<!--Mark Scheer--><table width="234" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" background="http://static.cnhi.zope.net/flashpromo/niagaragazette/images/byline_234x60.jpg" height="60"><tr><td><div align="center"><font size="3" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By Mark Scheer</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br /></font><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><a href="mailto:mark.scheer@niagara-gazette.com">mark.scheer@niagara-gazette.com</a></font></div></td></tr></table>
The Buffalo law firm hired by Niagara County to take on the New York Power Authority continued last year to make financial contributions to the campaign committee representing the county legislature’s majority party.
Records on file with the state Board of Elections show Buffalo-based Webster Szanyi made a $5,000 donation in August and a $900 donation in October to the Niagara County Republican Committee. The committee’s January 2010 campaign financial report, made available by the Elections Board on Friday, also shows that Webster Szanyi attorney Charles Graney, one of the lawyers involved in the county’s case against the authority, donated $950 to the GOP committee in December.
Listings from previous filed contribution records show Webster Szanyi made a $1,200 donation to the county Republican Committee in July of 2007 and Graney contributed $198 to the committee on two other occasions, once in October of 2007 and again in October of 2008.
In response to an e-mail from the Gazette, Graney declined comment on behalf of the firm, saying only that Webster Szanyi has “an excellent track record in cases we have handled for Niagara County.”
Majority Leader Richard Updegrove, R-Lockport, and GOP Party leader Michael Norris did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
The county retained Webster Szanyi last year to argue its side of a lawsuit that seeks to reverse the so-called “sweep” of more than $500 million in surplus authority revenue into the state’s general fund. Members of the Republican-led majority in the county Legislature pushed for the power authority lawsuit. Niagara Falls Democrat Renae Kimble also voted in favor of the suit. The case is ongoing.
Last month, State Supreme Court Justice Ralph Boniello III rejected the authority’s motion to dismiss. To date, county lawmakers have agreed to make two payments to Webster Szanyi for legal work in the case, the first for $94,123 and another for $68,382. The county’s legal fees are being covered by a portion of the county’s share of slot machine revenue from Seneca Niagara Casino.
Webster Szanyi also has been retained by a pair of county lawmakers who are seeking the court’s help in forcing the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission to open up its books amid questions about compensation provided to former Executive Director Thomas Garlock.
Legislator Dan Sklarski, D-Town of Niagara, and Legislator John Ceretto, R-Lewiston, sought the firm’s help in their bid to force the Bridge Commission to comply with federal Freedom of Information laws and reveal details about the inner-workings of its organization. Both lawmakers filed the suit as private citizens, not representatives of county government. Webster Szanyi, on behalf of Sklarski and Ceretto, have asked the court to cover the plaintiffs’ legal costs in the case.
Kimble and North Tonawanda Republican Paul Wojtaszek are expected to ask the rest of the Legislature to authorize a letter of support tonight that would call on the judge to rule against the bridge commission.
