While a bevy of challengers ready their announcement speeches and plan their campaigns, Mayor Irene Elia will spend the final days of 2002 and the first weeks of 2003 warding off a criminal investigation.
A source close to Elia's administration last week confirmed widespread speculation that Herroner herself financed the shadowy "Citizens for Smarter Government" committee that purchased advertisements in the Niagara Gazette before last month's elections urging voters to defeat the proposed new city charter.
"Of course it was her," the source said. "And her inner circle knows it."
A state elections official said failure to file a campaign finance report with the county Board of Elections is a criminal offense. No such information was filed within the legally required time frame, and the Niagara Gazette's advertising department has refused to reveal who bought the ads, even to its own newsroom.
Such records could be subpoenaed, however.
"Any spending in excess of $1,000 by a PAC or committee has to be reported," said Lee Daghlian, Director of Public Information for the New York State Board of Elections. "Whoever this committee is should have filed with the Niagara County Board of Elections. If they can be identified, they could be sued for failure to file."
An advertising industry insider estimated that Citizens for Smarter Government spent at least $3,000 in the weeks leading up to Election Day on the ads, which questioned the charter's legality and warned of civic chaos if it passed, echoing the supposed concerns of Elia and her, um, brain trust.
Last week, Democratic Elections Commissioner Nancy Sharpe told the Gazette that her office had received a complaint over the issue and was mulling what action to take.
Daghlian said the county board could conduct its own investigation or ask Albany to step in. A formal complaint or request from the local level isn't needed to trigger a state inquiry, Daghlian said.
"We've conducted investigations based on anonymous complaints," he said. Such an investigation, complete with subpoena power, isn't just a possibility. It's an absolute necessity.
If Herroner and Co. acted illegally to advance their own agenda, the public needs to know it.
If there really is a Citizens for Smarter Government independent of City Hall, and its publicity-shy members somehow forgot to follow the rules governing such organizations (thereby making the choice of name curious, at best), we need to know that, too.
Failure to file rates as a misdemeanor, with a conviction carrying a fine of up to $500 plus court costs for each offense.
While that may be little more than walking-around money to Herroner, the political price could be much greater if the investigation finds that she was behind the illegal plot to derail the charter proposal.
Elia and her subordinates have sworn up and down they know nothing about Citizens for Smarter Government, so an investigation that reveals the exact opposite can't help her already shaky credibility.
While the Elia administration ignored state law requiring adequate publicity to impartially educate voters about such ballot initiatives, with Citizens for Smarter Government buying the only ads for or against the referendum, the charter went down by just 208 votes out of nearly 9,000 cast. So, if 105 people had voted differently, the new charter would have passed. That figures out to roughly $30 per vote to defeat the measure.
Despite initiating a review of the city's present mishmash of a charter and soliciting volunteers from the community to create a new one, Elia and her administration did an about-face when they saw the committee's suggestions. The chief sticking point -- an overhaul of the executive branch which would have eliminated the job of City Administrator and chief Elia mouthpiece Al Joseph and increased the mayor's responsibilities and salary, from $30,000 per year to more than $70,000 annually.
"She doesn't want anyone running against her who isn't as financially independent as she is," the source said. "The money doesn't matter to her, but it would to just about anyone else thinking about running."
If Elia thought maintaining the current salary structure, which is pitifully out of line with other cities of similar size, would ensure a field of challengers composed of the usual mayoral suspects, she was sadly mistaken.
Niagara Falls Schools Superintendent Carmen Granto and City Councilman Vince Anello told the Niagara Falls Reporter two weeks ago that they plan to run, and at least a half-dozen other candidates could announce next month.
Disdain for laws and contracts she doesn't like long ago became a hallmark of Elia's tenure. Her administration unsuccessfully tried to revise the collective bargaining agreement with city employees weeks after signing off on it and ignored provisions in a development deal struck by her predecessor, Jim Galie, with Niagara Falls Redevelopment and local attorney John Bartolomei. Both issues remain locked in litigation, incurring the wrath of city workers, who form a powerful voting bloc, and stalling development of the area around the soon-to-open Seneca Niagara Casino.
At least in those cases, you could make the argument that Herroner was either doing what she thought was best for the city or getting really lousy legal advice.
Subverting democracy? That's quite another matter. Campaign finance laws are put in place for a reason -- to let us know who is trying to influence decisions that impact a community and its people. Without question, Citizens for Smarter Government wanted the charter defeated and spent a decent amount of money toward that end. Yet if doing so was such a good thing for the city, how come nobody will take credit for it?
The answer is simple. The administration's avid opposition to the charter had nothing to do with making Niagara Falls a better place to live or work. It had everything to do with satiating Herroner's thirst for power and the desire of her underlings to keep sucking at the public teat.
Elia ran on a platform of open government, where decisions dictated by personal gain and made in secret would allegedly become a thing of the past.
Say what you want about the shortcomings of Galie and Jake Palillo, but they never pulled this kind of crap.
Or at least not blatantly enough to get caught.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | December 17 2002 |