City July 13, 2009 8:33 AM

City Employees Behaving Badly?

Buffalo Rising 14

Last week was a bad week for certain city employees, and one of them has been having a bad couple of years altogether.

Jim Heaney of The Buffalo News did a good recap yesterday of the many transgressions of Councilman Brian Davis, along with the questionable use of funds by Brian Reilly, whose resignation was asked for by Mayor Byron Brown last week. The commissioner of economic development ($91K/year), who was also acting as BERC president (extra $36K), will now receive $91K as commissioner of economic development, permits and inspections. In question is the fact that Reilly's live-in girlfriend was put on his city insurance policy without board approval (Brown is chair). Listen to the BRO on BFO podcast (link below) for more.

In the case of Perrin-Johnson, the commissioner of community services put out an email - sent from her home computer - telling city employees that they were expected to devote time to Brown's reelection campaign. Has city hall created a "culture of fear" as mayoral challenger Councilman Mickey Kearns states, or is stumping for your boss part and parcel of holding a city job?

Is this a question of individuals behaving badly, or bad oversight? There's not much to argue about Davis' role as "bad paper," but in a time when many call for rights for same-sex couples, is a live-in of the opposite gender denied that which is asked for in the case of gay couples? Should Reilly's girlfriend derive city benefits?

Be sure to vote in the poll and elaborate here in the comments. You might also want to listen to a discussion from this week's Buffalo Rising Roundtable in WBFO studios, where the topic is explored further. In fact, Elena stated one year ago today on the podcast, that Reilly's job was to much for one person to handle, something Brown said last week when he announced the call for a resignation from Reilly.

Who's wrong? Who should be held accountable?

Also, we'll entertain your suggestions for upcoming polls. Please send your ideas to editorial.

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Comments

14 Comments Leave a comment

O'Brien

July 13, 2009 10:24 AM

I love the "CLOUD OVER CITY HALL" picture... great work!

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O'Brien

July 13, 2009 10:36 AM

In terms of accountability and responsibility, my feeling is that they should all be terminated if these allegations are deemed to have merit. I believe that Davis should have stepped down months ago when it was determined that he lied about his education and work experience. Everyone in the ONE SUNSET fiasco should resign or be terminated for inappropriate use of city resources, employee time, and tax payer's money.

Byron Brown needs to get a handle on his staff. He is ultimately responsible for all the BS that has taken place in Buffalo.

I hope that we can add an external audit of our government structure and expenses to the FBI probe. We need to identify other employees who are double dipping jobs, abusing overtime, not upholding sworn duties, or working on political campaigns instead of doing their jobs.

One thing about Buffalo is that the City Government is difficult to work with. Every City employee that I speak with complains about not having time or resources to do what needs to be done for the citizens of Buffalo, but here we have several examples where time and resources are misappropriated instead of being put to use for the people of Buffalo. I am confident that these examples are more of a rule than an exception, and that goes for all areas of our local government and government agencies.

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South Buffalo Drifter

July 13, 2009 10:44 AM

Byron Brown needs to be held accountable...the captain always goes down with his ship.

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O'Brien

July 13, 2009 10:50 AM

Survey Suggestion: Include 'All of the above' and / or "none of the above" on your surveys.

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downtownjunkie

July 13, 2009 11:09 AM

How Davis is still in office is beyond me! It amazes me that while he was on "sick leave" during the whole One Sunset Scandal, he provided no valid reason for taking such a leave of absence. Not to mention the fact that he had no problem going out drinking at bars in and around Chippewa with his good buddy Mark Croce but yet he was too sick to attend any city council meetings. This clown needs to resign!

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whatever

July 13, 2009 1:10 PM

junkie>"How Davis is still in office is beyond me!"

Well he has no motivation to resign at the moment. Davis is a great example of why 4-year terms of office are too long. There's no way to know whether or not the Democrat primary voters in his council district would vote Davis out of office if he were up for election in this September's primary, but it would be good if they at least had the opportunity. They won't because a few years ago Buffalo's council terms of office were lengthened from 2 years to 4 years so our council members won't be on the ballot until Fall of 2011.

