Articles for Geoff Kelly

Oct 20

2024

Brown brings long-time aide Steve Casey to OTB

Steven Casey, left, and Byron Brown, right. File photo by WKBW. Steven M. Casey — Byron Brown’s former deputy mayor and top political advisor — is following his old boss to a job at Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. A source close to OTB leadership confirmed Casey, 58, is now working for the publicly owned gambling corporation and is on-site at Batavia Downs. The state comptroller’s office confirmed Casey began working part-time for OTB in September. OTB did not report a job title to the comptroller but projected his annual part-time wages would total $49,920. Casey — whose company pleaded[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Oct 17

2024

Mayoral hopeful enlists advisor with checkered past

Six years ago Kevin O’Brien’s career as a sought-after Democratic political strategist appeared to be over, consumed by a sexual harassment scandal that cost him his job as a top aide to then New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Today O’Brien, 42, is in Buffalo. He’s advising Garnell Whitfield, the former fire commissioner who is expected to announce his candidacy for Buffalo mayor sometime after next month’s general election. “He’s nationally experienced,” Whitfield told Investigative Post. “He’s not from here. He’s not part of the status quo here. He brings fresh eyes to the problems of this city.” Garnell[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Oct 10

2024

Ryan leads the mayoral money race

State Sen. Sean Ryan is seeking reelection this fall, but he’s certainly raising and spending money like a guy who’s running for mayor of Buffalo next year. Ryan raised $110,000 over the last three months, according to his campaign committee’s most recent filing with the state elections board. Campaign finance disclosures for candidates on the ballot in November were due last Friday. The reports cover the period from July 11 to Sept. 30. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown announced two weeks ago he’d accepted a new job as president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting. Brown indicated he’d step down[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Oct 8

2024

Buffalo cops rarely disciplined

The officers “pulled up in a black Taurus” and started “beating and whipping people,” according to one of several witnesses to a May 2011 altercation between Buffalo cops and a crowd of people outside an East Ferry corner store. The cops used homophobic slurs, were “beating the shit out of people” and “kicking this boy in the face,” another witness said. A third witness said “a white male who works for housing” — later identified as Buffalo Police Officer Michael Acquino — “took his [phone] and deleted personal pictures and a video that he had recorded of the officers beating[...]

Posted 6 months ago

Sep 30

2024

Brown announces he’s leaving City Hall

Mayor Byron Brown at Monday’s press conference. Photo by Garrett Looker. With Byron Brown officially announcing he’s leaving City Hall within the next few weeks, additional information is starting to emerge about his new job. To begin with, a $295,000 salary as president and CEO of the Western Region Off-Track Betting is only part of Brown’s compensation package. He’ll also be getting an $800 monthly car allowance to use as he pleases, according to two sources familiar with Brown’s contract. That’s enough to rent a high-end car. Or, since Brown’s had a driver during his almost 19 years as mayor,[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Sep 23

2024

City must pay $310,000 to former employee

The City of Buffalo’s law department last week asked the Common Council to approve a $310,000 settlement to a lawsuit filed by James Kaufmann, who worked 23 years for the police department’s information technology unit before the city eliminated his position 14 years ago. The elimination of his job was retaliation, Kaufmann claimed in his lawsuit. And the city violated state civil service law by not hiring him for another, similar post in the years that followed. According to the lawsuit, city officials said they’d “get even” with Kaufmann for testifying in a 2005 arbitration hearing that led to the[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Sep 20

2024

Report faults Erie County auditor’s record as Evans town supervisor

A state audit of payroll practices at the Town of Evans found sloppy bookkeeping and improper payments to a former town supervisor who is now a top lieutenant of Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick. Mary Hosler, deputy comptroller in charge of audits for Erie County, oversaw a blockbuster investigation of the Erie County Clerk’s office, released in February, that uncovered thousands of missing dollars and led to a deputy clerk pleading guilty to embezzling more than $320,000 in public funds. But before she took that job two years ago, Hosler paid herself $6,000 she was not entitled to while serving[...]

Posted 7 months ago

Sep 12

2024

And the next mayor of Buffalo is …

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown hasn’t yet accepted his job offer from Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. He hasn’t submitted a letter of resignation from office. I asked the city clerk on Tuesday, just to be sure. But smart money says he’ll have vacated the second floor of City Hall before Halloween, leaving Common Council President Chris Scanlon as acting mayor. As acting mayor, Scanlon will be a quasi-incumbent when voters choose a new mayor next year. That may not be much of an advantage, given the city’s financial issues, and there will be many candidates vying for many different voting[...]

Posted 7 months ago