jack Younger
The Red Coach debacle, and the
recent outing of Andrea McNultry, reveal
an element within the Niagara County
Democratic Party that exists somewhere
outside the boundaries of decent
society. McNulty’s brother Michael, and
North Tonawanda resident Nadia Rosky
concurred in statements made to the
Niagara County legislature.
“The majority of you are being drug
down by individuals like that,” said Michael
McNulty, clearly in reference to Rivera and
Sacco’s successful smear tactics.
Rosky went further.
“This is, in short, creepy and bizarre
behavior,” she said. She also questioned
the appropriateness of Democratic
operatives “creeping” around McNulty’s
home and monitoring the movements of
her family members, calling the actions
of Rivera and Sacco “repugnant.”
Former North Tonawanda Alderman
Phillip “Russ” Rizzo agreed as he
announced his intention to run for
McNulty’s open seat in the county
legislature’s Ninth district.
Rizzo called the investigation into
McNulty’s residency “unseemly and
despicable,” accusing her critics and
their “hit men” of “spying” on her and
her family.
Rivera has since countered by
accusing Rizzo and GOP Chairman
Henry Wojtaszek of conspiring to
maintain McNulty’s Ninth District seat
by replacing her with another candidate.
Wojtaszek has denied the claim.
“Without question, Dan Rivera is the
poorest excuse for a party chairman in
memory,” said former party chairman
Nick Foster.
Local Republicans such as
Wojtaszek and Sen. George Maziarz
agreed, expressing great appreciation
for Rivera’s counterproductive efforts
to challenge Republicans in Niagara
County.
“Dan’s done quite a lot to ensure that
the Democrats maintain their minority
position in the county legislature and
elsewhere,” said Maziarz.
With his latest political hackwork,
Rivera, acting patriarch of the
dysfunctional family that is Niagara
County’s Democratic Party, has shown
what little regard he has for some of
the party’s independent females by
continuing to treat them like red-headed
step-sisters. Local Republicans remain
indebted to him for his continued
efforts.

The liberal media
clearly despise Dick
Cheney as much as
they hate America
itself. And why
shouldn’t they? His
rebuttal to President
Obama’s speech on
national security will
make it that much
more difficult for them to portray the Bush
years as something they were not. But,
more significantly, it proved conclusively
that the young bull they have crowned
“savoir of the universe” still has a thing
or two to learn from the old bull.
Despite their attempts at revisionist
history, neither the mainstream media
nor Obama had any answer for Cheney’s
flawless argumentation. His speech
expertly juxtaposed the Bush/Cheney
years against the eight years of Bill &
Hillary Clinton’s co-presidency that
preceded it. The determination as to
who was more successful protecting
Americans can be easily calculated by
simply counting the dead bodies.
In 1993, Islamic terrorists first
attempted to bring down the twin
towers of the World Trade Center, killing
six and injuring over a thousand. Bill
Clinton decided to treat the attack as a
law enforcement matter, and following
convictions and prison sentences,
declared the case closed. Predictably, our
enemies were undeterred by our weak
response and the attacks continued.
In November 1995, a bomb exploded
in central Riyadh at an office of the Saudi
National Guard killing five Americans.
The four Saudis who confessed to the
attack said, prior to their beheadings,
that they were “inspired” by Bin Laden.
(At least two offers from the government
of Sudan to arrest Osama bin Laden and
turn him over to the U.S. were rejected
by the Clinton administration in February
and March of 1996, a period of time when
the former president’s libido had led him
into an adulterous relationship with 22
year-old White House intern Monica
Lewinsky. One of the offers took place during
a secret meeting in Washington, the same
day Clinton was meeting with Lewinsky
in the White House just miles away.)
Later that year, terrorists attacked
the Khobar Towers housing complex in
Saudi Arabia where hundreds of U.S. Air
Force personnel were stationed, killing 19
U.S. servicemen. The 9/11 Commission’s
report noted that Obama was seen
Cheney comes gunning for Obama
over waterboarding, War on Terror
being congratulated on the day of the
attack, raising suspicions of his direct
involvement.
On August 7, 1998, terrorist truck bombs
hit U.S. embassies in Tanzania & Nairobi,
Kenya, killing 224, including 12 Americans.
Bin Laden was later indicted along with
20 others but again escaped justice.
