Records link Pigeon to 2007 campaigns in West Seneca
Late expense reports show political group paid for Meegan, Piotrowski "mystery' mailings
When Sheila Meegan decided to run for Town Council in West Seneca, she had everything but money. With name recognition as the daughter of former town Councilman Christopher P. Walsh, she put together a team of 45 volunteers who she said knocked on 9,000 doors.
What money she did have — less than $15,000 — she spent on T-shirts, lawn signs, palm cards and door hangers.
Imagine her surprise when just before the election, two slickly produced mailers touting her candidacy were sent to Democratic voters in West Seneca, at a cost of $15,000, more than she spent on her whole campaign.
"We couldn't afford a mailing," Meegan said last week of her 2007 election. "We had no money."
Meegan said she had no idea who was behind the mailing, even though it carried a return address for one of her campaign workers, former town employee William Callahan.
Two years after failing to report its expenses in that election, a political committee run by former county Democratic Chairman G. Steven Pigeon has owned up to the mailing — sort of.
Forced by a subpoena from Erie County's Board of Elections and a front page story in The Buffalo News in June, a Pigeon political action committee filed late records in July showing its expenditures in the West Seneca race.
Election commissioners Dennis E. Ward and Ralph M. Mohr say the case seems ripe for passing on to a special prosecutor, should Gov. David A. Paterson choose to appoint one to look into claims a former assistant district attorney, Mark A. Sacha, makes about Pigeon.
Pigeon, according to those subpoenaed records and the late-filed state campaign expense reports, made a $20,000 personal donation to his People for Accountable Government. The political committee then made a $20,000 payment to an Arkansas political consultant, Markham Group, that Pigeon has worked with in the past.
An invoice that Ward and Mohr obtained from Markham shows the consultant handled four mailings in West Seneca — two each for Meegan and town Supervisor Wallace Piotrowski, at a cost of $22,459.
Both Meegan and Piotrowski deny any knowledge of the mailings.
"It's really obvious that this is what the election law is all about," Ward said. "Filing two years later doesn't allow voters to know who is supporting what candidate. Clearing up the record two years later doesn't really cut it."
The two commissioners say the case marks yet another allegation that Pigeon may have illegally coordinated with a campaign — violating election laws that waive contribution limits for unauthorized committees as long as the candidates had nothing to do with the donation.
Ward and Mohr said they will reach a decision by the end of the year on whether to send the case to authorities for possible prosecution. And if Paterson appoints a special prosecutor to look into allegations against Pigeon raised by Sacha, they also say they would send the case to the prosecutor.
Paterson's chief legal counsel met with Sacha last week to review his claims that former District Attorney Frank J. Clark and his successor, Frank A. Sedita III, gave Pigeon a political pass on alleged violations of campaign finance law.
The action of Mohr and Ward has already spawned a lawsuit by Pigeon's benefactor, Buffalo Sabres owner B. Thomas Golisano, who sued them for what he says was an illegal investigation into Pigeon's political activities.
Pigeon has denied Sacha's charges, as well as those raised earlier by Mohr and Ward about his involvement in the campaign of Democrat Joe Mesi for State Senate. Another Democratic candidate in that race, County Legislator Michele M. Iannello of Kenmore, also raised questions about Pigeon's involvement in that race.
In addition, a former campaign aide to Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, has raised similar questions about Pigeon's alleged coordination with former Council Member at Large Barbra A. Kavanaugh's 2008 primary challenge to Hoyt.
Mesi and Kavanaugh were heavily supported by Golisano's Responsible New York, which under Pigeon's direction distributed more than $4.4 million to candidates throughout the state last year.
Those investigations, which prosecutors in Erie County did not act on, now rest with Albany County District Attorney David P. Soares, after the state Board of Elections referred them to Soares.
Both Clark and Sedita have said they could not investigate most claims of election fraud because they lack the staff and resources. But those under the scrutiny of the Erie County Republican and Democratic election commissioners continue to deny the basis of their charge — coordination.
"Coordination means just that," Golisano said in a statement about why he sued, "coordinating a campaign with an unauthorized committee to the extent that mailings, voter targets, issues and expenditures are brought into common action or movement. I challenge anyone to produce any evidence of such coordination."
Did Pigeon or his committee coordinate with the campaigns of Meegan and Piotrowski?
Pigeon, a West Seneca native who has referred to Meegan's father, Walsh, as a father figure to him, did not return a telephone call to comment.
The Piotrowski and Meegan mailings both bore return addresses to 76 Singer Drive, the home of William Callahan, a longtime Democratic worker and town parks employee in West Seneca.
The News asked Callahan what his role was in both campaigns.
"Well, they are both good Democrats, and friends of mine, and that's about that," he said.
How did the mailings get paid for?
"I have no clue," Callahan said. "I don't know how that got paid for, I was just, you know, helpful in their campaign. I don't mean to be vague with you."
Callahan also said he did not know how the pictures of Piotrowski and Meegan were obtained, or who prepared the fliers.
"A printer obviously prepared it," Callahan said. "I didn't prepare the flier, I'm not capable of doing that.
Three of the mailing permits used were listed with Mod-Pac Corp. on Elmwood Avenue in Buffalo, according to postal records. Mod-Pac, at the time, included a direct mail company called DDM, which Pigeon had used in the past. Mod-Pac has since abandoned the direct mail business. The fourth permit came back to Buffalo Mailing Services on Hertel Avenue.
Christopher Walsh, Meegan's father and the former town councilman, said that although he encouraged her to run, he purposely stayed out of her campaign and never talked to Pigeon about it.
"I had no knowledge of that campaign, nor did I want to," Walsh said. "My opponents and my political enemies would have used that to discredit her. She is a very capable girl. She does what is proper, and I'm very proud of her."
Piotrowski said he knew nothing about the mailings until they showed up in mailboxes.
"I've known Bill Callahan for 20-some years," Piotrowski said. "He worked for the town. He came to my fundraiser. But I never sat down with him about paying for anything. I did every piece of literature, other than those two, I did myself. Took them to the printers, nobody helped me with anything. I was my own campaign manager."
Piotrowski, who won the Democratic primary by fewer than 400 votes, thinks the mailers might have hurt his candidacy, because one of them was negative toward his opponent, Christina Bove.
Piotrowski, eight months after taking office, held a news conference with Pigeon and Golisano in support of downsizing West Seneca's town board.
Meegan also said Callahan never discussed the mailings with her. She said the pictures were the same ones she used in a Pennysaver ad.
She, too, said she knows Callahan and said he was part of her army of volunteers.
"Bill sat with me a lot of times," she said. "He was part of my team. He went door-to-door with us, too."
"Honest to God, on my children's lives," Meegan insisted. "I didn't know anything about this."
rmccarthy@buffnews.com and mbeebe@buffnews.com
Log into MyBuffalo to post a comment
MyBuffalo is the new social network from Buffalo.com. Your MyBuffalo account lets you comment on and rate stories at buffalonews.com. You can also head over to mybuffalo.com to share your blog posts, stories, photos, and videos with the community. Join now or learn more.
Reader comments