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Posted at: 10/22/2009 5:01 PM | WHEC.com I-Team 10 investigation: Gloves come off in sheriff race
Democrat Dan Greene today accused Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn of unethical behavior. Greene says his supporters witnessed the sheriff using his police car to do campaign work but is there anything wrong with that? Dan Greene, the democrat candidate for sheriff today called out his opponent Sheriff Patrick O’Flynn. "I believe this is unethical behavior on the part of the chief law enforcement officer of this county." Photos appear to show the sheriff putting up a campaign lawn sign using his county issued police car. Greene supporters say they were coming out of a meeting at their offices on Ridge Road in Greece when they saw the sheriff placing the sign in the ground and snapped off the pictures with a camera phone. Fred Follette, a retired sheriff's deputy, was there. “To me, I think it's unfair to the other candidate that he could use county gas and county vehicle to put up his signs." When I-Team 10 first learned of the photos, we contacted Sheriff O’Flynn who declined an on camera interview, but told us by phone he didn't do anything inappropriate and called it a desperate attempt by his opponent to smear him. Today O’Flynn's supporters had his back. Chairman of the Monroe County Republican Committee Bill Reilich said, “He's required to have the vehicle all the time with him because of the two way radios, because of the communications, because of his position that he holds as sheriff of this county." What is the county's policy? The county says the sheriff has a 24-hour vehicle assignment that allows for personal use and using it to put up campaign signs is no different than him using the car to go to the grocery store or take his kids to school. County Spokesperson Noah Lebowitz said, “He has a specially equipped emergency response vehicle that he needs to have with him 24 hours a day so that he can respond as quickly as possible to any emergency that might occur." I-Team 10 has checked with elections officials, law enforcement, and political experts, and none has been able to point to a specific violation. Still, Greene says even the mere appearance of impropriety should make elected officials think twice, especially in light of the recent county Robutrad scandal. “They're investigating people using county resources for personal and political gain and now he's using county resources for political gain. I find it quite ironic." Noah Lebowitz said, “For someone to suggest that he should switch cars during campaign season would make it more difficult for him to do his job as sheriff, and I don't think that would serve taxpayers or the community's public safety." Greene is also taking issue with a new TV commercial being run by O’Flynn that shows him with uniformed sheriff's deputies and shows marked sheriff's cars. He says that is also an improper use of county resources. O’Flynn's camp says the deputies were off duty at the time and pointed out there are no regulations that prohibit them from displaying the vehicles in the commercial. For more Rochester, N.Y. news go to our website www.whec.com.
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The gloves are off in the campaign for sheriff.