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.