Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown Continues Fundraising: Investigative Post

There is speculation at City Hall that Brown is considering leaving office sooner than expected, as he raises money like a candidate looking to finance a campaign.

News and analysis from Investigative Post political reporter Geoff Kelly

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is hosting a fundraiser today at Diamond Hawk Golf Course in Cheektowaga, with tickets starting at $100 and sponsorship packages up to $5,000.

Brown also held a fundraiser earlier this month at a Bisons game and another in April at the Atrium @ Rich’s. His Brown for Buffalo campaign committee has raised $58,500 since January, according to campaign finance disclosures filed Monday.

That’s $22,000 more than Brown raised in the first six months of 2020, as he prepared to run for a fifth term. The mayor’s committee had $192,545 in the bank as of July 11. That’s nearly $80,000 more than it had on hand four years ago.

Byron Brown, Mayor of Buffalo. Photo by Garrett Looker.

And yet, rumors persist that Brown will leave office before the end of his term to take another position. The latest rumors coming out of South Buffalo indicate that Brown will leave office on or shortly after August 6, which is significant for two reasons:

• If the mayor were to resign on or after Aug. 6, there would be no last-minute election to fill his seat in November. Instead, City Council President Chris Scanlon would become acting mayor for the next 16 months, making Scanlon the de facto incumbent when city voters choose a new mayor in a regularly scheduled election next year.
• Aug. 6 is Scanlon’s birthday. What better gift for the soon-to-be 42-year-old, who has been positioning himself to run for mayor since helping hand South Buffalo to Brown in 2021?

If Brown were to resign before August 6 — which seems increasingly unlikely — a special election for mayor would be held in November. Scanlon would serve as acting mayor until then. The leaders of the Democratic and Republican parties would select the candidates.

That would likely benefit Sen. Sean Ryan, who is considering a run for mayor. Ryan is much closer to the party leadership than Scanlon or Brown. Plus, if Ryan were to vacate his Senate seat to become mayor, it would give Erie County Democratic Party Chairman Jeremy Zellner a vacancy to fill. Zellner could seek to take Ryan’s seat himself.

Assuming Ryan is nominated as the Democratic nominee and defeats whoever the Republicans nominate, he would have incumbent advantage in next year’s primary and general elections.

All these rumors and political games may not be of any use. Brown may finish his term. Maybe he will run for a sixth term.

He continues to fundraise as a candidate, but it’s an old game: elected officials here like to leave office with a lot of leftover campaign cash.

Brown’s predecessor, Tony Masiello, left office in January 2006 with more than $800,000 in his campaign accounts. Former Erie County Executive Joel Giambra had more than $700,000 when he left office in January 2008. Former Assemblyman Robin Schimminger left office in January 2021 with $410,665 in his campaign account. Schimminger had spent less than $30,000 of that amount as of July 11.

Former State Senator Tim Kennedy — the fundraising machine Mr. Kennedy, now a member of Congress, still has $1,272,069 in his state campaign account, according to the latest financial disclosures. Federal election law prohibits Mr. Kennedy from using the money for future federal campaigns, but he is free to distribute it as he sees fit to community groups and other local candidates and party committees.

Brown still has a long way to go if he hopes to stay in the company of these guys.

The mayor raised about $40,000 in April at a cocktail party at Atrium@Rich’s on Niagara Street. So far in July, he’s only raised $7,000.

According to the committee’s campaign finance disclosure filing released Monday, Brown, D-Buffalo, still owes Partners Press about $21,000 for work done during his 2021 re-election campaign. Under state law, that debt became a contribution — well above the state’s limits on political donations — as soon as the 2021 election ended.

Brown for Buffalo had $185,000 in unpaid debts in July 2022, eight months after the mayor was re-elected. Contribution limits that year were $7,800 for the general election and $5,300 for the primary, for a total of $13,100 over the entire election cycle.

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published 1 min ago – July 17, 2024