In October 2000, a boat packed
with explosives rammed the U.S.S. Cole
stationed in Yemen, killing 17 sailors and
wounding more than 30. Bin Laden, at
his son’s wedding, praised those who
carried out the attack: “The pieces of
the bodies of the infidels were flying
like dust particles.” In June 2001, an
al-Qaeda recruitment video featured bin
Laden boasting about the attack and
encouraging similar attacks.
“President Obama is
making some choices
that, in my mind, will,
in fact, raise the risk to
the American people of
another attack.”
- Dick Cheney
And, finally, inevitably, on September
11, 2001, Bin Laden struck pay dirt when
attacks on the World Trade Center and
Pentagon killed nearly 3,000. His dogged
determination to kill Americans, however,
could not have come to fruition without
Bill Clinton’s treasonous dereliction of
duty. And Cheney was not about to let
Obama further reinforce mainstream
media distortions to the contrary.
The cornerstone of Cheney’s argument
is that enhanced interrogation techniques
employed to keep our country safe have,
indeed, done so. “The interrogations were
used on hardened terrorists after other
efforts failed. They were legal, essential,
justified and successful and the right
thing to do” because “they prevented the
violent deaths of thousands if not hundreds
of thousands of innocent people.”
He then addressed those who have
characterized water boarding as “torture”:
“To call this a program of torture is to
libel the dedicated professionals who
have saved American lives, and to cast
by Gavin Moriarty
terrorists and murderers as innocent
victims.”
The left, having succeeded at
redefining “marriage” as something else
from what we have always known it to
be, similarly, is attempting to redefine
“torture”, and their efforts to do so have
not been in vain. In the days immediately
following the collapse of the twin towers
you would have been hard pressed to
find a single New Yorker who would have
classified anything as torture that did not
involve a pair of pliers and a blow torch.
But time heals all wounds and
the outrage felt by most Americans
immediately following 9/11 is all but
gone eight years later. How else does one
explain Obama’s rise to superstardom
based in part on anti-American rhetoric
and campaign promises almost exclusively
beneficial to our enemies? While radical
Islamic terrorists are dreaming up new
ways to eviscerate Americans, people like
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews stand in awe
before him, overcome by goose bumps
and unidentified fluids running down
their legs.
Cheney addressed MSNBC’s comrades
at the New York Times and stopped just
short of accusing them of “treason”, for
blowing the secrecy of the Terrorist
Surveillance Program: “After 9/11, the
Times had spent months publishing
pictures and stories of everyone killed by
al Qaeda on 9/11. Now here was that
same newspaper publishing secrets in a
way that could only help al Qaeda.”
Perhaps the left should begin
redefining the word “treason” before its
dangerous new policies result in more
American victims.
By overhauling former President Bush’s
approach to the War on Terror, “President
Obama is making some choices that, in
my mind, will, in fact, raise the risk to
the American people of another attack,”
Cheney said. “When you go back to the
law enforcement mode, which I sense is
what they’re doing ... they are very much
giving up that center of attention and
focus that’s required, and that concept of
military threat that is essential if you’re
going to successfully defend the nation
against further attacks.”
Is this simply a case of “feigned outrage”
and “phony moralizing” as Dick Cheney
alleges? Or is it something more sinister,
something along the lines of “the enemy
of my enemy is my friend”? Each of
President Obama’s foreign policy changes
continued on next page

Sotomayor poised to make history as
first openly racist Supreme Court justice
by Richard Greene
President Obama has boldly revealed
his magic formula for choosing nominees
to the U.S. Supreme Court: “We need
somebody who’s got the heart to recognize
– the empathy to recognize what it’s like to
be a young teenage mom, the empathy to
understand what it’s like to be poor or
African-American or gay or disabled or old.
And that’s the criteria by which I’m going
to be selecting my judges.”
And with all the political predictability
of a smooth-talking Chicago hustler, his
racial hocus pocus killed two birds with
one stone when it conjured up the name of
Latina Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring
Justice David Souter. If confirmed, Sotomayor
will become the first Hispanic on the high
court. More significantly, she will become
the court’s first openly racist juror.
“I would hope that a wise Latina woman
with the richness of her experiences would
more often than not reach a better
conclusion than a white male who hasn’t
lived that life,” said Sotomayor during a
2001 lecture at the University of California-
Berkeley.
Some Republicans have called on her to
withdraw.
