e-mail shenanigans fire up Kearns

Folks have been grousing about Mickey Kearns' lackluster, at best, mayoral campaign, but on Monday the South Buffalo councilman took off the gloves about the Brown administration leaning on City Hall employees to work on Byron Brown's re-election campaign.

Reports Bob McCarthy:

In his first real criticism of Brown in his so far quiet campaign, Kearns said the mayor has presided over "one of the most corrupt" administrations in recent memory.

"It's time to sweep the corruption out of City Hall and start with a new administration," he said.

Them's fightin' words.

Kearns wants the state Civil Service Commission and city Ethics Commission to investigate.

Good luck. With all the shenanigans of the past few months -- block grant irregularities, Brian Davis, One Sunset,  now the e-mails -- we've yet to see an Eliot Ness type knocking on doors. Heck, I'd settle for Joe Friday at this point.

Brown, for his part, said he didn't know about the e-mails.

"These employees should not have been instructed to do any campaign volunteering during work hours. That is not how we do business and I do not support that. Campaigning is not in their job description, it is strictly voluntary."

If that's the case, Mr. Mayor, I have two questions:

-- Why was Dana Bobincheck, one of your top aides, copied on the e-mails?

-- Are you going to discipline Bobinchek or Tanya Perrin-Johnson, the commissioner who sent the e-mails, or will she they be held harmless, as has Michelle Barron for her role in the One Sunset restaurant fiasco?

Kearns has a decidedly uphill fight ahead of him, one that he's made steeper by waiting so long to kick his campaign into gear, if, in fact, his press conference Monday on the steps of City Hall represents the launch of a campaign.

Brown has a boatload of money and, as my story yesterday pointed out, has the benefit of drawing on the city work force for campaign workers. And with Steve Pigeon in the mix, Brown can count on Tom Golisano's Responsible New York to kick in money if need be.

In short, Brown enjoys the power of incumbency.

Kearns, meanwhile, is an unknown quantity to a lot of city voters. I can't offer any insights at this juncture, as I've only had a handful of dealings with him.

 

 

Comments

[john]

OF COURSE Byron Brown doesn't know anything about the emails! Is anyone surprised? NO ONE WILL BE DISCIPLINED! Anyone would be better as mayor than the BLATANT CORRUPTION (and I DO mean BLATANT) of the "Brown Regime"!

[K9]

The only election Kearns has to worry about is the democratic primary. We democrats who vote in the primary know who Kearns is, and can hardly wait to vote for him.

From my experience collecting petition signatures for Kearns, there are a lot of City employees who are ready to vote for Kearns also.

[Hans the Butcher]

This is not news. Brown and his hench"folks" have been operating like this since he got elected. Every city employee gets invited to his "parties". I never gave them my addresss. They use city payroll records as a mailing list. Illegal? Probably not. Unethical? In this regime the word does not exist.Sadly in a city that has reelected Mensa members Stachowski,Thompson, and Davis, this is the way things operate. The blind leading the blind. It is so sad to see my once great City fall in too the hands of this crew of incompetents and fools. Hopefully these clowns in Albany can find a job for a professional ribbon cutter to get Byron out of here.

[Barton Keyes]

Mayor Brown's excuse (I knew nothing) is beginning to appear to be an automatic fall back excuse for any and all embarassing situations.
And one wonders which is worse: that Brown is persistantly ignorant of what his aides are doing on his behalf, or that he believes the same tired excuse will suffice for a political machine that expects to win re-election no matter what.

[SCJ]

Is anyone else wondering why John didn't threaten to leave NY State again in this blog as a result of these "findings?"

[Jillian]

When Mr. Kearns used the syteps of City Hall as his podium, isn't that utilizing city seals, etc., in politicking? Indeed, yes and all these upsetting news flashes have come from Kerns's campaign since he has nothing to stand on. Hence, he must play in the dirt and trump up charges as the master politicos of the past.

[Jillian]

And remember that one of Kearns's henhmen were singled out for this very thing during Rivera's campaign for Council. The very man that was the mop-up go-to guy for Masiello. Thomas E. Gleed. Birds of a feather.

[Hans the Butcher]

Jillian,
What is a "henmen"?
The steps of City Hall are public space. You never see Lord Byron there because he only comes out of his office when there is a ribbon to be cut when a new stop sign is installed or some other dynamic change in this once great city.

