It has been a little secret known only by a few in the Town and Village Governments. Rumors spread about the fact that Dennis Gaughan had been letting the Village of Blasdell pick up some of his legal expenses. Not until the town was tipped off and an audit was finished did they find out it was true. Dennis Gaughan was using unauthorised Westlaw Services and allowing the Village of Blasdell to pay for it.
Now this guy wants you to vote for him for Town Supervisor! Ya Right!
Side Note: Anyone notice how much better Buff News Fred Williams is over Bob McCarthy? Just a thought. Maybe the Buffalo News should make the change.
http://www.buffalonews.com/cityregion/southernsuburbs/story/606490.html
Gaughan campaign stumbles at start
As village prosecutor in Blasdell, he was admonished in December for unauthorized use of an online legal research service, he and village officials confirmed this week in response to questions.
Gaughan agreed Dec. 14 to repay $4,200 for unauthorized use of the Westlaw research service. He resigned from the Village Court job shortly afterward—saying he did so in order to run for the town office.
As village prosecutor, Gaughan said that he used areas of the Westlaw service within the village’s subscription. He said that a paralegal in his office mistakenly used premium areas not covered by the subscription, running up extra charges.
But Blasdell Mayor Ernest J. Jewett said that the village was unaware that Gaughan had access to the service until the overcharges surfaced.
“I confronted him and said it was inappropriate and wouldn’t be tolerated,” Jewett said.
As an Internet-based service, Westlaw can be accessed from places other than village offices.
An audit in June turned up the misuse, Village Administrator Janet Plarr said. The village subpoenaed Internet records from Verizon that pointed to Gaughan’s office in Hamburg as the source of the charges, she said.
Gaughan, the cousin of regionalism advocate Kevin Gaughan, began campaigning for supervisor last weekend and said he is seeking the Democratic Party’s endorsement. His father was a former Hamburg supervisor and a state court judge, while his brother Paul is a trustee in the Village of Hamburg.
Dennis Gaughan was first appointed Blasdell village prosecutor in 1996. He has also served as prosecutor for the Town of Hamburg, until he was ousted from the $25,348- a-year job in 2008 by a Republican- Conservative majority on the Town Board.
If he runs for supervisor, he would likely face incumbent Steven Walters in November. Four of the Town Board’s five seats are up for election this year, giving Democrats a chance to take back majority control.
Political insiders have said that Gaughan has an inside track for the Democratic line. Vincent J. Sorrentino, town party chairman, said the committee is interviewing several candidates and expects to make its endorsement after April 12.
The surfacing of the Blasdell revelation now, just as his campaign gets under way, is likely politically motivated, Gaughan said. His cousin Kevin advocates dissolving the 2,900-person village, an unpopular position in Village Hall that Dennis Gaughan said he supports.
Village officials didn’t discuss Gaughan’s involvement in the flap until after he had confirmed it.
“As a business decision I stand by it — pay it, say ‘I screwed up,’ and move on,” Gaughan said of his decision not to dispute the reimbursement.
The Westlaw service is designed to lure users from the subscriber area to premium areas, he said. He looked into use by his office and found that a paralegal in November mistakenly incurred an additional charge of about $700.
In addition, he said his office probably has used the service for research unrelated to his job as Blasdell prosecutor.
“There’s no additional cost; I didn’t see anything wrong with it,” he said.
He said that others in the Village Court and village government had access to the Internet- based system, and the password hasn’t changed since the service began at least five years ago.
“I probably paid for a lot of other people,” he said.
Plarr said that the unauthorized charges found by the village were all linked to Gaughan’s Internet address. Gaughan said he doubted that, and that his Internet address is easy to obtain.
Gaughan said his resignation from the Blasdell post is unconnected to the Westlaw flap.
Jewett said Gaughan resigned within a week of paying the charges. The board met in executive session the day Gaughan resigned and decided the issue was resolved.
“At no time did we think Dennis did anything illegal,” he said.
Village Justice Daniel Grasso confirmed that the password to access the Westlaw service hasn’t been changed since the village subscribed several years ago.
The subscription, replacing costlier law books, cost about $100 a month when the village began the service, he said.
While the court used the service, the village received the bills, Grasso said. He said he gave Gaughan the password and authorized him to use the subscription portion of the service for village-related research.
The similarites between the voyage of the Titanic and the campaigns of the Hamburg Dems are uncanny.
I agree about the titanic refernence. I’ve never seen a party go from dominant to to incredibly inept within one election cycle. I find it a bit sad.
I am a democrat, but during the years of democratic domination, I always thought that the town board could use at least one republican so at least there would be some dissenting voice.
Given the current state of the democratic party in Hamburg, we may be in danger of seeing the same one party rule, only reversed.
I think no matter what, one party rule is detrimental to good government. Ther needs to be dissenting voices.
How about attending Town Board meetings and getting in the faces of one party boards that raise taxes, appoint relatives, purchase from companies that donate and so on ?
I personally looked into the Dems campaign contribution disclosures. I found illegal/unethical issues that the board of elections would not confront them on (maybe because Sorrentino is a lawyer consultant to BOE ?)
I was wondering about the bike path that was to be proposed for Hoove beach. I heard some folks are now thinking it would be ok for the reason that there has been a noticeable amount of traffic and speeders down that road. It seems that some of the residents are thinking this. Guess there getting angry with the president of that association. I did drive down there and looks ok to me to put one there. Lots of room and you can drive through the neighborhood and look at the lake on a bike ride. If anybody has any information on whats going on let me know. Just wante to get an up date. Thanks