“White man racist nominee would be
forced to withdraw. Latina woman racist
should also withdraw,” former House speaker
Newt Gingrich said. “Imagine if a judicial
nominee said ‘my experience as a white
man makes me better than a Latina woman.’
New racism is no better than old racism.”
Conservative pundit Ann Coulter echoed
similar sentiments on ABC’s “Good Morning
America”. “Saying that someone would
decide a case differently because she’s a
Latina, not a white male, that statement by
definition is racist.”
Coulter also mocked Sotomayor’s
supporters who endlessly repeat the
“richness of her life experience” talking
points in defense of the indefensible.
“Why aren’t Democrats choking up over
Clarence Thomas or Miguel Estrada?”
asked Coulter, referring to the 48-year-old
Honduran-born Estrada, whose 2001
nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals in
D.C. by President George W. Bush was
filibustered by Democrats. “Why are we
continued from last page
since taking office, without exception,
must have been greeted favorably by our
enemy, such as his decisions to close the
Guantanamo Bay detention camp, limit
the methods CIA officers use to interrogate
terror suspects and suspend military
tribunals for alleged terrorists.
only supposed to weep when it’s a liberal
Hispanic or a liberal black?”
Another Hispanic liberals would rather
ignore is Judge Jose Cabrenas, Sotomayor’s
colleague on the 2 nd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals. Cabrenas’ dissenting opinion was
strongly critical of Sotomayor’s “empathetic”
conclusion reached in a reverse racism case
involving 17 white New Haven firemen.
White applicants for openings in the
department were denied promotions
despite scoring highest on the exam
because no black applicants passed, even
though the exam had been carefully
constructed to ensure race neutrality.
Cabrenas noted in his dissent that “The
core issue presented by this case – the
scope of a municipal employer’s authority
to disregard examination’s based solely on
the race of the successful applicants – is
not addressed by any precedent by the
Supreme Court or our Circuit. …What is not
arguable is… that this court has failed to
grapple with the issues of exceptional
importance raised in this appeal.”
In layman’s terms, the richness of Judge
Sotomayor’s uniquely racial life experiences
rendered her helpless to resist the temptation
to stick it to some white guys.
When justices disregard the law to
achieve a result they prefer, as Judge
Sotomayor and her likeminded colleagues
on the 2 nd Circuit Court did to seventeen
white firemen, they are guilty of the most
insidious form of judicial activism. And
when these same judges reach conclusions
based on race instead of law, as Judge
Cabrenas alleges in his dissent, they are
racist by definition.
In response to the charges of racism, the
White House has dispatched its most skillful
damage control specialists to defend
Sotomayor. Clinton veterans Lanny Davis,
Paul Begala, James Carville and Donna
Brazille have all resurfaced to help the
President change the subject, but that didn’t
stop impartial observers from highlighting
the political expediency of Obama’s decision,
and the divisive consequences it has wrought.
One wonders if this is more of the
“change we can believe in” promised by
Obama during the campaign when he
When asked if he thought Obama has
made Americans less safe with those
actions, Cheney replied, “I do.”
Imagine what a coup it would be for
radical Islamic extremists to infiltrate the
highest levels of American government in
order to influence U.S. foreign policy. And
just think of the public relations possibilities
pledged to “end the divisiveness” of
American politics and unite all as one. By
nominating Sonia Sotomayor, a Latina racist
if there ever was one, he has put the
cornerstone of his presidential platform in
its proper context. If Obama’s end is to
“I would hope that a
wise Latina woman
with the richness of her
experiences would more
often than not reach a
better conclusion than a
white male who hasn’t
lived that life.”
- Sonia Sotomayor
placate the Hispanic vote, then the means
of nominating a racist Latina is justified.
Make no mistake about it, Obama’s
choice of Sotomayor is one achieved after
careful deliberation of lessons learned during
the 2008 presidential campaign, and how
those lessons may apply to a re-election
strategy for 2012. Republicans still hold
sway over Hispanics and Obama is determined
to eliminate his last remaining vulnerability.
Obama hopes to parlay Sotomayor’s
nomination with amnesty for illegal aliens
and put them on the “path to citizenship”
as soon as possible in order to create a
new supermajority for the Democratic
voters. But Republicans must tread carefully
if they choose to challenge this cunningly
shrewd political calculation. They’ll be
damned with Hispanics if they do, and
damned with their base if they don’t.
