BUFFALO, N.Y. — A political ad hitting the airwaves this week is aggressive in its attack on Acting Erie County District Attorney Mike Keane.
“Mike Keane refuses to follow the law … so why would we hire him to enforce the law?” the ad states. “Reject criminal Mike Keane.”
The ad by Republican district attorney candidate James Gardner takes select passages from a 2 On Your Side story about Keane’s 40-year-old guilty plea to driving while ability impaired, which is a non-criminal violation. Two other charges of assault and resisting arrest were later dropped.
“I don’t think it’s to be expected,” Keane said in an interview with 2 On Your Side. “I don’t think it’s part of the game. I think it’s over the line. I don’t think it’s appropriate. This was 40 years ago. You know, I was 21 years old. I made a mistake. It’s not relevant to this election or this race.”
Also troubling to Keane supporters like attorney Barry Covert is the fact that the records, according to the Town of Colonie, "were released ... in error as they were subject to a sealing order" from 1991.
“They know what the sealing order means,” Covert said of Gardner’s campaign. “They know that they should not be discussing this in any way, shape, or form. It’s abhorrent to the legal system and to the legal community that he has issued this commercial. It’s terrible.”
Gardner did not respond to a phone message left at the chambers of Judge Kenneth Case, where Gardner works as a confidential law clerk.
He instead released a statement through political strategist Christopher Grant, a former aide to U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, whose firm created the ad. The statement doubled down on the claims, saying, "Perhaps Mike Keane should do less whining and come clean about his history of anti-cop behavior.”
That’s not how Covert sees it.
“He was not convicted of any criminal activity,” Covert said. “It was a violation-level offense. Same as a speeding ticket. Same as a disorderly conduct. It’s not a misdemeanor. Not a felony. They know this. They know they are intentionally misrepresenting this for the splash factor.”
Gardner has lent his campaign hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money on the race, campaign finance documents show. He is related to the E.H. Butler family that formerly owned The Buffalo Evening News.
The ad is being broadcast on multiple Buffalo TV stations and in a mass text message to voters. Sources indicate Keane is planning an ad of his own to refute those claims.