Modern Disposal gave big

donations to Mayor Byron Brown, just before Brown signed a land deal with its chief’s partnership worth $4.6 million

Last week I wrote about the sale of 185 acres in South Buffalo by Steelfields Ltd. to the City of Buffalo—or, to be precise, to the Buffalo Urban Development Corporation, which will use $4.6 million in city funds to purchase the former Superfund site from Steelfields, a three-way partnership helmed by Gary Smith, chief operating officer of Modern Disposal Corporation in Niagara County.

Steelfields paid nothing for that property back in 2002, and remediated it using $16.5 million it received from the site’s previous owner, LTV Steel, in bankruptcy court—funds LTV was forced to provide at least in part to answer for the environmental scandal in the adjacent Hickory Woods housing development. Much of the $16.5 million went to contractors associated with the three partners in Steelfields, including the Modern Corporation; less than $200,000 found its way into the pockets of Hickory Woods homeowners.

I failed to mention, because I failed to check the records, that Modern Disposal gave $5,000 to Mayor Byron Brown’s Brown for Buffalo campaign fund at the end of September 2007. The memorandum of understanding on the Steelfields deal was signed by Mayor Brown and Smith about a month later, in early November. Lest readers jump to the conclusion that the proximity of the donation to the inking of the deal is more than just coincidence, bear in mind: Modern gave $5,000 to Brown for Buffalo in 2006, as well. The company also dropped $1,000 on Mayor Brown’s Leadership Council in 2007, and $200 on each of Brown’s unsuccessful insurgent candidates for Common Council, Peter Savage and Jessica Maglietto. The only local politician who has enjoyed greater financial support than Brown from the waste management company is State Senator George Maziarz, who has received more than $16,000 in direct contributions from Modern since 2001. (This does not include contributions by individuals who work for or are somehow affiliated with Modern, such as Smith, or contributions to party or political action committees which support Maziarz.)

In last week’s story I suggested that the partners in Steelfields had invested none of their own money in the project, which appears poised to pay handsomely. I retract that suggestion: I now see that Modern threw down at least $11,400 toward ensuring the payday Steelfields can expect when the funds for the purchase are freed up in March.

Since 2001, Modern has spent well over $50,000 on political contributions to local candidates and committees. Legally speaking, this is an improvement over the company’s previous lobbying tactics: In 1992, the owner of Modern, Steve Washuta, was busted for bribery—Washuta had hoped that $200,000 cash in a paper bag, delivered to Lewiston’s town attorney, would help Modern land a permit to expand its landfill there. The town attorney turned him in, however, and Washuta was charged with racketeering. Washuta was forced to cut ties with Modern as part of the subsequent plea bargain; he spent six months under house arrest because his doctor testified he only had a year to live; his stake in the company was transfered to his daughter; and Gary Smith became the company’s sole public face.

(And to follow that story: Miraculously, despite the dire prognosis that persuaded the judge to spare him hard time, Washuta didn’t die. He is alive and well today.)

There is a rumor afield that Smith is interested in the former Buffalo Color property at Lee Street and South Park Avenue, just north of the Steelfields site. According to the rumor, Smith wants to build the waste transfer station for Modern that the city would not let him build on the Steelfields site. Stay tuned for further campaign donations.