By turning out Sotomayor, Obama has
crept up behind Lady Justice and skillfully
removed her blindfold as if he were trying to
pick her bra strap. He might as well replace
it with a Mexican ski mask because, with his
nominee’s empathetically racist perspective,
the high court will soon have all the legitimacy
and of a professional wrestling match.
were they able to gain unlimited access
to our newspapers and televisions. As
Dick Cheney has just reminded us, they
don’t have to. They already have the new
“Clintonian” policies of President Obama
and the liberal mainstream media, “the
enemies of their enemy”, to do the dirty
work for them.

Despite their recent setbacks,
American newspapers have come a long
way since the early days of Ben Franklin
and his older brother, James, whose
New England Courant was “encouraged
by a number of respectable characters,
who were desirous of having a paper
of a different cast from those then
published.” While still in his youth,
Benjamin Franklin wrote some of his
most well known works in the form of
essays and satirical letters under the pen
name Silence Dogood. The “respectable
characters” that contributed to the
paper’s entertainingly unorthodox
approach came to be known as the
“Hell-Fire Club” for their incendiary
verbiage.
Today, newspapers are in the midst
of the most significant period of decline
since their inception. Opinions vary as
to the reasons for the current crisis,
but some impartial observers have
suggested as a plausible explanation the
overwhelming number of left-leaning
journalists who presently saturate
newsrooms and editorial boards. Many
of these so-called “journalists” have
Imagine our surprise when, only hours before going to print,
our good friends at Lewiston-Porter were making sensational
headlines in the pages of Buffalo’s only daily. The consensus
reaction of those present when word broke: What the hell is
wrong with these people?
For as long as anyone can remember, the Lewiston-Porter
School District has served as ground zero for education
politics in New York State. School board meetings have often
metamorphosed into circus-like affairs, with more freaks and
sideshows than a Ringling Brothers big tent. Opinion pages
of local newspapers are frequently littered with slanderous
letters to the editor that serve as thinly veiled political attacks.
Something surely is amiss in Shangri-La.
Now the vultures are gathering around Lew-Port Board of
Education President Bob Weller. An ally of recently defeated
board members Ed Lilly & Scott Stepien, Weller has been
accused of sending racist e-mails. The teachers union and its
newly elected trustees, recognizing a weakened opponent,
have decided to go for the jugular.
“It’s just not funny to be racist,” said board member-elect
Wendy Swearingen. “It’s not a joke.”
This is not the first time Ms. Swearingen has cast a stone
in the direction of a political opponent. During the campaign
her cunningly calculated personal attacks proved that this
was one kitten that still knew how to scratch.
“It appalls me that a Lewiston-Porter board member is
not only completely unprofessional, but views girls and young
women in the school as sex objects,” said Swearingen on a
web site called “Fideli and Swearingen for Lew-Port”.
She was referring to an e-mail allegedly written by Scott
Stepien last year that referred to Title IX, the federal legislation
that requires equal funding for boys & girls sports, as Title “69.”
Swearingen characterized the e-mail as “sexist” and accused
The Hell-Fire Club Revisited
abdicated their oath of impartiality
to act as political operatives for the
Democratic Party. The New York Times
is the most obvious example of this
“new journalism”, which isn’t really
journalism at all, but something much
closer to propaganda. President Obama,
a chronic propagandist if there ever
was one, could not have made history
without the assistance of the Times and
their similarly inclined co-conspirators
in the so-called “mainstream media.”
Locally, our choices are a hodgepodge
collection, to say the least. The Niagara
Gazette has struggled to achieve
respectability for decades due mainly to
serious economic woes and managerial
incompetence. Former editor Dick
Lucinski was the latest to be shown the
door, Niagara Falls, N.Y. a fitting locale
for his career to hit rock bottom.
The Buffalo News isn’t much better,
its liberal handlers carefully walking a
fine line while regurgitating the party
line so as not to jeopardize profits. To
call the News’ coverage slanted is
putting it mildly. Fortunately, its
preoccupation with making ends meet
Editorial
has severely limited its ability to
propagandize on a greater scale.
The Niagara Falls Reporter has
taken a more direct approach and many
of those it has afflicted, two former
mayors among them, are comfortable
no more. Despite the many criticisms
levied against the Reporter, it is more
courageous and intellectually honest than
any of its competitors could ever hope
to be, but not without a pre-conceived
world-view and biases of its own.
