BUFFALO – Today, March 28, 2025, New York State Senator Sean Ryan, the Endorsed Democrat for Mayor of Buffalo, announced the Buffalo Integrity First plan – a comprehensive platform of ethics and transparency initiatives. Speaking at Niagara Square in front of Buffalo City Hall, Ryan outlined proposals to root out corruption, increase transparency, and restore public integrity to city government.
Senator Sean Ryan said “In Buffalo, integrity must come first. We have seen troubling headlines coming out of Buffalo City Hall for far too long. I will hold myself and members of my administration to the highest ethical standards and work every day to ensure City Hall is more transparent to the people of the City of Buffalo. The Acting Mayor has already committed serious ethics violations, using city resources to promote his campaign on multiple occasions. His Deputy Mayor works for a lobbying firm and makes decisions that can directly benefit his private employment. It’s wrong, it’s corrupt, and it will end when I am elected.”
Sean’s Plan for Ethics and Transparency in Buffalo
Reform The City Ethics Board
The current rules governing the City of Buffalo ethics board are in need of reform. Investigative Post reported that the board was essentially defunct from 2020 to 2022 because they could not reach a quorum. As Mayor, Sean will work to put new rules in place to increase transparency and prevent conflicts of interest. He will work to prohibit appointments to the board by persons who have made substantial political donations to members of the Board of Ethics Nominating Committee, and will work to strengthen the rules of the board to ensure it meets regularly and is always fully staffed.
Establish New Transparency Measures
As Mayor, Sean will lead by example by ensuring that his administration is open and honest with the public. Sean will regularly release his public schedule on the City of Buffalo website, and will launch a review of the City of Buffalo’s Open Data online portal to ensure the public and the media are provided with up-to-date and accurate information from the City. Sean will also revamp rules to ensure all employees are receiving comprehensive ethics training on an annual basis.
Ban Nepotism and Outside Employment for Top City Officials
Sean will personally commit to not hiring members of his family for positions funded by the City of Buffalo – and propose new city legislation to prohibit the hiring of family members within the same department or agency. In addition, to prevent the “Brian Gould Problem,” as Mayor, Sean will prohibit top City officials (including Deputy Mayors) from having significant outside employment. In addition, Sean will work with the common council to put forward a plan to place limits on political contributions from city employees.
Reform City Contracting
The City of Buffalo works with outside contractors to provide various city services and functions. Sean wants to ensure that the contracting process has the proper procedures in place to ensure integrity, protect taxpayer dollars, and prevent corruption. When the City of Buffalo spends taxpayer dollars on public construction - on our public buildings and especially our roads - residents should know that money is being spent responsibly with quality firms who provide quality results. We do residents of the City of Buffalo a disservice by handing out construction contracts to companies that have a track record of shoddy work, poor performance, dangerous working conditions, or wage theft. The City of Buffalo needs the legal tools to ensure we’re doing business with firms who won’t cut corners and will do the job the right way.
As Mayor, Sean will work to protect taxpayer dollars by passing a responsible bidder law just as Erie County has done, and institute a policy to prevent political donations from bidders who have an active application before the City of Buffalo. Additionally, Sean will ensure apprenticeship standards are being met. The City of Buffalo’s apprenticeship law is meant to ensure responsible contractors provide training opportunities to our next generation of construction workers. For young city residents, these opportunities can be on-ramps to family-supporting careers. But those opportunities are squandered when the City fails to enforce the law. Sean will ensure the City of Buffalo is not rewarding contractors who violate the law with millions of dollars in new contracts.
Overhaul FOIA Request and Appeals Process
The City of Buffalo’s FOIA Request and Appeals process allows for endless delays, which prevents important information from being disclosed in a timely manner. As Mayor, Sean will work with the City Council and the Department of Law to put forward new transparency requirements for the FOIA process to ensure that requests are being responded to appropriately. Sean will require the City of Buffalo to acknowledge receipt of online FOIA requests within 24 hours of submission, and include the name, email, and telephone number of the individual responding to the FOIA request. Additionally, FOIA requests will typically be responded to within 5 business days; if additional time is required beyond the initial 5 business days, the individual responding to the request will notify the requester of the anticipated delivery time.
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