City Hall e-mails urge staff to assist Brown campaign
Top official wants ‘8 hours per week’
In apparent violation of the City Charter and perhaps also the Code of Ethics, a City Hall department head has e-mailed many of her employees, expressing her expectation that they will work on the re-election campaign of Mayor Byron W. Brown.
The e-mails are not the work of a rogue commissioner, but appear to have been coordinated with one of the mayor’s top aides.
Tanya Perrin-Johnson, commissioner of community services, has sent her staff a series of e-mails over the last month, informing them of opportunities to volunteer for the Brown campaign in language that appears to leave little doubt about what she expects.
“Your services are needed minimally 8 hours per week,” Perrin-Johnson wrote in a June 2 e-mail sent to 20 employees.
And not just at a time of their choosing. Perrin-Johnson specified a four-hour shift during the week—preferably Tuesdays, which is the department’s night at campaign headquarters — and another four hours on the weekend.
Perrin-Johnson said in her e-mail that “everyone is expected to be at the Headquarters after work” the following Tuesday because it was the first day that nominating petitions could be circulated for signatures.
If employees cannot work on the campaign on Tuesday or on a weekend, Perrin-Johnson wrote, “please notify myself and Dana Bobinchek at the email above and accommodations will be made for you to make up the time during the week.”
Bobinchek is a longtime aide to Brown, dating from his days in the State Senate, who now works as a special assistant to the mayor, making $51,500 a year. Bobinchek was copied on the e-mail.
Perrin-Johnson concluded her e-mail by saying: “Due to the importance and volume of activity, it is important that we all contribute to the re-election of Mayor Byron W. Brown. Also, recruit friends and family to assist.”
Perrin-Johnson followed up with an e-mail June 6 telling recipients to report to campaign headquarters by 5 p. m. the following Tuesday. She also reminded them of an upcoming event that she wanted them to attend.
“Also, Saturday, June 13th is Juneteenth and [we] would like to have a tremendous number of individuals marching with Mayor Brown. Please bring family and friends,” she wrote.
On June 16, Perrin-Johnson sent this e-mail at 12:55 p. m., presumably during working hours:
“Hope everyone is enjoying their lunch. Friendly reminder, the Community Services Team is expected to volunteer this evening from 5:00 pm -9:00 pm at 20 Court Street. Your assistance is definitely needed. Please let me know if you are not going to be there. Thank you.”
Blair Horner, legislative director of the New York Public Interest Research Group, termed the e-mails indicative of “an inherently coercive relationship between employer and employee, supervisor and subordinate.”
“If it’s not illegal, it should be. We think it’s wrong.”
Perrin-Johnson has continued to send e-mails at least once a week, according to one recipient of the e-mails, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear of retaliation.
The e-mail recipient said some employees receiving the messages feel pressured to work on the campaign.
“They feel forced, they feel scared, that if they don’t make it in that day, there will be ramifications,” the e-mail recipient said.
As a result, most of those receiving the e-mails are working on Brown’s campaign.
“You have people who depend on their jobs,” the recipient explained.
Those receiving the e-mails are a mix of employees who enjoy civil service protection and those who hold exempt or other positions that provide no job security.
Brown hired Perrin-Johnson in 2006 to oversee the Human Services Department, which has about 50 employees. The department’s work includes funding and monitoring human service agencies. Her annual salary is $86,226. She was formerly the chief executive officer of the YWCA of Western New York.
Neither Perrin-Johnson nor Peter K. Cutler, the mayor’s spokesman, sees any problems with the e-mails.
Why did she send the e-mails?
“I believe in the mayor and what the mayor has done for the city,” Perrin-Johnson said.
What about employees who feel coerced?
“They shouldn’t feel coerced,” she said. “People have a choice if they want to volunteer.”
After a Buffalo News reporter read the June 2 e-mail to Cutler, the mayor’s spokesman said he didn’t see a problem because the e-mails were sent and received through private accounts.
“Is there a coercive nature to these? I would say no,” Cutler said. “There’s no threat; I didn’t hear ‘Be there or else’ or ‘Your job is dependent on it,’ ” he said.
The City Charter, however, appears to prohibit the solicitation of civil service-protected employees to work on campaigns.
While a candidate can solicit so-called “at will” employees, such as appointed commissioners, for campaign help, Section 24-22 stipulates that “a city officer or employee shall not knowingly request or knowingly authorize anyone else to request in his or her name any direct subordinate of the officer or employee to participate in an election campaign or contribute to a political committee.”
Section 12-14 of the Code of Ethics might also apply.
“No city officer or employee shall use or attempt to use his or her official position to secure unwarranted benefits, privileges or exemptions for himself or herself or for others,” the Code of Ethics reads.
Douglas S. Coppola, chairman of the Board of Ethics, said, “The provision could potentially be affective, depending on the circumstances of the contact.” He added, however, that no complaint citing this language has ever been filed involving a mayoral campaign.
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