Bias has become so pervasive in
both television and print media that it
is arguable whether or not “journalism”
as we used to know it even exists
anymore. Make no mistake about it, it
does not exist within the pages of The
Vanguard. This is not a newspaper in
the traditional sense, or any other
sense. Nor are its contributors
journalists, but, like the members of
James & Benjamin Franklin’s “Hell-Fire
Club” who targeted the hypocrites of
their day with pinpoint accuracy and
uncommon zeal, simply a collection of
“respectable characters desirous of a
paper of a different cast”.
both Stepien and Lilly of possessing “first-hand knowledge of
perverted behavior.” She will be a welcome addition to the
political toilet that is the Lewiston-Porter School District.
Weller’s e-mails, while mildly offensive and not very funny,
are far from racist. The word “racist” refers to those who hold
themselves superior to others, or express hatred for those
of another race. Weller’s e-mails are inappropriate jokes but
express nothing remotely resembling superiority or hatred.
Former board member James A. Mezhir concurred. “This
kind of stuff obviously is inappropriate,” Mezhir said.
We agree. The e-mails, while inappropriate, are not racist.
But what is more inappropriate is the ruthless scheming
that epitomizes these political search & destroy missions.
Inappropriate e-mails become heat-seeking missiles designed
to destroy those who jeopardize the teacher union’s unlimited
access to taxpayer dollars. Of course, all of this is done for
the sake of the children. How unfortunate the students of
Lewiston-Porter are to be continually exposed to this sorry
spectacle.
The irony of this sordid scandal is that the real racists
at Lew-Port can be found among those who do the hiring.
Lewiston-Porter schools employ 193 full-time teachers, one of
whom is black and another who is Hispanic, according to
figures provided by the district. Now that’s racist.
This manufactured scandal has inadvertently called
attention to Lew-Port’s notoriously racist hiring practices that
have favored “friends and family” over those with a darker
skin pigmentation or wrong last name. With characteristically
grotesque hypocrisy, L-P’s political hacks have revealed that
they are willing to use African-Americans when it is politically
expedient to do so, but when it comes to welcoming them
into their select clique or staff lounge, well, they can just stay
above the hill.

ADA DeCastro accused of threatening
former Board of Education member
The Niagara County Office of
District Attorney has pursued a Class B
misdemeanor against former Lewiston-
Porter Board of Education member Lenny
Palumbo for nearly three years. But that
has not prevented the bizarre case from
taking many unexpected twists and turns
along the way.
Beginning last fall, local news reports
began questioning the motivation of his
accusers, Rick & Kathy Sweeney and New
York State Trooper Danny Cullen. DA Mike
Violante’s decision to pursue the case has
also raised many eyebrows within Niagara
County’s legal community.
Rick Sweeney is a Lew-Port Middle
School teacher and union activist. At the
March 2005 Lew-Port school board meeting
he threatened to “dismantle the board
majority” consisting of Palumbo, David
Schaubert, Lou Palmeri and Ed Lilly. He
would later publicly accuse Palumbo of
conspiring with these board members to
deny him lucrative extracurricular
appointments.
A current Lew-Port school board member
has accused Sweeney of threatening his
employer after he was elected to the
board. As part of his penance, the district
required Sweeney to complete fifteen
weeks of anger management before
returning to the classroom.
Town of Lewiston police have indicated
that Sweeney and his wife, Kathy preferred
to await the results of a grievance hearing
at Lew-Port involving Palumbo before
pressing charges. One officer went so far
as to say, “When Mr. Sweeney did not
get appointed as coach, Mrs. Sweeney
filed the report. She wasn’t ‘afraid’ until
Sweeney was not appointed coach.”
Town of Lewiston legal representatives
reportedly advised Lewiston police that Mr.
& Mrs. Sweeney’s attempt to have Palumbo
arrested amounted to “extortion”. But
despite this incriminating revelation, and
others, DA Violante remains undaunted in
his pursuit of Palumbo’s head.
The most obvious question to impartial
observers: Why?
The answer may have something to do
with former Lew-Port Board of Education
member Heather DeCastro, who now serves
Violante as an Assistant District Attorney,
as does her sister, Holly Sloma. Their father,
local politico Henry Sloma, also has more
than a passing interest in the Lewiston-
Porter School District. His “friend”, Bonnie
Gifford, briefly served as board trustee
before losing a re-election bid last year.
