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  1. #1
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    Cutler Hit & run covered up, AGAIN

    Peter Cutler cover-up in October, & Again?
    March 2nd, 2006

    Mayor Byron Brown’s Communications Director Peter Cutler isn't talking. And few are asking him some very important questions.

    Exposure on Tuesday by Channel 2’s Stefan Mychajliw of Cutler’s 3:30 AM arrest last October 15 hiding in a backyard on the devastated 400 block of Breckenridge should be shocking front-page news.

    Cutler fled from his 3 AM collision with a motorcyclist downtown at Delaware & Tupper, as the biker tailed him around the West Side repeatedly calling 911 on his cellphone. Cutler crashed & stalled his car on devastated Massachusetts & Winter, then ran 4 blocks until caught in the backyard.

    Cutler was allegedly “scared” of the angry biker.

    But why he would head for a high crime neighborhood far from the scene of the accident rather than to one of two very nearby downtown police stations?

    Nor has the lack of a breathalyser test as he was booked at Holding Center been explained. How many folks are downtown that late on a Saturday night & not drinking?

    Then the unanswered questions get even harder.

    How long was Cutler is jail?

    Who was the presiding judge & Assistant DA who magically pled the case away merely 3 days after a serious crime resulting in injuries preventing the biker’s return to work 4 1/2 months later?

    Why is the media so silent on such an important “ethics & accountability” issue involving a top official in the new Brown administration?

    This is front page news! But the Buffalo News has not even put the story on their website, as City Hall reporter Brian Meyer wrote a watered-down version of Channel 2’s expose’. He sounded like he was not covering a very important story in depth because of problems getting Byron-Brown-news from an upset Cutler down the pike.

    This story is on the heels of the front page News story, & cover-up by DA Frank J. Clark about Steve Casey’s alleged incredible “100 hour workweeks” to collect full NYS Senate pay while running Byron Brown’s campaign.

    And there is the incredible vanishing David Dale story in Sloan, also covered-up by Clark.

    All the local media seems unwilling to address the obvious. DA Frank J. Clark III runs a protection racket for the politically connected.

    To (partially) quote the Mayor: (Clark repeatedly) "discredits our legal process".

    I know because I was forced to move out of Buffalo by Clark after four years of relentless prosecutions for exposing crimes of one of Clark’s sociopath-friends, who went on to run for Mayor & now is the only Masiello-appointee remaining on the BMHA Board.

    MORE TO COME

    Dick Kern (in Mpls)


    COPY:
    http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial...01/1008223.asp

    Hit-and-run case expedited for Cutler

    By BRIAN MEYER
    News Staff Reporter
    3/1/2006

    Mayor Byron W. Brown’s communications chief rear-ended a motorcyclist two months before his appointment, fleeing the scene on the grounds that he felt threatened by the victim, his attorney said Tuesday.Peter K. Cutler was charged with leaving the scene of the Oct. 15 accident and an obstruction charge, a misdemeanor. Three days later, a plea agreement was reached that allowed Cutler to plead guilty to a violation of disorderly conduct.

    The lawyer for the motorcyclist claimed Cutler was given too much leniency. Erie County District Attorney Frank J. Clark said the case moved through the system faster than it should have, but Clark defended the outcome.

    “We took a plea on arraignment, which is contrary to our policy,” said Clark. “[The assistant district attorney] should have waited. But I’m not saying the plea was inappropriate.”

    Clark said the staffer who handled the case was a young attorney with limited experience. He denied that Cutler’s prominence influenced the outcome, claiming the prosecutor didn’t even know who he was.

    Cutler spent three years as communications director to Mayor Anthony M. Masiello. He did some volunteer work for Brown during the mayoral campaign last fall, and was named Brown’s $79,243-a-year communications director Jan. 1.

    The accident occurred at 3:30 a.m. at Tupper Street and Delaware Avenue. A police report indicates Cutler struck a motorcycle driven by Keith A. Borders of the Town of Tonawanda. Cutler’s attorney, Roger P. Doyle Jr., said Cutler fled the scene because he was afraid of physical harm.

    “The motorcyclist was very agitated, to say the least,” said Doyle. “Peter had a legitimate concern for his safety.”

    Police said Borders followed Cutler’s car to the West Side, where Cutler crashed into a bus sign. Cutler fled on foot after his car stalled. Doyle said a police officer then ordered Cutler to stop, and apprehended him. He said Cutler was unsure who was chasing him.

    “It was a huge relief when he found out it was the police,” Doyle said.

    James A. Partacz, Borders’ attorney, said his client suffered extensive disk damage and has back pain. He said Borders, a mechanic, has been unable to work since the accident and intends to file a civil suit. Partacz said Borders feels he has been denied his “day in court.”

    “I’ve been practicing for 25 years, and I’ve never seen a plea like this,” said Partacz.

    Doyle disagreed, claiming such cases are common.

    There is no evidence that alcohol was involved in the accident, but Partacz said Cutler was never given a Breathalyzer test.

    Brown said Cutler informed him about the accident in December, shortly before Cutler accepted his new post. Brown said he believes the issue was properly resolved. He defended Cutler as a man known for his “fairness and forthrightness.”

    “That this matter is now being publicized, suggesting that he was given preferential treatment, is unfair to Peter,” Brown said in written statement. “That is false and discredits our legal process.”
    e-mail: bmeyer@buffnews.com

  2. #2
    moonshine
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    How does a guy on a motorcycle, having sustained 4.5 months of employment ending injuries, muster the strength to chase down his perpetrator and repeatedly call 911?

    Even if I wasn't wearing a helmet or seriously injured I would have a hard time making a phone call while pulling the throttle and shifting.

