WBEN Soundbites Dog Davis

[Radknowski]

A television commercial for Representative Tom Reynolds (R, Amherst) features sound bites of Democrat candidate Jack Davis. There is a visual that credits WBEN and the Tom Bauerle show as the source of the audio, derived from Jack Davis' appearance on Tom Bauerle's show on WBEN.

The Reynolds TV commercial makes Bauerle and WBEN appear to be willing partners in Reynolds' campaign.

How is it that an aircheck of Davis can be used in Reynolds' TV campaign commercial? Unless the rules have changed in the five years that I've been out of the business, WBEN and Bauerle would have to grant permission allowing Reynolds to use the audio.

It doesn't come as a surprise that Bauerle would allow the audio to be used, given his political tendancies, but one would think WBEN would want to maintain at least the appearance of propriety, to say nothing of ethics. (I can almost hear the guffaws.)

If WBEN granted Reynolds' campaign permission to use its audio, further questions arise. Was the audio released gratis? Did Reynolds pay WBEN for the aircheck? How much? Was Bauerle paid as a de facto endorser?

WBEN appears to be endorsing Reynolds in the TV commercial. Given Entercom's questionable play-for-pay policies on its FM stations, this issue seems to raise further questions about the character of the licensee.

 

[dampier]

It seems to me this would be a fair use exception to copyright law. What is more interesting is the way too obvious editing hack job Reynolds campaign people obviously did on the two soundbites in the ad. It's clear in both instances they were sentence fragments, and WBEN should provide the full shows on their website so interested voters could actually check to see what Jack Davis really said. Otherwise, it's just another example of Out of Context Theatre where context will get a trip to the slaughter house.

"Jack Davis said it's obvious Tom Reynolds will hack and slaughter voters in the campaign."

Hey... every word in the quote above is in the paragraph above that. So it must be clear and accurate, and you can see the words to prove it, right?!

 

[Element9]

WBEN, colluding with a Republican candidate who desperately trails a train wreck Democrat in the polls? I'm Shocked! Absolutely shocked!

The soundbite is an award winning hack job, as noted by Dampier. The Reynolds camp is grasping at straws. A lot is at stake. During his Foley news conference a few weeks ago (the one where he wouldn't answer questions because props, er, "children were present") he was sweating like Nixon. BTW, speaking of stakes, don't guys like Reynolds, Rove and Cheney ever pass up double servings of the NY strip steaks for salad and cottage cheese?

WBEN is the New York Post of Buffalo radio. It's getting a lot of applause for its storm coverage, but what would you expect for a station that has no commercial news-talk competition? In audience share WBFO and WNED-AM pale by comparison, fine stations that they may be.
-9-

 

[Mark_Giardina]

Re: Election Campaign Ads

I don’t live in Reynolds district, but what I found interesting in his previous TV ads are quotes from the Rochester newspaper about Jack Davis dating back three or four years ago. That, in my opinion, shows desperation on the part of any candidate who will use quotes from an opponent from years past.

It does appear that Reynolds, Kuhl and Walsh are scared. My mailbox has been full of campaign literature from Walsh (he’s my congressional representative) where in years past I’ve received nothing. I even got a letter asking if I would be willing to post one of his campaign signs on my front lawn.

I’ve also found negative campaign ads to be repulsive and still do.

 

[dampier]

Re: Election Campaign Ads

I don’t live in Reynolds district, but what I found interesting in his previous TV ads are quotes from the Rochester newspaper about Jack Davis dating back three or four years ago. That, in my opinion, shows desperation on the part of any candidate who will use quotes from an opponent from years past.

It does appear that Reynolds, Kuhl and Walsh are scared. My mailbox has been full of campaign literature from Walsh (he’s my congressional representative) where in years past I’ve received nothing. I even got a letter asking if I would be willing to post one of his campaign signs on my front lawn.

I’ve also found negative campaign ads to be repulsive and still do.

There has been a parade of political ads running on Time Warner's local ad insertion, which is probably where I am exposed to most of them. Eric Massa has been running ads far longer than Randy Kuhl was, at least up here (and Kuhl's ads have looked a lot like Jack Davis' to me - amateur hour... especially Kuhl's ad which contorts the word "liberal" into the same kind of disgust people used to have when they said Communist.) Reynolds "I'm Sorry" ad completely backfired, so he's moved on to the aforementioned Social Security ad. Randy Kuhl's district starts right on my west property line, but I am actually in Louise Slaughter's district. I get bombarded with literature both all four campaigns, although Louise hasn't needed to do much beyond the occasional postcard. I don't even know if she has an opponent.