Lew-Port insiders report that DeCastro
is interested in gaining employment at
Lew-Port as a legal advisor.
Palumbo claims that DeCastro threatened
him while he was a member of Lew-Port’s
school board. He alleges that DeCastro
called him at his home in March 2005,
only days after Sweeney confronted him
at Lew-Port’s monthly board meeting, to
inform him that she and her colleagues
were going to “ruin” him. “We’re going to
make it so people in this town never look at
you the same way again,” she allegedly said.
“Heather, like many members of Lew-
Port’s teachers union, was irate that I was
supporting a 0% tax increase,” says Palumbo.
“At Lew-Port, the controversies always
revolve around money.”
So, in December 2006, the Sweeney’s
bypassed Town of Lewiston police and
enlisted New York State Trooper Danny
Cullen to make the arrest. His wife, Danielle,
is PTA President in Lew-Port’s Middle
School where Rick Sweeney teaches.
Several months after Palumbo’s arrest,
the Lew-Port teachers union (LPUT)
honored Mrs. Cullen as a “Friend of
Education”. An unusual coincidence.
According to Palumbo, his arrest played
a large part in the decision of former board
President David Schaubert and Vice President
Lou Palmeri to not run for re-election.
“We met at Lou’s house the day after my
arrest and both he and Dave had decided to
resign. They reconsidered and finished out
their terms but it was clear that both of
them, and their families, had had enough of
the teacher union’s dirty tricks.”
That May, new school board candidates
were elected and the balance of power
within the district swung back to the union.
Sweeney’s threat to “dismantle the board
majority”, with the help of State Trooper
Danny Cullen, had finally come to fruition.
Last week, lawyers from the Attorney
General’s office representing the New
York State Police lost a court battle to
prevent Cullen’s disciplinary history and
work records from being admitted at trial
September 29.
Town of Wheatfield Judge Robert Cliffe
also ruled against the Lewiston-Porter
School District, who refused to turn over
Sweeney’s class lists and coaching rosters
to determine whether or not any of Cullen’s
children were either taught or coached by
him. Palumbo claims that there is a
personal relationship between the two
families, and with DeCastro as well.
The Vanguard has also obtained
several letters that Danielle Cullen penned
to Palumbo in 2005 criticizing his efforts
on the board. The letters were co-signed
by former Lew-Port school board member
by Don Carrasco
Gretchen Baxter.
A New York State Police Internal
Affairs officer has conceded that if a
political relationship existed between
Mrs. Cullen and Palumbo, then a conflict
of interest was present and Trooper
Cullen should have allowed another
officer to investigate.
The likelihood, however, of an
impartial police officer reviewing the
facts of this case, as Town of Lewiston
police and their lawyers did, and
determining an arrest was warranted is
extremely unlikely. But this would not
be the first time that Trooper Cullen’s
job performance, judgment and honesty
have been called into question.
“When Mr. Sweeney did
not get appointed as
coach, Mrs. Sweeney filed
the report. She wasn’t
‘afraid’ until Sweeney was
not appointed coach.”
- Town of Lewiston Police
Cullen claims that Palumbo has stalked
him and his family since being ordered
by Town of Lewiston Judge Hugh Gee
to take an alternate route to avoid the
Sweeneys. Ironically, that route ran directly
past Cullen’s home.
In July 2008, three New York State
Troopers arrested Palumbo for the second
time at the request of Danny Cullen, who
claimed he feared for his safety and that
of his family. Following the lead of Rick &
Kathy Sweeney, he also took out an order
of protection.
Unfortunately, his version of events
keeps changing as his claims become
increasingly implausible.
On October 28, 2009, the Niagara Falls
Reporter published an article about the
case that included a picture of Cullen’s
sworn deposition accusing Palumbo of
stalking him in a 1999 Intrepid. Below
the deposition appeared another picture
of Palumbo’s bill of sale from Fucillo Ford
proving that he had sold the car two
years earlier and was now driving a 2005
continued on back cover

Ruff & Regier back for
another season of mediocrity
and underachievement
by Gord Charlesboy
What strange twist of fate, what horrible curse
has been laid upon the fans of the Buffalo Sabres?
The team’s recent announcement that they are
retaining Coach Lindy Ruff & GM Darcy Regier for
the ’09-10 season has hockey aficionados around
the league in hysterics. Who can blame them?
