TOWN OF LERAY, New York (WWNY) – Some Town of LeRay officials may have violated town and even state laws, according to an opinion from the Jefferson County Board of Ethics. It’s all focused on a political campaign last year.
The complaints stem from a town of LeRay primary race in 2021. In paperwork obtained by 7 News, a black and white photo, which is hard to read, shows a campaign sign for now town Clerk Melissa Verne at a town building.
A message from a concerned citizen is included in the paperwork. It says the town was “pushing these signs on innocent people coming in to pay their water bills and get dump tickets.”
Town Councilman John Eisenhauer says the concerns were raised “with some allegations that certain town officials were conducting political activity out of town offices.”
The allegations were that town officials were handing out campaign materials out of town facilities, sharing confidential town records during business hours, and that town officials approached department heads to influence political activities.
Because the town does not have its own ethics board, the allegations were looked at by the Jefferson County Board of Ethics. 7 News was able to obtain the county’s opinion through a Freedom of Information Law request.
The report says if a town official attempts to use his or her position to influence political opinions, that could be a violation of the town’s code of ethics and state municipal law. It could even go as far as violating civil rights or state penal law.
The county concluded that if the allegations were true, the penalty for the offense may be a fine, suspension, or even removal from office.
“Based on that opinion at the last town board meeting, I made a motion that we further investigate, appoint an independent investigator to either prove or disprove these allegations because of the nature of how serious they could be,” said Eisenhauer.
However, Eisenhauer’s motion did not receive a second, so it went nowhere.
County Attorney David Paulsen says the opinion is only an advisory so nothing further may happen, but Eisenhauer says some workers who brought this to light say it has changed their workplace environment.
“So right now because of this, and that’s where that civil rights violation comes into play, you have town employees who are being intimidated from bringing forth violations of the law,” he said.
We reached out to town Supervisor Ron Taylor to get his thoughts on the matter, but we did not hear back.
We also reached out to Verne, who declined comment.
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