[Realist]

Uh, I believe Jillian means "henchmen". I've never seen Mickey with one. He was walking pretty good all by himself at the Friendship Festival Parade on the 4th. I have, however, seen the exalted one, Lord Mayor Byron with his. CONSTANTLY.

[Colin]

Why does the Brown administration's response to the city worker scandal keep changing?

http://eagercolin.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/byron-browns-shifting-response-to-city-worker-scandal/

[liferocks]

Notice the way that the Mayor and Cutler make it seem ok to engage in this behavior because they used private emails? Well it isn’t! Remember Troopergate? All of Spitzer’s people used personal phones and blackberries. It didn’t matter. The courts determined they were still subject to subpoena because the people involved were using personal methods of communication to circumvent the Hatch Act. This was not only coercive is happened during work hours. They should check everyone to make sure they are not using computers, personal or otherwise, to do political work. I hear that three people in the administration are using campaign laptops during work hours to get around the rules. Also, I bet Steve Casey is on his cell phone all the time doing campaign stuff while in the office.

[my2cents]

One can assume from the name "K9" and its safe to bet - City Employee - Demo Party.

Mr.Kearns is just promising to deliver the goods for people like you.

Quote: "From my experience collecting petition signatures for Kearns, there are a lot of City employees who are ready to vote for Kearns also.
Posted by: K9 | July 07, 2009 at 09:43 AM

The thing hundreds of voters see is that Mr.Kearns hasn't produced a "Platform" for change - no true plan to benefit residents.

Its also safe for people to believe the only people he's making promises to are the ones you stated, "City Workers."

You probably carried Mayor Browns petitions in the past. Nothing personal, you seem to be a devoted party player.

Same slash and burn Politics - same players , same patronage agenda , different suit.

[Ken]

God, can we just get rid of this guy already? He knew nothing about the attempts to coerce employees? Another lie. I would ask the same question, what sort of consequences will there be for the individuals responsible for the emails? My bet is NONE. I've met Kearns, he's an amiable, smart guy. I've seen him with people and on his own. He's getting out there, I hope it's not too late for him..or for us.

[Thomas E. Gleed]

Ok, Jillian- whoever you are: Let me give you the facts, as they are and not as you perceive them, in this matter and as it applies to me:

1) I don't know what you mean by henchman, but Mickey Kearns certainly does not need one, so I surely am not one. I support Mickey Kearns, I gave him one or more contributions, and I carried his petitions as an EC Democratic Committeeman.

2) While working for the Town of West Seneca Youth Bureau and AmeriCorps I did work on Paul Clark's EC Executive campaign, not David Rivera's, although they were within the same election cycle. At that time I did inadvertently send out an email from my work account notifying a community group that Mr. Clark's campaign office would open the following day and invited them to attend the opening. I sent the mail in response to a notification from this group about a monthly meeting the next day- I incorrectly assumed it had come to me not by way of my work email, but to my private yahoo account. The email I assumed I sent out on my private account was sent at the end of the day after I signed out from work and before I left the building. Yes, it was sent through the Town of West Seneca Computer, however there was no written or verbal policy regarding the use of the email system at the time. Having worked for the City of Buffalo for 11 years before joining the TOWSNY and AmeriCorps I presumed political email was prohibited and would not have knowingly sent anything out from the Town's mail.

3) What Jillian does not include in her comment was the "mea culpa" I was did on WGRZ's "You Paid for It" segment with Stefan Mychajliw.

So, it appears my situation in WS is not the same as is the charge against Ms. Perrin-Johnson; chiefly, the coercion of
City employees. While the use of a government computer is in question, I, for my part, paid the consequences of my errant actions. You cannot tell me that the actions taken by Ms. Perrin-Johnson were anything but direct and flagrant and disregarded the policy of the COB Email System. She does not appear to have suffered any discipline for her actions.

One final note to Jillian: I don't know what a "Mop-up" guy is, unless its helping to "clean up" a situation, but "go-to" I understand. Let me tell you, it was my distinct and humble pleasure to have worked not only for one of the most honorable men in public service, Mayor Anthony M. Masiello, but also for the citizens of this great city- surely The City of Good Neighbors! Excluding morons such as yourself, it was a grand old time!