COUNTY IGNORES QUESTIONS SURROUNDING BIG RAISE FOR POLITICAL APPOINTEE POSITION

Marie Cannon
Erie County Commissioner of Social Services
95 Franklin Street
Buffalo, NY 14202 

Dear Commissioner Cannon, 

It is alarming that you and your department did not answer and refused to respond to the most important question about giving a $22,000 raise to a political appointee whose private sector, non-profit employer refused to give permission for your appointee to run for public office. We will repeat the question one more time and would like a response instead of you ignoring it: 

As you are aware it is a felony to use the promise of a taxpayer funded job to secure political favors, such as the promise of providing a job for someone to run for public office.  Is it possible that someone in the Poloncarz Administration promised this political position to someone with the intention of having that political appointee run for public office while in this social services position with a $22,387 raise? 

Thank you for answering this question. If a response is not given, we will forward our concerns to local, state and federal law enforcement, considering the payment of this individual’s salary comes from multiple government sources. Because these agencies may have further questions regarding this hire, please preserve all email, correspondence, notes or any other documents or recordings related to the hire. It is illegal for Erie County government to leverage and promise someone an almost $100,000 political patronage job with the promise they will run for political office as a favor to the Erie County Executive. Please send us your response as soon as possible. 

Sincerely,

Stefan I. Mychajliw, Jr.
Erie County Comptroller

CC: Honorable Members, Erie County Legislature

For a PDF of the letter, please CLICK HERE.