Statements

Holding Utilities Accountable: Fighting Rising Energy Costs in Erie County

Updated July 2026: this statement has been corrected. When it was first published, it described the NYSEG increase as taking effect in May 2026 and attributed several profit figures to National Grid. Regulators granted only small temporary rates, and those profit figures belong to NYSEG. Both are corrected below.

Energy costs are rising faster than wages across Western New York, and the utility serving much of our region is asking for more while its profits climb.

We Know What the Tax Breaks Cost. Nobody Checked What They Bought.

If you own a house in Eden or Brant, you already know what your property tax bill looks like. You pay it. Your neighbors pay it. The volunteer fire company, the plow that comes down your road in February, the deputy who shows up: that is what it pays for.

Some property doesn’t pay. Churches don’t. Schools don’t. The courthouse doesn’t. Nobody in this district is arguing about that, and neither am I.

Statement on the Death of Nurul Shah Alam

The death of Nurul Shah Alam is devastating.

Yes, there should be a full and transparent investigation. But if all we demand is an investigation, we will miss the deeper failure.

This was not a single bad decision by a single person.

It was a chain of “not my responsibility.”

A nearly blind man who spoke no English was arrested because he could not comply with commands he could not see or understand. He spent a year in jail. He was handed from one agency to another. And when he was finally released, he was dropped near an outdated address with no confirmed plan, no verified family contact, and no safe handoff.