Tompkins Weekly

LaVigne responds to donation controversy



 

 

Republican Lansing Town Supervisor Ed LaVigne will voluntarily appear before the town ethics board to attempt to clear his name following the distribution of an anonymous flier drawing a connection between an important vote and a donation to the Lansing Republican Committee.

The flier points to a causal relationship between LaVigne’s Aug. 22 vote to delay the construction of a community center for Spencer resident Stephen Lucente’s Village Solars development in Lansing and Lucente’s July 8 donation of $8,400 to the Lansing Republican Committee.

The flier has roiled LaVigne’s fall campaign for re-election and spurred lively commentary during the “Privilege of the Floor” portion of the Town Board’s Oct. 16 meeting.

LaVigne to Ethics Board

The Town Board held an executive session to review the matter at the end of its Oct. 16 meeting. Afterward, LaVigne said that he would begin the process Oct. 21 to voluntarily appear before the ethics board “to clear my name.”

“I think that this should have gone to the ethics board first, not running to the papers first,” LaVigne said.

Town Councilperson Katrina Binkewicz also weighed in.

“I feel the political ‘hue and cry’ is unnecessary,” she said. “It is damaging to individuals and also creates extreme division in community. The ethics board is there to gather all, not just a select few, facts relevant to the issue and run the facts through a logical process that measures practice against legal, ethical standards.”

The ethics board is made up of Jay Franklin Jr., Tom Jones, Henry Sheldon and Kevin Wyszkowski, with LaVigne as the Town’s representative.

The Donation and the Vote

Lucente’s donation represented slightly more than half of the Lansing Republican Committee’s $15,591 in campaign contributions as of Oct. 16. The fund supports all the Republican Party’s candidates for the November elections and afterward.

“The donation was not made to me,” LaVigne said. “The Republican committee decides what to do with it – it’s not up to Ed LaVigne.”

LaVigne said he has consistently followed the recommendations of the planning board throughout this process. He said that he did not think it necessary to disclose the Lucente donation before voting as “by law, everything more than $99 is public knowledge.”

“The facts differ from the perception,” LaVigne continued. “Mr. Lucente gave up two building permits during the process. He is planning on building the community center next, and only that. He needed time to buy his father’s land from his estate after his father died.”

This project was originally slated for Varna, LaVigne said.

“They came to us because they saw Lansing as a better spot for it,” he said. “They like the way the town is moving. … This has been going on over years, not the last few months, and it has been a great relationship. When we asked for affordable housing, for example, they added micro units. There are 45 construction workers on the site and it represents an increase in our tax base. … I knocked on every door at the Village Solars and no one said anything to me.”

Town Councilperson Joseph Wetmore noted before the meeting that he was “very surprised to read that Ed LaVigne was quoted in the [Ithaca] Journal as saying that he did not have to disclose the contribution because it is public record.”

“It is the responsibility of town officials to disclose potential conflicts, not on the rest of us to go hunting for them,” he said. “Avoiding conflicts of interest—or even the appearance of such—is crucial. … Nothing undermines a community’s faith in their leadership faster than the appearance of impropriety. Not disclosing substantial financial ties with someone who had specific business before the board leads to speculation that you are hiding something from the public.”

LaVigne’s opponent for the town supervisor seat, Michael Koplinka-Loehr, said that he has “always trusted the hearts and minds of the voters to do their own research about the facts on public record.”

Privilege of the Floor Comments

Binkewicz’s motion to restrict specific discussion of LaVigne from the Privilege of the Floor statements and to the ensuing executive session was approved by the board before the floor was opened.

“That was necessary since the issue involves a town board member,” LaVigne said. “The motion did allow people to discuss the business without discussing anyone in particular.”

Stephen Lucente’s son, Rocco Lucente, spoke first, adamantly asserting that the attack on LaVigne was meant to “mislead people to a conclusion which is red and slanderous.” Lucente said that the core claim of the flier, that LaVigne was the deciding vote to delay the community center, was dishonest as there was only one “no” vote.

“Never in the history of Lansing politics has such a dirty tactic been deployed in service of winning an election,” Lucente said. “To the people behind these attacks, I say only this: You have brought street-fight politics to our nice little community, and you should be deeply ashamed.”

Ithaca attorney Peter Salton commended the Town Board for its flexibility in dealing with the changes to the Village Solar development.

“When and where the community center is built is of no moment,” he said. “Things change, and needs change. It’s important to build the right-sized center that fits the community in the right way.”

Ted Laux noted that, despite Binkewicz’s resolution to restrict discussion, there had been presented a series of “one-sided views” in favor of LaVigne.

“I want to correct [Lucente’s] statement about the vote,” Laux said. “The board needed three positive votes to pass anything. If Mr. LaVigne had not voted, the resolution would not have passed. Why would a developer from Spencer contribute enormous amounts of money when they have something before the board?”

Melody Bloom said that her concern was about how ethics laws apply to town officials in general and not about any one person.

“We elect officials and expect them to be accountable and to have no appearance of impropriety,” Bloom said. “We want to hold our elected officials accountable. We expect integrity.”

Lansing Republican Chair and County Representative Mike Sigler noted that the Lucente donation funded general campaign activities.

“This paid for mailers, voter registration, precinct captains,” Sigler said. “The idea that, in a small town, you are beholden or bought out – I don’t know why it came up but it did, and it saddens me.”

In brief:

Historical Society Fall Program

The Lansing Historical Association will hold its Fall Program Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. at the Lansing Community Center. Lisa Campbell of “Lansing Loves to Read” will present a brief history of the Lansing’s Community Literary initiative, and the program will include “guest readers.” Refreshments will be served. This program is free and open to the public.

Lansing Food Pantry

In celebration of Veterans Day and recognition of their service, the Lansing Food Pantry invites veterans to the pantry on Monday, Oct. 28 for a food distribution. Veterans can begin to move through the pantry at noon. Normal pantry hours on the 28th are 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The pantry is located at 1767 East Shore Dr. (The Rink).

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