Two Buffalo mayoral candidates took their campaigns up a notch Thursday, hurling tough accusations at incumbent Mayor Byron Brown.
Democratic candidate Bernie Tolbert is accusing the Brown Administration of intimidating a city worker to gain a campaign donation. Tolbert says he wants the mayor to release a video deposition from a federal court case in 2012 where a city employee alleged "pay-to-play" tactics by the administration. He says the official pled the Fifth Amendment in a lawsuit.
"It's hard to believe that a city official, in the middle of a lawsuit involving retribution and intimidation, makes an allegation that he wants to take the Fifth because he feared retribution," said Tolbert.
"If you work for City Hall, or you want to do business with City Hall, there's an expectation that you will make campaign contributions," Tolbert claimed.
"I can say that the claim is absolutely frivolous. There's no truth to it, whatsoever," Brown responded Thursday.
"I think the timing is obvious that this frivolous claim, with no truth to it, comes out now."
Following Tolbert's remarks, Republican mayoral candidate Sergio Rodriguez announced that the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association supports his claims that Brown broke the election law by using police officers in his television campaign ad.
"The law restricts political activities of police officers," Rodriguez said.
"When the police officer participates in a campaign finance commercial, such as the one that the administration is airing currently, they're actually exposing themselves to this New York State Board of Elections law that prohibits such actions and, in fact, is punishable by up to a misdemeanor," he added.
Brown says the TV ads are "100 percent accurate and permissible" and those who participated did so on their own time.
Rodriguez is calling on Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita III to determine if Brown violated the election law.