The Yakety WNY Podcast: Recent Episodes
Heather A. Hartel
Featuring history, culture, politics, and people of Western New York. New episodes available every 2-3 weeks.
In this episode, I talk with Diana & Millie Kastenbaum. Diana is a business owner in Batavia, NY who ran against Congressman Chris Collins in 2016, before he made national news for his criminal insider trading activities. Her daughter, Millie, is a staunch advocate of women in politics and worked in Senator Chuck Schumer's office for two years. We had a lively conversation about the cultural norms surrounding running for office, so I hope you enjoy listening.
Note: Chris Collins was supposed to be heading to prison on March 17th, as noted in this recording. Since the production of this episode, however, Collins was able to secure a 5 week delay to his imprisonment, and his report date was moved to April 21, 2020.
Joan Elizabeth Seamans is my guest for this episode. Joan is a photographer and business owner in Williamsville NY. In 2017, she was one of five candidates who came out to run for New York's 27th Congressional seat against former Congressman Chris Collins, who was sentenced to 26 months in jail for insider trading in January 2020. After dropping out of the 27th race, Joan became the 2018 Democratic candidate for New York State Senate in district 61. She is running for that same seat again in 2020.
Stay tuned on March 15th to hear more from former Congressman Chris Collins' 2016 opponent, Diana Kastenbaum and her daughter Millie as they join me to talk about running against Collins and women in politics.
For this episode, I spoke with Carima El-Behairy. Carima ran for New York State Senate in district 60 in 2018. Carima is a business owner and served on the board of Planned Parenthood of Western NY for over 12 years. She is a co-founder of the Western New York Book Arts Center and currently serves as a trustee for the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library systems.
This is a talk with Kate Eskew, a retired college professor who ran for Erie County Legislature, district 11, in 2019. Kate has worked in the background of politics for years on local, congressional and presidential campaigns. In 2016, she served as a Bernie delegate to the Democratic convention, and she is dedicated to working to improve her community and the lives of those in it.
Interviews coming in February with more outstanding women from Western New York: Kate Eskew, Carima El-Behairy and Joan Elizabeth Seamans. Stay tuned!
In this episode, I interview Michelle Schoeneman, co-founder of the activist group Citizens Against Collins which worked tirelessly to call out Congressman Chris Collins for his corruption and ineffectiveness. Michelle ran for Erie County Legislature in 2017 and for East Aurora Village Board in 2018. She currently is a trustee on the village board. Meanwhile, Congressman Collins resigned from office in October of 2019 and was sentenced to 26 months in prison in January 2020.