Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick, right, released an audit finding that the Erie County Clerk’s Office run by Michael “Mickey” P. Kearns suffers from serious failures in fiscal accountability and oversight, requiring a referral to the Sheriff’s Office.
In February, it seemed Erie County Republicans had struck out when trying to come up with the party’s nominee to challenge Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
Chris Jacobs, Mickey Kearns and others with some name recognition either opted not to run or were passed over by the party’s executive committee. Kearns, in particular, made a point of calling The Buffalo News to say he said “no,” citing reasons relating to the health of a family member.
As a result, the party chose Chrissy Casilio, a political newcomer with little name recognition beyond the fact that her father is Clarence Supervisor Pat Casilio. It was viewed as a disappointment by many in GOP circles.
People are also reading…
- Eddie Mayerik, 8-year-old who inspired thousands of Bills fans, dies
- Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs among athletes at Damar Hamlin charity softball game
- Anton Wahlberg’s ‘big, big step’ in Sweden led the Sabres to try to swing a trade
- Capitol rioter sues Hamburg, Blasdell and Wyoming County, claiming civil rights violations
- Three Bills teammates among celebrities initially announced for Jordan Poyer golf tournament
- You’ve seen the clip, but here’s what else Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen said about Stefon Diggs on podcast
- Guilty of ‘multiple heinous sex crimes,’ former attorney, political operative Nicholas D’Angelo receives his sentence
- Chris Brown to start Bills season as radio play-by-announcer as John Murphy continues recovery
- ‘She was just a baby’: Mother of girl, 13, fatally shot, mourns the loss of her child
- Potential strike at UPS looms over Buffalo economy
- Power outage, flight delays frustrate travelers at Buffalo Niagara International Airport
- Bills training camp questions: Which experienced players are vulnerable to being cut?
- Bills training camp questions: How quickly can Dalton Kincaid make a significant impact on Bills’ offense?
- Zach Benson caps ‘whirlwind’ two weeks with standout showing at Sabres development camp
- Mike Harrington: Don Granato’s concerns feel a lot easier than Sean McDermott’s
But five months later, it seems Republicans may have lucked out in not naming Kearns, a Democrat who has won elections on the Republican line, as its nominee. That’s because the Erie County clerk is now embroiled in multiple scandals relating to his management of the office, which he likes to point out brings in lots of revenue for the county.
Where that revenue ends up after it leaves the hands of taxpayers is now at issue. A scathing audit by County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick revealed a pattern of lax oversight and evidence of thousands of dollars in missing county money.
A four-month audit of Kearns’ office found vanishing cash, altered deposit records, poor fiscal oversight, bank-flagged discrepancies and numerous gun permit overcharges. The audit also found issues related to Clerk’s Office pistol permit staff being given improper access to state mental health records.
Criminal investigations are underway by the Erie County sheriff and district attorney and State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has also offered his assistance for a “multiyear forensic audit.” To his credit, Kearns – after meeting with Hardwick – agreed to assist the investigation, even though staffers had been unwilling to explain some of the discrepancies to auditors.
And while Kearns isn’t personally implicated in the fraud or theft being alleged – and some of the issues predate his time as clerk, to the days of former comptrollers Jacobs and Stefan Mychajliw – Kearns has been in charge for more than five years, so the buck stops with him.
This, as well as the controversy over Kearns’ use of taxpayer money for advertisements featuring his name and likeness, would have made perfect fodder for Democrats had Kearns been the GOP candidate for county executive. The attack ads would write themselves.
Instead, the GOP will look to November with Casilio as its nominee. She may not be the strongest candidate when her experience is compared to other Republicans, but aside from an early social media controversy, she doesn’t have the kind of political baggage that now seems attached to Kearns.
And in Republican-land these days, that counts as a win.
The audit no doubt politically strengthens Hardwick, who has emerged as a veritable watchdog of taxpayer money. His predecessor, Mychajliw, shouted from the rooftops at the slightest oversight measures he took against the Poloncarz administration.
Hardwick has taken the opposite approach – instead of holding a news conference or releasing videos on YouTube, he gave an interview to News reporter Sandra Tan and invited Kearns to see the findings of his audit in the hopes that they would get him on board with the investigation. (To Kearns’ credit, he did).
Few pegged Hardwick as having higher political aspirations, but he retains great name recognition not only as a political science professor at Canisius College – where he taught many of the region’s top political staffers – but as former host of WBEN’s weekly “Hardline with Kevin Hardwick” radio show.
Hardwick was pilloried by Republicans for switching to the Democratic party five years ago when he was a county legislator. Now, the grandfatherly figure with a sharp sense of humor has the potential to be a Democratic star.
Hardwick’s brand of steady leadership that shuns political bomb-throwing has proven effective before – one might say surprisingly, in these divided political times. If you recall, Poloncarz was not exactly a household name when he toppled then-County Executive Chris Collins in 2011. But he built a reputation for effective oversight as comptroller that he rode all the way to becoming county executive.
Speaking of Collins, who could have predicted he would return to the political scene – this time, 1,400 miles away from here on sun-soaked Marco Island in Florida?
Collins told me his friends there have welcomed him with open arms, despite his felony conviction for insider trading and his resignation from Congress in 2019. Collins perhaps said it best when asked whether his conviction – and pardon by former President Donald Trump – would hurt his chances of getting elected to Congress in Florida.
“I don’t think it hurts me at all,” Collins said. “In fact, in the mood of the country today with Republican primary voters, it helps me.”
As strange as it seems to write these words … he’s probably right.
