5 months ago
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, visibly agitated, walked away from reporters Tuesday as they continued to ask him questions about an alleged incident involving him in 2007.
For the second consecutive day Tuesday, 2 On Your Side gave Mayor Brown an opportunity to deny the allegations that surfaced in a published report. Those allegations suggested he helped a well-connected city entrepreneur get out of trouble with police more than two years ago.
He did not deny the any of the specific allegations during a press conference after an event he attended Tuesday morning.
"I'm looking at everybody in the eye and saying nothing was done that was wrong," Brown said as he walked away from reporters, who continued to ask questions about Leonard Stokes.
According to a recent Buffalo News story, in 2007 Stokes was picked up by police outside the Ellicott Square building for allegedly using a stolen handicap parking tag. The reports says police were ordered to bring Stokes to the Mayor's Office at City Hall, where he was later set free.
Stokes, a former basketball star, was also the owner of the failed city restaurant One Sunset, which received more than $100,000 in loans and grants from a city economic development agency. Some of that money, according to the city comptroller, is unaccounted for.
As for the alleged incident at City Hall in 2007, the Mayor has repeated told 2 On Your Side's Aaron Saykin he "did nothing wrong."
SAYKIN: "Did you or anyone from your administration have any conversation with police about releasing Mr. Stokes?"MAYOR: "You know what? I said this before, and I'm going to say it again. I did nothing wrong. Nobody in my administration, nobody in my office did anything wrong with respect to Mr. Stokes."
SAYKIN: "You said you did nothing wrong, but you did not say whether Mr. Stokes was in your office or at city hall, and you have not said whether you've had a conversation -- or somebody from your staff has had a conversation -- with any police officers about releasing Mr. Stokes on that day. Did you or anybody from your staff have a conversation?"MAYOR: "Um, again, I did not have any conversation about releasing Mr. Stokes from anything."
SAYKIN: "How about a conversation about Mr. Stokes in general (on) that day in question?"
MAYOR: "You know, again, I'm not going to respond to these dirty politics. This is dirty politics. The timing is very suspicious. I'm not going to give that voice. If anyone has a charge -- an actual charge -- with documentation to make, let them come forward and make it. Otherwise, I'm sick of talking about it. I'm not going to talk about it anymore. It is completely irrelevant. Let me be clear on it. Let me be clear. I did nothing wrong. If anyone can say I did something wrong, or anything that happened with respect to this, or I got anybody out of jail, or some other nonsense like, come forward and put it on the record."
SAYKIN: "Mayor, what did you do that day?"
MAYOR: "I'm not, I'm not going to talk any more about this. This is dirty politics. It's clear. The timing is very clear. This has nothing to do about Mr. Stokes. This has everything to do about this election."
His primary opponent, Councilman Michael Kearns, said he heard rumors about the alleged incident, but had nothing to do with its revelation.
SAYKIN: "Did your campaign have anything to do with this?"KEARNS: "Absolutely not. I said this on the record. The first time I heard about this is when Councilman (David) Rivera called me and stated that he was going to have a press conference."
SAYKIN: "You did not know this was coming?"
KEARNS: "No I did not...
When you talk about dirty politics, dirty politics is happening on the second floor."The mayor's office is located on the second floor of City Hall.
Kearns was referencing a Sunday press conference from Councilman Rivera, who has asked the FBI to look into the alleged incident.
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WGRZ