The thing about negative campaign ads is that they often work, especially when the other side doesn't use them. Then the attacking campaign ends up defining their opponent and it's all over. I have learned to take them all with a grain of salt, when I even see them, because I pre-record most everything I watch. I haven't been listening to much local radio (thank you XM) to know what they are putting on there, but Reynolds is trying to milk every possible second of free publicity from the storm out there. It's bemusing to me that stations like WBEN seem to think he's the only congressional rep out there. But now that it looks like FEMA is spectacularly failing for the people of Buffalo, anyone who supports the DC crowd running it now is probably going to want to make themselves scarce.

 

[SirRoxalot]

FEMA'd UP

But now that it looks like FEMA is spectacularly failing for the people of Buffalo...

Really? Just because Brian Higgins didn't get face time and Tom Reynolds did?

Because Higgins & Brown either don't understand the FEMA process, or because they find it politically expedient to bash FEMA, doesn't mean that FEMA is failing.

Higgins & Brown would do better to get out of their offices and go to meet the FEMA Regional director instead of complaining that he didn't go to meet them. He didn't have to come here at all in order to do his job, but his short visit helped him get an overall idea of the destruction. They're ticked that he appeared with Tom Reynolds - a Republican. It's plain old politics instead of our representatives trying to work together in the face of a regional disaster.

FEMA's job is to ASSIST local and state authorities, mostly with money. If the local and state authorities can't tabulate how much the storm has and/or will cost them, it's not FEMA's fault. FEMA representatives come at the request of state & local governments, and have responded when and where they've been requested. Maybe Brown & Higgins need to do THEIR jobs better, and start working instead of politicking.

 

[dampier]

It seems patience is wearing thin out there. I heard this afternoon's press conference with the town board of Amherst ripping into one another, complete with Jack Bauerle adding his two cents every so often on top of the audio.

Evidently the FEMA regional rep they sent on the ground down there was on crutches (good choice to send to a disaster scene, but the claim is he wanted to go) so that was supposedly the reason he only had time to "accidentally meet up with Tom Reynolds'" entourage and coincidentally have the media right there with him to get that photo-op in, then back on the plane and he's outta there.

WBEN hosts have started to take sides and Baurle this morning claimed he was purposefully editing out reporting or bringing up news from politicians who are just trying to get their camera time, and which ones have important information. Then it was time for more from Tom Reynolds. No surprise what political affiliation WBEN talent belongs to.

Buffalo will learn what Rochester did after our ice storm. You are far better off on your own than relying on FEMA for anything. They usually just get in the way until months later when someone on the federal government end writes a check to pay for the local town and city governments own disaster management, which is often more effective anyway.

There are a lot of people who will get a rude surprise if they think FEMA is going to reimburse them for generators too. Good luck with that. When the government says medical necessity, expect to cough up lots of proof that without a generator, you'd be certainly dead, and then allow several months for them to process the paperwork.

 

[SpareChange]

What we have here is a classic boondoggle. Higgins has issues with FEMA and the FEMA representative was clearly doing the political appearance and photo-op dance with Tom Reynolds, who according to the latest Buffalo News polls, is in desperate need of help in his race with Jack Davis, a guy who might seize defeat from the jaws of victory.

Higgins does have a point however, when he says the FEMA people didn't make contact with him or Byron Brown, the mayor of Buffalo. What's worse, the FEMA rep admitted that he had overlooked Brown and Higgins on his initial visit and added that "he was told by the White House that Tom Reynolds was the contact man in Western New York." Tsk, tsk. Karl Rove up to his usual tricks.

Now, to be fair, Reynolds IS the Congressman who represents a fair portion of constituents residing in the storm affected areas and deserves to be paid attention to. This having been acknowledged, so is Brian Higgins, who should have received the same amount of visitation time that Reynolds received. Same for Byron Brown. Yes, it can be argued that Brown and Higgins should have extended themselves to meet with the FEMA rep from Washington, but just the same, it appears somebody in Washington was trying to help Reynolds score media points. Which is exactly what happened. Hey, that's the way of the world in politics.

As to Tom Bauerle, he's long ago become nothing more than a Republican shill, more transparent and shameless than ever. Bauerle embarrasses the entire WBEN operation, especially the newsroom, because of his blatant politicking for Tom Reynolds and his disdain for anything Democrat, even when it's for the benefit of the community. Yes I know, the news room has nothing to do with the talk show hosts and vice versa, they're separate entities.

Bauerle long ago lost any credibility as a respectable yet opinionated talk show host when he ambushed and ridiculously pestered Hillary Clinton regarding long investigated Vince Foster conspiracy theories. Maybe Bauerle is trying to get a job with Fox News or NewsMax, the unabashedly and shamelessly right wing nut job web news site.

I once heard Bauerle boast that he'd welcome debating Bill Clinton on any issue. That sure would be an earful. Bauerle, doing his best Rush Limbaugh imitation, complete with ruffled papers and desk pounding. Clinton methodically and systematically slicing and dicing Bauerle like a veg-a-matic.