How else is one to respond to the organization’s
annual vote of confidence for arguably the worst
coach-GM tandem in franchise history?
The team’s managing partner, Larry Quinn,
is again the one holding the strings in downtown
Buffalo, owner Tom Golisano content to
sit back and watch Quinn’s rape and pillage
routine at HSBC arena. Emasculated GM Darcy
Regier has played the role of patsy to the hilt, he
and the equally inept Ruff now the longest serving
coach-general manager tandem in the NHL.
“We wanted to have a chance to digest the
season and gauge their desire and their -- how
would I say it? – willingness to approach this
freshly and with some innovation,” Quinn said.
“And we’ve taken our process forward enough
to know that these are the two guys we want
to lead our hockey department next year.”
Quinn was, of course, the architect of the
most embarrassing moment in team history,
the infamous Ted Nolan / John Muckler fiasco.
GM Muckler, who feuded with both Nolan and
management, was fired first. Nolan, inexplicably,
continued from pg. 7
Buick Century.
Perhaps reeling from the damaging revelation,
Cullen changed his story with Niagara County
Assistant DA Steven Foley the next day.
The Vanguard has reviewed Cullen’s revised
version of events dated October 29, 2009, which
is nearly identical to his earlier story, with one
conspicuous exception. Cullen now claims that the
infamous 1999 Intrepid was, in fact, a “Pontiac.”
Favre melodrama a sad end to a fine career
by Nick Devlin
Brett Favre’s trade to the N. Y. Jets may have brought closure to the Green
Bay Packers organization but, for the rest of us, a season of new episodes
from the NFL’s version of Desperate Housewives (Desperate Quarterbacks?)
would await us all. And what better stage than Broadway for a tragedy of Shakespearian
proportions to play itself out. If ever a situation was deserving of a cliché,
it was this one: “Be careful what you wish for, Brett. You just might get it.”
Deanna Favre’s attempt to broaden her beau by transforming him into
a dazzling urbanite was as misguided as the Jets organization’s decision to
entrust their fate to a 38 year-old quarterback with one foot in the grave.
Following what Green Bay Coach Mike McCarthy described as two days
and six hours of “brutally honest” conversations, he frankly stated his opinion
that Favre didnt have the right “mind set” to play for the Packers.
Yet Eric Mangini and the Jets inexplicably decided to roll the dice on a
long shot anyway.
McCarthy’s “brutally honest” assessment of Favre’s psychological state
has proved not too far off the mark, and it eventually became obvious that he
hadn’t the right “mind set”, or arm strength, to play anywhere. And Brett soon
found out that New York can be a “brutally honest” town when its star quarterback
doesn’t adequately acclimate himself to his new surroundings or expeditiously
develop with his teammates the chemistry necessary to execute pro
offenses. For ex-Jets coach Eric Manfgini, the gamble came up snake eyes.
It wasn’t all that surprising that Favre was unable to replicate 2007’s success
with a new cast of characters who still hadn’t learned how to win, in a
town whose media doesn’t wait patiently for its high-priced superstars to
perform before they attack like so many sophisticated urban piranha.
The swamps of Jersey were supposed to sufficiently distance Favre from
the overbearing aura of New York, but failed to provide safe refuge when the
Jets didn’t win right away. Favre’s bust is destined for Canton, but when he
didn’t hold up his end of the bargain, he turned out to be just another guy
was offered a one-year contract after winning
the NHL Coach of the Year award. The team
reconsidered and pulled the offer off the table,
parting ways with Nolan, as well. Among the
collateral damage was current New York
Rangers coach John Torterella, who continues
to receive rave reviews for his work since leaving
Buffalo behind. The Sabres’ organization and their
fans continue to be haunted by the episode.
Despite a brief hiatus from mediocrity
during the Chris Drury era (’05-07), the team
has failed to make the playoffs five of the last
seven years. Drury left after being concussed
by Ottawa’s Chris Neil, a hit eerily similar to
that suffered by another former Sabres captain,
Pat LaFontaine. LaFontaine also left the season
after his injury, just one more name on a long
list of great players who willingly walked the
plank of a doomed Sabres’ death ship.
Ruff’s response to the Drury hit earned him
a fine from the league when he stupidly
admitted sending tough guys Andrew Peters &
Adam Mair out to retaliate. The following night
in Ottawa, however, Ruff foolishly opted for a
Following another Reporter expose, Palumbo
was arrested on his way to Town of Wheatfield
court for a scheduled meeting with Judge Cliffe and
ADA Foley. He was stopped and ticketed by Cullen’s
colleague, and friend, State Trooper Ben Campbell.
