Two posts below this one, I wrote about a letter filed by Buffalo attorney William F. Trezevant to Buffalo’s Common Council, asking Council President Dave Franczyk to open an ethics investigation into Ellicott District Councilmember Brian Davis—something well within the purview of the Council.

Brian Meyer of the News reported on Trezevant’s letter later this afternoon.

Well, here’s the latest: Trezevant filed the letter last Thursday. The next day, Friday, Davis started working on City Clerk Gerald Chwalinski to get the 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.

Trezevant tells me that earlier this week, Davis called Chwalinski personally. He says that Davis assured Chwalinski that Trezevant would authorize him to pull the letter from the record.

Trezevant tells me that Chwalinski called him to check if this were true. Trezevant told him that he’d never spoken to Davis and had no intention of pulling the letter. Rather, he stood by the letter 100 percent.

Indeed, Trezevant is so serious that he’s filed a similar letter with Erie County District Attorney Frank Sedita, asking the DA’s office to look into the behavior of Davis and into the case of Syaed Ali.

So here’s that matter: If this is all baseless political maneuvering, as Davis suggested to Brian Meyer this afternoon, why is he so eager to have that letter from Trezevant—a call for action that is now part of the public record—be pulled?

I’ve been waiting for Davis to call me back for three weeks on this stuff. (My notebooks say seven calls to his office.) He hasn’t yet. But at least he’s talking to Brian Meyer at the News.

Trezevant’s letter to DA Sedita follows after the jump.

Hon. Frank A. Sedita, III
District Attorney
Office of the Erie County District Attorney
25 Delaware Avenue
Buffalo, New York 14202

                                        March 6, 2009

Dear Mr. Sedita:

        On behalf of a number of Buffalo residents, I am writing to request that your
office investigate certain matters which are described below.  These matters
involve allegations of misconduct by elected and appointed city officials.

        First, as you may be aware, there have been a series of published reports regarding
the private financial dealings of Councilman Davis.  While this is not normally an
item that would lend itself to a criminal investigations, there are additional
facts regarding Mr. Davis, that if true, represents abuse of his official capacity.

        In this regard, there have been published reports in the local media, (i.e.
Artvoice) that Mr. Davis’s activity of passing bad checks to local businesses is
not a singularly isolated event involving the restaurant formerly know as One
Sunset.

Rather, there have been allegations made and independently confirmed that Mr. Davis
has repeatedly engaged in a systematic pattern of bouncing checks at neighborhood
corner stores.  When store owners sought to recoup the monies they had provided to
Mr. Davis, these store owners were threatened with the closing of either their
businesses or those of their relatives.  When threatened in this manner, the store
owners chose to abandon their collection efforts.

These allegations, if true, would constitute a criminal offense.  Moreover, the
pattern of criminal activity combined with the threat to use his elected position to
single out and punish his victims is an outrageous abuse of public office.  Normally
these criminal matters would be investigated by the Buffalo Police Department, but
in this case, Mr. Davis sits as the Chair of the Buffalo Police Oversight Committee.
 As a result, none of these allegations have been investigated by anyone except the
media which has been able to confirm the allegations.  I am requesting that your
office perform just such an investigation.

Second, there have been allegations made that Mr. Davis has used public monies for
his private enterprises.  To wit, there has been a particularly disturbing assertion
that CBDG monies which were designated for the Ellicott District were instead
directed to the One Sunset business.  In addition, there is an allegation that BERC
monies were also used to assist the One Sunset business, monies that were redirected
from other projects.  There is no way to independently ascertain the truth or
falsity of these allegations.  Thus, I am requesting that your office perform an
investigation of these issues as well.

Third, as you may know, on November 7, 2008, members of the Buffalo Police
Department searched the home of Syaed Ali at his Breckenridge address.  Pursuant to
this search, a number of his belongings were confiscated. Subsequent to this search,
Buffalo Police Officers questioned Mr. Ali regarding his connection to local elected
officials, including City of Buffalo Council Members.  It has now been approximately
16 ½ weeks and his property has not been returned, nor have any formal charges been
filed against Mr. Ali. 

While I am aware that Mr. Ali is represented by Counsel, there is a larger issue at
hand.  What are the rights of the residents of the City of Buffalo or even Erie
County if local law enforcement is used in retaliation for political activity or
free speech?

  What is particularly troubling is the role of the Buffalo Police Department in
this matter. Under normal circumstances, the Chair of the Buffalo Police Oversight
Committee would be charged with conducting just such an investigation.  However,
there has been no such hearing inasmuch as Mr. Davis is the Chair of the Committee
and is apparently embroiled in his own issues which may or may not be the subject
of a Buffalo Police investigation itself.

As a result, these issues have not been investigated, community members and business
interests are deeply concerned and there is a distinct and palatable mistrust
evident with open discussions of a coordinated cover-up of these issues.  

Your office has gone on record that misconduct by public officials will not be
tolerated.  You office is uniquely situated to investigate these matters and I
hereby request that you do so.

Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at your
convenience.

                                Very truly yours,

                                William F. Trezevant, Esq.