Brian's Song

On March 5, Buffalo attorney William F. Trezevant filed a letter with Buffalo’s City Clerk, asking Council President Dave Franczyk to open an ethics investigation into the activities of Ellicott District Councilmember Brian Davis.

Controversy continues to envelop Ellicott's Brian Davis.

In his letter, Trezevant asks the Council to investigate allegations (published here in AV) that Davis used his position to convince Lower West Side deli owners to cash his checks, even though there were insufficient funds in his accounts to cover them. These allegations, he argues, when combined with the very public scandal over a check Davis bounced for rent on the failed restaurant One Sunset, constitute “a pattern of criminal activity.” Trezevant also takes exception to the use of BERC loans, now in default, to help underwrite the One Sunset venture, and mentions allegations that Community Development Block Grant funds earmarked for Ellicott District projects was redirected to One Sunset.

Trezevant’s implication is clear: Davis has (or had) a financial interest in One Sunset. Davis and his attorney on the matter, Frank LoTempio III, have denied that Davis has an interest in the failed restaurant, which was started by local basketball start Leonard Stokes. Davis’s ethics disclosure form, which he must file each year with the City Clerk, makes no mention of any financial interest in One Sunset or any other venture.

“There is no way to independently ascertain the truth or falsity of these allegations,” Trezevant wrote. “Thus, I am requesting that the Council perform an investigation of these issues.”

At the very least, Trezevant writes, Davis should be removed as chairman of the Common Council’s Police Oversight Committee until the allegations enveloping him have been investigated.

On March 6, Trezevant filed a similar letter with Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita.

While Trezevant was doing that, Davis began working on City Clerk Gerald Chwalinski to get the attorney’s letter pulled from the public record.

First, Davis’s office sent word to Chwalinski that Davis intended to speak with Trezevant, who Davis said would agree to pull the letter from the record. Someone from Trezevant’s office would come by to confirm and to retrieve the letter.

Chwalinski, I’m told, waited to hear from Trezevant or Davis, or for someone to come by the City Clerk’s office. No one called, no one came.

Early last week, Davis continued his effort to get the letter pulled from the record and the Council’s agenda, calling Chwalinski personally and assuring him that he had permission to remove the letter. Chwalinski subsequently called Trezevant to check if this was true. Trezevant told Chwalinski that he’d never spoken to Davis and had no intention of pulling the letter. Rather, he stood by the letter 100 percent.

Last Wednesday Davis dismissed the letter as the work of a political opponent. Indeed, Trezevant ran against Davis in 2003 and may do so again in 2011. But if this is all baseless political maneuvering, why was he so eager to have that letter from Trezevant removed from the public record?

In any case, he failed, and the letter was referred to Franczyk during Tuesday’s Common Council meeting.

Asked what happens now, Franczyk said, “I want to give Davis a chance to get ahead of this, and I hope that’s what he does in the next few days.”

—geoff kelly