Mediaboss Marketing

Erie County Legislature Chairwoman April Baskin angrily denounced Republican legislators Thursday after committee meetings, accusing them of not truly caring about racism.

"Ever since May 14, you ain't said (expletive) about racism. Since May 14. You haven't raised your hand to call out racism before. Ever," she yelled atRepublican Legislator Chris Greene, of Clarence, and a group of other Republicans.

She hurled the accusations across the Legislature floor after a Buffalo News reporter asked about two resolutions addressing allegations that the Clover Group operated under a racially biased policy to keep its housing developments out of Black communities.

The Clover Group controversy on Thursday broke open simmering resentments between Republican legislators and the Legislature chairwoman, who has championed issues of racial equity.

People are also reading

The Lancaster-based company has strongly denied the allegations against it.

When the issue came before the Legislature last week, Greenebrought up the topic of Clover and the audio recording of Clover executives referring to African Americans as "Canadians" and saying they wouldn't build senior housing in communities where more than 20% of the residents were Canadian.

Greeneand the rest of the Republican minority caucus subsequently shared a resolution with the Democrats calling on the boards of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and the AKG Art Museum to suspend Clover President Michael Joseph from their boards until an investigation into the allegations could be completed.

Joseph has contributed thousands to New York Democratic governors and contributed $16,000 to the campaign of Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz from 2011 to 2014.

A Democratic staffer later presented the Republicans with an alternateresolution that did not mention Joseph but included broader language about standing up against racism and referenced Buffalo being a target of racist attacks such as the May 14, 2022, mass shooting.

Unlike the Republican resolution, which focused on Joseph, the Democratic resolution called for Clover to fire the individuals heard on the recording,for the company to make a statement against racial housing discrimination, and for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate Clover.

The Republican resolution failed on party lines. All legislators voted in favor of the Democratic resolution.

A reporter asked Baskin and Legislator Howard Johnson, two Democratic city legislators who represent districts with large Black populations, why Joseph's name was not included on the Democratic resolution and whether any outside Democratic leaders had asked Democratic legislators to leave his name out of their resolution.

Clover Group, a real estate development firm headquartered in Lancaster, is about to get hit with two federal lawsuits that accuse the firm of deciding where to build senior housing on the basis of race.

Democratic legislators and staffers strenuously denied this, saying they received no calls from anyone about that.

Peter Anderson, a spokesman for Poloncarz,said any suggestion that there was any outside political involvement in the Democratic resolution is "100% wrong."

"Neither the County Executive nor anyone from this administration told the Legislature to do anything regarding a vote," he said.

Baskin went on to say she doesn't know Joseph and would never defend someone who might be racist for political reasons.

Baskin then angrily accused Greene of suddenly caring about racism when it involves someone with a history of contributing to Democratic officials.

"You tried to use me and Howard ... you tried to use racism as a political victory lap!" she said.

"Roll the tape back! Find the meeting minutes where you talk about racism."

Greene said he's always cared about racism, that he's strongly opposed racist behavior and pushed back against Baskin's assertions that he hasn't been supportive of racial equity issues that have come before the Legislature. He agreed with comments by Baskin and Johnson that racism was a community issue.

He also pointed out to The Buffalo News later that the Republican resolution was modeled on Buffalo Common actions. He noted that Council Council Member Rasheed Wyatt was demanding that Joseph step down from board positions.

"It's insulting to me that she's using the decade-old trope that somehow Republicans don't care about racism," he said.

Michael Joseph had been on Roswell Park's board for 19 years, including the last 16 as board chair, but had recently faced a growing chorus calling for his removal from that post after his development company was hit last week with a federal racial discrimination lawsuit.

Baskin and Johnson falsely accused Republicans of never otherwise saying anything denouncing racism.

Legislators on both sides of the aisle have expressed opposition to racism and racial discrimination, especially after the May 14 attacks, though Democrats and Baskin in particular have been the ones to push issues of racial justice in floor resolutions.

Baskin said she didn't believe Greene was sincere in his positions about racism because he and the rest of the Republican minority caucus opposed the creation of an Office of Health Equity and opposed the women- and minority-owned business modernization act that would give preferential treatment to such business owners in government contract deals.

Greene said he didn't believe people should be treated differently by government based on their race or gender, and that while he supports funding to address health disparities, he did not support the creation of a new, permanent county department.

Johnsonsaid the Legislature, in general, does not talk in any meaningful, bipartisan way about the issue of racism, which makes it hard to trust the intentions and motivations of the Republican caucus.

News Staff Reporter Stephen T. Watson contributed to this report.

Sign up for a behind-the-scenes look at Western New York's political power brokers with our weekly newsletter.

See the rest here:
Baskin accuses Republicans of not truly caring about racism - Buffalo News