 

[SirRoxalot]

At Last, The Dawn

Buffalo will learn what Rochester did after our ice storm. You are far better off on your own than relying on FEMA for anything. They usually just get in the way until months later when someone on the federal government end writes a check to pay for the local town and city governments own disaster management, which is often more effective anyway.

At last, the role of FEMA becomes clear - to ASSIST local governments, and reimburse them later for expenses incurred because of an emergency or disaster. As the law is currently written, FEMA's job is to do what Phillip indicated - evaluate the scope of the emergency, and AID local responders and governments who bear the responsibility for dealing with the actual disaster. Those local governments need to ask for specific aid through the channels established by law, or need to ask for reimbursement after the fact.

If you think that FEMA should sweep in and supplant local authorities during times of distress, you need to write your Congressional Representatives and get the law changed.

As far as politicians are concerned, I have to wonder just WHAT it would take for them to cast aside party politics and actually serve their constituents. Apparently, the recent snow storm wasn't dire enough.

 

[dampier]

What we have here is a classic boondoggle. Higgins has issues with FEMA and the FEMA representative was clearly doing the political appearance and photo-op dance with Tom Reynolds, who according to the latest Buffalo News polls, is in desperate need of help in his race with Jack Davis, a guy who might seize defeat from the jaws of victory.

Higgins does have a point however, when he says the FEMA people didn't make contact with him or Byron Brown, the mayor of Buffalo. What's worse, the FEMA rep admitted that he had overlooked Brown and Higgins on his initial visit and added that "he was told by the White House that Tom Reynolds was the contact man in Western New York." Tsk, tsk. Karl Rove up to his usual tricks.

Yeah, no reason to meet with Louise Slaughter or the mayor, or even several town supervisors doing brush clearing. They only represent the city of Buffalo and the surrounding areas, some extremely hard hit. Reynolds, the Republican who can't bother to keep an eye out for those page problems is the best guy you want to pay attention to the two feet of snow and every other tree laying in someone's yard. His "accidental meeting" with the FEMA guy on crutches was the worst acting since USA aired those bad Mexican movies at 2 in the morning.

As we learned from Heckuva Job Brownie, one of the most important things the FEMA bigwigs do is arrange for immediate photo-ops with "important politicians" in the area. Wander through neighborhoods, pick up some twigs, shake hands with an elected official while the lesser-knowns oogle for camera space standing behind the guy at the microphone, hug a few desperate neighbors, and head right to the Comfort Inn or better yet, fly the hell outta there as soon as possible.

Now, to be fair, Reynolds IS the Congressman who represents a fair portion of constituents residing in the storm affected areas and deserves to be paid attention to. This having been acknowledged, so is Brian Higgins, who should have received the same amount of visitation time that Reynolds received. Same for Byron Brown. Yes, it can be argued that Brown and Higgins should have extended themselves to meet with the FEMA rep from Washington, but just the same, it appears somebody in Washington was trying to help Reynolds score media points. Which is exactly what happened. Hey, that's the way of the world in politics.

Better yet, tell FEMA not to send Crutches to the area to hobble around for two hours getting his picture taken and instead either stay away or turn up at an omnibus gathering of town supervisors, the mayor, and the elected politicians to get a laundry list of things needed and then go and get them. Then everyone gets their silly picture taken and people would be focused more on clean up and less on scoring political points and photo-ops. The low point will be if we suddenly seem ads from Reynolds in action gathering twigs and mugging with the FEMA guy. I trust voters in western NY are smart enough to recognize what kind of snow job that would be.

As to Tom Bauerle, he's long ago become nothing more than a Republican shill, more transparent and shameless than ever. Bauerle embarrasses the entire WBEN operation, especially the newsroom, because of his blatant politicking for Tom Reynolds and his disdain for anything Democrat, even when it's for the benefit of the community. Yes I know, the news room has nothing to do with the talk show hosts and vice versa, they're separate entities.

To be honest, I have only started listening to WBEN since the storm hit, and I actually detected no bias one way or the other during the first three or four days in listening. He reminded me of our own local embarrassment, Bob Lonsberry. Conservative during the regular business day and then macho man pragmatist during crisis. It was only Tuesday and Wednesday when you could see things changing, especially after the FEMA flap first started. That and you'd think Tom Reynolds was the only member of Congress is all of western NY because his name gets dropped more often than a legal ID. Wednesday was really over the top though when Bauerle was actually turning down the audio on the Amherst Affair to toss in his two cents. News radio that isn't. I shared some of his frustration at the bickering, but still....

And then more praise for Tom Reynolds and then... an ad for Tom Reynolds!

And although Bauerle tells me the town supervisor finds it amusing, I was cringing when he began badly imitating the Indian accent of Dr. Satish B. Mohan. Although that doesn't top Bob Lonsberry comparing the former African American mayor of a city with monkeys at a zoo, it was not a pinnacle moment for Mr. Bauerle.