Bob Reynolds takes Dirty Money!

I have heard a lot about Bob Reynolds and how he has been financed from money that can only be considered dirty. I’ve had phone calls, a letter or two, and even had a couple people stop me when I’m out and about. All want to know if I heard about Reynolds taking money from Operating Engineers Local 17?

I really didn’t look into it and I wasn’t going to make it big news, but this issue just isn’t going away. I thought for sure Reynolds would give the money back, but he hasn’t. So I started thinking that Reynolds is probably just the tip of the ice berg. What else is sitting below the water line that we can’t see just yet?

Appearing in this weeks Hamburg Sun is an article by Hamburg Republican Chairman Mark Cuda that explains the situation perfectly. Bob Reynolds isn’t trying to back from the issue he is actually acting proud of how he got the money and he even told TV2 so much. Now he can be proud of the fact that people consider his name in conjunction with the corruption from his main financiers. Anyway here is the article.

 

 Reynolds Should return ’Dirty political Money’

 

The United States Attorney’s Office recently announced that a Federal grand Jury has issued an eight count indictment in a case involving a local union. The indictment implicated 12 members of the International Union of Operating engineers Local No. 17, one of western New York’s most active construction unions headquartered in Lakeview.

 

Indictments against the union leaders came came after the completion of a five year investigation that focused on many of the member’s attempts to sway the outcomes of proposed planned construction projects. The investigation ultimately alleged that members of Operating Engineers Local 17 used unlawful tactics to commit actions of bodily harm, destroy private property, and sabotaged equipment owned and operated by non-union work forces.

 

These acts were committed in an attempt to “encourage” non-union contractors and construction project design makers to complete their projects with the unionized workers. After this story broke in the news, Erie County Legislator Bob Reynolds went on record with WGRZ-TV Channel 2 News regarding his relationship with Local No. 17, saying “they are a source of our fundraising that we go out and try to get fundraising from from because that is our base.”

 

Reynolds comments are in fact true and he has been the beneficiary of Local 17’s political generosity. Operating Engineers Local No. 17 donated over $1,500 to Reynolds re-election efforts. It is important that these donations were made while the FBI, the Office of Inspector General and the New York State Police were conducting massive investigations into Local No. 17 administrative antics.

 

To me it is abhorrent to think that the corrupt organizations like Local No. 17 are the financial arm of the Democratic lawmakers in Erie County, such as Reynolds. now I believe it is incumbent upon Reynolds to restore whatever credibility he has left and return the money as soon as possible.

 

Mark Cuda,

Chairman,

Town of Hamburg Republican Committee