Stokesgate Tuesday: Mayor Brown Ducks the Question
Here’s the question posed to Mayor Brown by Buffalo News reporter Brian Meyer: Did you meet with Leonard Stokes in 2007 after he was apprehended for possession of a stolen disabled parking placard?
The answer the Mayor of Buffalo provided ranged from “no comment” to “nothing illegal took place” to “I don’t have to tell you who I meet with.” When Meyer said that it could be inferred from the Mayor’s answer (i.e., “nothing illegal took place”) that he had, indeed, met with Stokes in 2007 under these circumstances, the Mayor completely lost his cool, blowing up at Meyer. From the Buffalo News:
That’s quite literally the first time I’d ever heard Brown speak that way, and on Facebook, Meyer said,
I’ve known Byron Brown for over two decades, going back to the days when he was a Common Council aide. The audio exchange you’ll hear in this post is probably the most lively & emotional I’ve seen him get in a public setting.
While the hyperpolitical mayor of a dying city decries the election-time politicization of politics, there is an actual problem here. Contrary to what many have said, this isn’t even about a parking ticket. It’s about theft of public property, misuse of stolen property, and abuse of power by the Mayor on behalf Leonard Stokes.
I’d add to Meyers’ roster of questions for the Mayor: what is your relationship with Leonard Stokes and why would he be entitled to special treatment by the Mayor’s office in a case of theft of public property?
I’m always interested in the why.
The anti-Brown bloc in the Buffalo Common Council has asked for an FBI investigation into Stokesgate, led first by former cop David Rivera, and followed up today by David Franczyk. On the floor of the Common Council today, Councilman Demone Smith, an ally of the Mayor’s, taunted the opposition with, “call the FBI!”
Artvoice’s Geoff Kelly reports that the FBI is already on the case, and that Mayor Brown’s temper tantrum today may be related this:
Sources close to the officers involved in the case say they have already been contacted by the FBI. Further, they say that the officers made a record of the events of the day in question.
If the officers contemporaneously recorded what happened and can corroborate the underlying facts of Stokesgate, the Mayor may be in very hot water indeed. Think Butch Holt trouble. Think Public Officers Law trouble.
In other news, SurveyUSA has the Mayoral race tied. Regardless of the poll’s internals, this is a huge psychological boost for Kearns and a devastating day for Byron Brown, all around.
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Watergate redux: it’s not the crime, it’s the coverup.
If this runs its course, it would be a spectacularly pathetic coda to a thoroughly mediocre run in office.
Thy Mayor doth protest TOO MUCH!
I wouldn’t put much stock in that surveyUSA poll. I wish I had my old archives from 05 but when i worked at channel w I often questioned the validity of some of those polls. They have been known to call outside the city of Buffalo for citywide issues and other indiscretions. Besides, the poll was taken last week, even before this latest conspiracy was unveiled, so for all we know a new poll may show Kearns in the lead…
Here is what people are forgetting: The handicapped parking tags were stolen from the City of Buffalo, for which Byron Brown is the chief elected officer of. He (allegedly) intervened on behalf of someone in posession of one such stolen tag. If this is true, he assisted in the theft of property from the City of Buffalo. That is why this isn’t simply helping a friend “fix a ticket” but a much more serious crime – one that could cost him his political career.
Makes me long for the days of Jimmy Griffin….rather than stonewalling and obviously lying and dragging this thing out he would have admitted he met with Stokes and then taken a punch at Meyer! It would have been written off as “Jimmy being Jimmy” and he would win the next election in a landslide! Byron’s in trouble….
Has the Crystal Peoples / Leonard Stokes connection ever been verified?
I heard it from two good sources, but I don’t think that means it’s verified. I’m still waiting to hear why Stokes is getting this treatment.
Actually, I doubt the tags themselves were stolen. There is quite the cottage industry In B-Low from what I understand in the manufacture of counterfeit disability tags, Not sure if this is worse or better than those that are stolen, but either way – if any elected official is explaining away , apologizing for or being willfully blind to this situation, action must be taken against them. No excuses.
@Joel – They were stolen. A city employee was arrested and convicted in 2007 regarding these tags.
As the mayor, Byron Brown had a legal obligation to protect the property of the City of Buffalo. If these allegations are true, he would not have. This is a violation of his oath of office.
The only way Mayor Urkel can prove this is dirty politics is to prove the accusations wrong. A good start would be to deny them categorically. He can’t/won’t even do this. That’s a problem.
Let’s see if Lord Byron is as good as the Buffalo Bills when it comes to circling the wagons. He’s going to need all the help he can get if indeed the recent poll numbers are true. Just wondering were these “prime voters”? If so, he’s certainly in trouble with the voters. That may be the least of his worries after this latest scandal. Could be that he does in fact get re-elected but is forced to leave office for violating the public trust. He’d be just another politiician added to the long list of those who were brought down by their own arrogance.
“i didn’t nothing wrong!”
he needs to go
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/14201/petition.html
Mayor, yes or no, did you meet with Mr. Stokes on the day in question, he can’t answer a simple question, why is that, because he knows he did meet with him and he is hoping to still get re-elected despite several FBI investigations into his administration. I hope the policemen in question hold a news conference to let us know what happened before the election. Mr. Stokes has had other trouble with the law(look it up), where he was arrested by putting a gun to someones head and let go with reduced charges. Sounds like a guy you would want to loan alot of money to. If the mayor is elected, he will still have to face the music of the law. Let’s start fresh Buffalo! Clean up City Hall, Vote Kearns.
A week out of the primary, I’m not so sure this story has the legs it’ll take unseat an incumbent. It’ll come down to turnout, and my hunch is that the survey data will prove flawed– probably because the motivated African-American population consists of cell phone users who were not included in the sample.
Yall here in Barfalo gots some big time corruption! I do detest them parkin tickets thet seem to appear every time I try to park my truck in the gull dern downtown. Course I thought it was darn nasty of them politicians to give all thet empire zone money to that Italian fella builing condos on the lake. Seems like they don’t like us normal fulks having a chance to hang out at the beach and do a little fishing.
I can not believe how naive people around here are. Does anybody really care about a parking tag Stokes had.? Do you think the mayor gave him a stolen tag? This is worse than dirty politics, it is a frameup of a mayor by the police dept. Who else held on to this info from 2 yrs ago. Even if the mayor did let Stokes off so what. Do you really believe people in power do not give favors to help others. It is not wrong or illegal. It was wrong for this info to come out the way it did. Sounds like another Delano trick to get back at the mayor. We all know the unions are for Kearns, They want Brown out. A vote for Kearns is a vote for old politics as usual. Brown needs another term to try and rein in the unions. The unions want him out. This is nothing more than a smokescreen for Kearns to get in for the benefit of the city unions. If mayor Brown loses to Kearns well then the city deserves what it gets, more taxes to pay more to the unions.
Yes. Or do you condone able-bodied people using stolen city property to enable them to take up parking spots reserved for the disabled? Because that’s what you’re doing if you consider this to be no-big-deal.
No, nor does anybody.
So what? So, that’s an abuse of power and possibly violative of the Public Officers Law.
Well, it may very well be illegal. That’s why the FBI is investigating – because that hasn’t been determined yet. As for the timing of this information, I’d remind you and every other Brown/Casey/Pigeon acolyte that karma is a bitch.
Mayor Brown has been a disgraceful, no-vision-having, hypocritical failure.
Well that is your opinion Allan,obviously you hate the mayor. Hypocritical failure, i quess you are a hypocritical success.
oh Allan, the best man won.
allan the best man won