Republican law firm buys ECIDA contract from county executive

Chris Collins

On Monday, the Erie County Industrial Development Agency’s governance committee recommended a change in the agency’s legal representation. At the behest of County Executive Chris Collins, who is an ECIDA member, the agency will end its 18-year relationship with the local firm of Hurwitz & Fine and switch to the statewide firm Harris Beach.

The committee voted 11-7 to recommend the change in representation. Proponents argued that putting the ECIDA’s legal work out to bid every few years would insure the agency gets good value for its money. Opponents argued that Hurwitz & Fine’s familiarity with the agency’s history and its contracts was a great benefit that would be lost in switching firms. Furthermore, putting the work out to bid made it likely that ECIDA’s legal work—like so much governmental legal work in Western New York—would become a political prize, switching from firm to firm with every election won and lost.

Collins himself said Hurwitz & Fine had done good work for the ECIDA, but in the end his will obtained: Harris Beach will get ECIDA’s lucrative legal work. And maybe, in a world where government is “run like a business,” that’s only fair: The firm paid good money for the gig—a $10,000 donation to Collins for the Future, the county executive’s campaign committee, in October 2007; $5,000 to the Erie County Republican Committee’s housekeeping fund in March 2006 and $5,000 more in December 2007. Throw in $5,000 more to Collins ally Mike Ranzenhofer’s campaign for New York State Senate in October 2008, and you’ve got yourself a deal, Harris Beach!

Hurwitz & Fine is no stranger to the world of political donations, of course. But that firm tends to underwrite Democrats, while Harris Beach favors Republicans like Collins.

Speaking of favored Republicans, the firm will have an extra set of hands to help out with its new workload: Terrance P. Flynn, United States Attorney for the Western District of New York, held a press conference on Tuesday to announce he would step down on January 16. A reasonable decision, since President-elect Barack Obama would certainly have replaced the Bush appointee anyway. Flynn will join the Buffalo office of Harris Beach.

—geoff kelly