Campbell followed Palumbo to court, where
four more state troopers were waiting. Upon
leaving the courthouse, he was arrested and taken
to the State Police’s Witmer Road barrack where,
according to Palumbo, Danny Cullen taunted him
tactical retreat, his misguided approach
allowing Neil and the Senators to regain the
psychological advantage. Ottawa easily handled
Buffalo 4 games to 1 when they next met in
the conference finals, and the Sabres have not
seriously threatened since.
“Ownership is very excited to have these
two individuals return to help lead the
organization back to the playoffs next season”,
read a short statement posted on the team’s
website. It would be interesting to hear what
exactly there is to be excited about. The team
used to be a reflection of Buffalo’s blue collar,
workmanlike attitude but Quinn’s makeover
has the club looking more like a bunch of wellgroomed
metrosexuals, the lunch pails and
work boots that once sat in lockers now
replaced by blow-dryers and skin creams.
Loyal to a fault, naive Sabres fans continue to
pay exorbitant ticket prices to watch, with apologies
to Adam Mair, Paul Gaustad & Craig Rivet, the
torchbearers of hockey’s post modern androgynous
subculture, too concerned with the condition of
their nails to seriously commit themselves to a quest
for the Stanley Cup. Can you imagine Gordie Howe
hanging out with these guys?
Tom Golisano deserves many thanks for
saving the Sabres organization from oblivion;
just take a look at the spot where Buffalo’s
Memorial Auditorium used to stand to see how
close the team came to sharing a similar fate.
Fortunately, he did so before New York State’s
oppressive tax collectors in Albany drove him
out of town. If only he’d take Ruff, Regier and
Quinn with him.
while he was handcuffed to a bench.
It’s impossible to say if D.A. Violante is in on
the fix or just along for the ride but the longevity
of this convoluted case leaves one wondering
who’s wearing the pants on Hawley Street, him
or his politically ambitious underling, Heather
DeCastro. Regardless, the longer this case drags
on, the more Mike Violante is looking like another
Mike, the disgraced and disbarred prosecutor of
the Duke/Lacrosse fiasco, Mike Nifong.
who ended up “in the weeds”.
A Cinderella Story looked in the works after the Jets compiled an 8-3
record, including a win over the previously unbeaten Tennessee Titans.
However, the Jets lost four of their last five games in which Favre threw eight
interceptions and only two TDs. Bill Shakespeare couldn’t have written a
more ironic twist to this story’s conclusion. New York would lose to Miami in
the season finale after the Dolphins acquired QB Chad Pennington from the
Jets, who had cut him to make room for Favre.
Favre had a great season in ‘07 despite costing his team the NFC Championship
game with an interception in overtime against the New York Giants. His
play in 2005 & 2006, however, put his current situation in better perspective: a
38:47 TD/INT ratio and the consensus opinion of most observers being that the
game had past him by and it was time to call it a career. It had been a great
one, even if it took Desmond Howard’s unforgettable MVP performance in Super
Bowl XXXI to save him from being remembered as just another Jim Kelly.
But he had arguably become a shadow of his former self and most impartial
observers concluded that it was time for Favre to hang ‘em up for good.
“The train has left the station”, said Mike McCarthy as Brett Favre’s career
in Green Bay came to an unfortunate end. The “emotional wounds” that were
opened during his ugly final hours in Titletown still fester, however, and
despite a brief fling with the Jets, he looks like a guy still on the rebound. His
inability to consummate a similar tryst with the Minnesota Vikings was
undoubtedly the best possible outcome for all concerned.
Favre found out the hard way that New York isn’t exactly the friendliest
shoulder to cry on when one is down and out, and neither is the NFL the
safest environment to work out one’s issues with the inevitability of aging
and the reality it imposes on our lives and careers. Like many before him,
Favre’s intense passion for the game he loves has blurred his judgment and
his vendetta against the Green Bay Packers has forever tarnished his legacy.
Let’s just all breathe a collective sigh of relief that #4’s version of Desperate
Quarterbacks didn’t end like an episode from the Sopranos, with Brett buried
beneath the Meadowlands turf alongside Jimmy Hoffa.