BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - An accusation against the campaign chairman for the republican candidate for Erie County Executive is heating up the race for the county's top seat.
Chris Grant, the campaign manager for Lynne Dixon, was reportedly involved in the alleged insider trading scandal against Congressman Chris Collins. Collins was accused of insider trading last year and is scheduled to go on trial for the crimes in February. Grant, according to documents obtained by news outlets
WKBW and
The Buffalo News, benefited from the same insider trading scandal.
A call to Grant rang once and immediately went to voicemail. He has not been charged with a crime.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz is calling on Lynne Dixon to immediately fire Grant as campaign manager.
"It's only June and already we are seeing how desparate Mark Poloncarz truly is and how preposterous his claims are, but at least he's finally come out of hiding," the statement reads. "Now, maybe he can come clean about his Party's Chairman that has been investigated by the FBI or four of his top commissioners who have left in disgrace - including one in jail for rape."
It was just revealed my opponent's campaign head engaged in insider trading. This isn't his first issue with the law (his house was raided). My opponent must fire him, state whether she received insider info, and all local and state GOP must cut ties with him too. Full statement: pic.twitter.com/PcrOn6QGxi
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz)
June 28, 2019 That statement alluded to Jeremy Zellner, the chairman of the Erie County Democrats, and Al Dirschberger, the former social services commissioner who was convicted of rape earlier this year.
Poloncarz stressed that those running for public office have to have the highest ethical standards.
Here’s the response from the Lynne Dixon campaign related to the comments made by Mark Poloncarz about Chris Grant involvement in the Chris Collins insider trading investigation. pic.twitter.com/26DbHi4PHU
— WBEN NewsRadio 930AM (@NewsRadio930)
June 28, 2019 "When I've had to deal with issues with commissioners or others, we've immediately performed an investigation and if it appeared a person violated the law, we ensured they no longer work for Erie County government," Poloncarz said. "Lynne Dixon is an existing legislator who has relied on Chris Grant in prior legislative races and currently, until today, was the key spokesman for Ms. Dixon's campaign."
The media contact for the Dixon statement was from Kyle Martinsen, who works for Big Dog Strategies, the political consulting firm which Grant leads. Poloncarz said that not only should Dixon no longer work with Big Dog Strategies, but any campaign that works with Grant.
The news reports of Gerry Buchheit, a Collins campaign donor, showed that he may have benefited off the insider trading scandal. Buchheit donated to the Poloncarz campaign and the county executive said he will return all those donations over the last year.
The county executive race will be decided on Tuesday, November 5.