On a related note, the Erie County legislature Democrat majority (Lynn Marinelli and Maria Whyte) are now trying to lengthen county legislator terms from 2 to 4 years as a sneaky side effect of the referendum to downsize from 15 to 13 legislators. It will be good if that's defeated due to most voters realizing it would reduce accountability, but probably it will pass.

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okcheckitout

July 13, 2009 2:19 PM

Every individual IS responsible for their own actions. In this case they ALL have something to answer for. ALL OF THEM! Enough said.

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Colin

July 13, 2009 2:24 PM

You can see a picture of what Brian Davis has been doing with himself instead of representing his district here: http://eagercolin.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/brian-davis-is-still-doomed/

The move to lengthen terms in the county legislature is hardly sneaky, and I'd argue that it's a good thing. 2 year terms mean that legislators essentially never stop raising money and campaigning.

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whatever

July 13, 2009 4:34 PM

colin>"The move to lengthen terms in the county legislature is hardly sneaky, and I'd argue that it's a good thing. 2 year terms mean that legislators essentially never stop raising money and campaigning."

1. Most legislators won't ever stop raising campaign money anyway, but if incumbents have 4 years to use their incumbency to raise war chests it will even further discourage challengers.

2. Have the lengthened 4-year terms helped improve accountablity among Buffalo council members, or were 2 year terms better? For example, is it better that Brian Davis and other council members don't face the voters until Fall 2011, or would it be better if they were all up for election this Fall (as would've been the case if 2 year terms had been left in place)?

3. If the Democrat leadership county legislature isn't being sneaky, then why didn't they make the term lengthening a separate yes/no ballot question for voters instead of combining it with the reduction from 15 to 13 members?

4. If it was a Republican majority legislature trying this exact same thing and Democrats were opposed to it, would you be supporting it or opposing it? For example, if Gingrich and DeLay had tried lengthening terms to 4 years back when they controlled the House, you'd have supported that? Yeah, right.

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Robert Franke

July 16, 2009 10:08 AM

I've got to agree with Whatever, but I'd add this:

In the frenzy to reduce the size of local government, we've forgotten that the primary aim is not simply eliminating positions, it's reducing the cost to taxpayers.

I'd argue that we should increase the number of councilmembers and county legislators, but make the positions part-time, eliminate individual staff allotments, enhance a central staff, and stick to two-year terms. Most meetings could be held in the evenings and be far more public in nature.

The result would be more accountable and more democratic representation with the offices available to a broader segment of our population. Rather than creating more entrenched career politicians, we'd be able to access a broader swath of community leadership that is now kept out of public service at this level.

There is a great picture in Council Chambers of a nineteenth century council with dozens of members. That large body doesn't appear to have held back the development of the city. Quite the contrary. Now with but nine councilmembers firmly placed for four years and completely beholding to political cliques, we are treading water if not sinking.

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tonydiamond

July 13, 2009 7:20 PM

Davis still has a job, contrary to his personal financial troubles, because he actually has made progress in his district and has helped implement poverty programs in the city. I was coming to his defense until the phony credentials came to light. He's still a likeable guy and has potential to do some positive things in the city. Let's not forget he is battling a yet to be named illness, which does appear to keep him from the Common Council meetings. However, as everybody from here to Dunkirk knows, he was out for his birthday. You're guess is as good as mine.
Look for him to lay low, attend to his personal issues and bounce back big in real estate or as a club/restaurant owner. He has too many good people behind him and wants to accomplish more, I am sure. Everybody deserves a second chance, especially a local kid.

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KarlMalone

July 13, 2009 7:55 PM

why send comments? If I want people to uncover stories I will forward my comments to the editor(s) of Artvoice and the Buffalo News. BR is a cheerleader not part of the fifth estate.

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O'Brien

July 14, 2009 10:04 AM

The press is part of the fourth estate. Everyone else is considered the fifth estate.

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