BUFFALO - Erie County's Ethics Board says Republican Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw violated county ethics law when he asked area businessmen to pay for a seminar at Harvard.
Mychajliw says he attended the Harvard Kennedy School seminar in the summer of 2014. The tuition was steep, almost $12,000. To pay for it, Mychajliw says he reached out to a group of area businessmen he refers to as his "kitchen cabinet" of advisers. The list of tuition donors includes: Randy Best, Paul Ciminelli, Kent Frey, Daniel Gernatt, Robert Glaser, Brian Lipke, Hormoz Mansouri, Paul Marinaccio, Carl Paladino and Joseph Weiss.
On his 2014 Financial Disclosure report, Mychajliw reported the men made payments directly to Harvard.
Mychajliw says, "By being pro-active and publicly disclosing in an open, honest and transparent manner and the fact that board ruled that there was zero influence over my office that proves I followed the letter of the law and I followed the spirit of the law."
The Ethics Board did not find that Mychajliw or the comptroller's office did anything to reward any of the tuition donors but the board did find that "it may be reasonably inferred" that the gifts of tuition payments were intended to influence Mychajliw. That appears to be a violation of the Erie County Ethics Code.
Later this month, acting District Attorney Michael Flaherty will meet with members of the Ethic Board to discuss their review of Mychajliw's Harvard tuition payments.
