Erie County Clerk Mickey Kearns has started to publicly unravel under the heat of numerous investigations into his office’s mismanagement of hundreds of thousands of dollars coming through the Erie County Clerk’s Office.
Let’s see if Swiftie Mickey @ErieCountyClerk can keep his composure today on @WBEN pic.twitter.com/IxXf8srk4H
— WNYmedia Network (@wnymedia) February 11, 2024
Earlier this week, Kearns nearly lost it on WKBW and had a couple of near meltdowns on WBEN Sunday morning.
Kearns and the clerk’s office have been the subject of several investigations into lost money in the County Clerk’s Office over the last year.
In the original County Comptrollers audit back in July, Kearns came under fire for his office failing miserably when it comes to “fiscal accountability and oversight.”
The four-month audit showed missing money, altered deposit records, bank-flagged discrepancies, and numerous gun permit overcharges.
Hardwick staffers originally found over $13,000 missing from checking the clerk’s office records for two months, January and December, in 2022. But they decided to look further at the rest of 2022 and the first six months of this year, so that missing money amount has grown to over $114,000.
Last February, Kearns was criticized for his BS advertising practices during his recent re-election campaign where the clerk’s office spent over $100,000 in taxpayer-funded advertising featuring Kearns himself. The State’s Attorney General’s Office was asked to open a formal investigation into the misused county funds
Kearns was taken to task last fall by the county comptroller for running numerous print and radio ads promoting the work of the clerk’s office while Kearns was running for re-election. These weren’t technically campaign ads – they didn’t mention his 2022 candidacy or ask anyone to vote for him – but they all featured Kearns’ face or voice as they touted all the customer services, programs and perks that were available to residents through the clerk’s office.
The latest round of Kearn’s mismanagement came to light earlier this week includes a $326,000 check sent to NYS that was allegedly intercepted and fraudulently cashed using a “fake” check.
District Attorney John Flynn said the investigation into the counterfeit check is ongoing and that information was shared with the U.S. Secret Service.
