Scanlon campaign again violates ethics laws

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Buffalo Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon.

For the second time since he took office in October, Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon’s campaign violated local, state and federal codes prohibiting the use of public resources to advance political campaigns.

From early December until this morning, two of three social media links at the bottom of the City of Buffalo’s governmental website connected to Scanlon campaign accounts.

A spokesperson for the mayor said the links had been “fixed” after Investigative Post sought comment on the matter.

But for nearly three months, the Instagram and Twitter links at the bottom of the city’s homepage connected to accounts used to promote Scanlon’s campaign for mayor.

The Instagram account on Tuesday afternoon featured images of campaign literature and events, with some family photos and general interest announcements interspersed.

The X link led to a page titled “Chris Scanlon for Buffalo Mayor,” which is almost all campaign-related. The pinned post at the top on Tuesday afternoon was a campaign commercial. The next post was about the opening of Scanlon’s campaign headquarters Monday evening. 

Two posts below that was an invitation to “Kick Off the St. Patrick’s Day Season” at a March 6 fundraiser for the Scanlon campaign at the Buffalo Irish Center — $65 per person, with sponsorship packages ranging up to $1,000.

Note that the account bio directed readers looking for “government updates” to a different account.

Both the Instagram and X links were changed after Investigative Post reported the ethics violation in its Wednesday morning “PoliticalPost” newsletter and sought comment from the mayor’s office.

The Facebook link on the city’s website hasn’t changed. It leads to a “public figure” page for Scanlon, which is populated with posts of general interest to city residents. On Tuesday afternoon the page included posts about the Mayor’s Summer Youth Program, Black History Month and last weekend’s Winter Bash at Canalside.

Scanlon’s name and picture are prominent, but the posts do not promote the acting mayor’s bid for a full, four-year term. The new X and Instagram links lead to pages featuring similar content.

The city website began linking to the Scanlon campaign accounts in December, according to Wayback Machine archives. Prior to that, the links led to accounts run by former Mayor Byron Brown, which have been inactive since Brown left office in October.

The Scanlon campaign’s website includes links to the same Instagram and X accounts, but to a different Facebook account.

Investigative Post reported in December that Scanlon’s campaign mailed invitations to a fundraiser using the mayor’s office in City Hall as a return address — a breach of the federal Hatch Act, state Civil Service law, and the city’s Code of Ethics. The use of the city’s website to send users to campaign-related sites violates the same laws.

Deputy Mayor Brian Gould acknowledged the December violation, which he attributed to an error by the contractor hired to print and mail the invitations. The printer confirmed Gould’s account, telling Investigative Post, “This was my mistake.”

A spokesman for the mayor did not provide comment on the matter, apart from saying that the links had been changed. The Scanlon campaign did not respond to an email request for comment.

Geoff Kelly