    I don't question the wreck or the outcome, but the details in the middle seem somewhat sensationalized. Could you please give more details Mr. Kern?

  3. #3
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    2 On Your Side Investigates Mayoral Aide's Arrest

    Here is the original expose on Channel 2:

    COPY:
    http://wgrz.com/news/news_article.as...3&provider=top

    2 On Your Side Investigates Mayoral Aide's Arrest


    Posted by: Stefan Mychajliw, Reporter
    Created: 2/28/2006 9:24:25 PM
    Updated: 3/1/2006 12:30:29 AM


    On Saturday, October 15th at 3:30 AM, the lives of two men, Peter Cutler and Keith A. Borders, came together through a downtown accident.

    Borders, a motorcycle service technician, was waiting at a red light on his Harley Davidson motorcycle at the intersection of Tupper and Delaware.

    Peter Cutler is the former Communications Director for Mayor Masiello and now is the same for Mayor Brown. At the time of the accident, Cutler was not employed by City government, and was a volunteer for Brown’s election campaign.

    Buffalo police reports state a car driven by Cutler hit the back of Border's motorcycle. The report states it was a “hit and run with injury”.

    “Mr. Cutler then proceeded to leave the scene, and my client chased him for a period of time," said Jim Partacz, an attorney hired by Borders.

    Buffalo police reports indicate Cutler drove away from the accident scene and ran over an NFTA bus stop sign.

    “Mr. Cutler drove through many of the streets of Buffalo," said Partacz.

    The police report shows Borders followed Cutler on his motorcycle all over the west side. A police phone log from that night shows Borders called cops from his cell phone at least three times.

    The report states Cutler got out of his car at the corner of Winter and Massachusetts and took off.

    Police saw Cutler a few blocks away, standing in front of a house on the 400-block of Breckenridge. Police arrested Cutler in a backyard, and charged him with leaving the scene of an accident and obstructing governmental administration.

    There’s nothing in the police reports that show a Breathalyzer was needed or administered.

    Attorney Roger Doyle answered questions on Cutler’s behalf, such as:

    2 On Your Side’s Stefan Mychajliw: “Why he left the scene, or if he was drinking that night?"

    Attorney Roger Doyle: “I have no knowledge of any drinking by Mr. Cutler that night at all."

    Mychajliw: “Why did he leave the scene if he did nothing wrong?"

    Doyle: “He was confronted by a motorist who was extremely angry, very agitated, yelling, waving his arms and Mr. Cutler did the prudent thing, he left the scene."

    What happened next has Borders’ attorney raising questions over how the Erie County D.A.’s office handled Cutler’s criminal case.

    Borders’ attorney wrote Buffalo City Court a letter on October 21st, asking for information on Cutler’s criminal case.

    But by then, the case was already over.

    Mychajliw: “What do you think is going on here?"

    Partacz: “Obviously it was brushed under the rug."

    Three days after his arrest, October 18th, Cutler entered a plea deal with the D.A. on the case to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct, a violation, and given time served.

    Partacz: “I've never seen a case start and end in three days."

    Mychajliw: “Do you feel as though Mr. Cutler was given preferential treatment because of his ties to the Mayor?”

    Partacz: “It appears that way."

    Mychajliw: “Did he at any time tell police about his ties to the Mayor?"

    Doyle: “Not that I am aware of. Not that I am aware of at all."

    2 On Your Side took these questions straight to Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark. He tells us the prosecutor on Cutler’s case never approved this plea deal with a supervisor.

    Mychajliw: “Some can think okay, hit and run, he's arrested, three days later he cops a plea. Something fishy here?"

    Erie County District Attorney Frank Clark: “I didn't start in this business yesterday. And when I looked at the file, I said why was this resolved on the initial appearance? And my eyebrows go cocked. What happened? It was a mistake. Yes it was. We had a young lawyer. Just two weeks on the job."

    2 On Your Side talked to that prosecutor on the phone. He no longer works for the D.A.’s office. He told Mychajliw he was never aware of Cutler’s connections to the Mayor’s office during his handling of this case.

    Mychajliw: “The victim's attorney believes that there may have been preferential treatment here, because he's Peter Cutler."

    Clark: “No one ever contacted our office in regard to this case, not Cutler, not anybody from the city administration, not Cutler's attorney, not anybody. The mistake in taking the plea at the time of the plea was taken was our mistake."

    Mychajliw: “How rare is it that someone gets arrested, then three days later cops a plea, then gets time served?"

    Clark: “It's rare that you plead on your initial appearance. That doesn't happen. That is contrary to our policy."

    Mychajliw: “Frank Clark calls this a mistake."

    Doyle: “If a District Attorney made a mistake that should not fall on Mr. Cutler's shoulders."

    Cutler’s criminal case is over. Borders’ lawyer says he will file a civil suit against Cutler, but hasn’t done so yet.

    This won’t be the first time Borders’ filed a civil suit after an accident. Borders was the passenger in a van when it was hit from behind in 1997. Borders sued the company that owned the car that hit him.

    That case was settled out of court.

    Mychajliw: "You're filing a lawsuit?"

    Partacz: "Yes, for his injuries and damages caused by the accident."

    Mychajliw: "How injured can your client be if he got on his motorcycle and chased Mr. Cutler?"

    Partacz: "He's injured. At this resent time we don't know the extent of it. He's inured to the point where he cannot go back to work. He's been off work since the date of the accident."

    Hospital records show Keith Borders went to the Kenmore Mercy Emergency room after the accident. A doctor at Buffalo Spine Surgery wrote in a report: “I do believe the injuries I am treating him for…are related to his motorcycle versus motor vehicle accident.”

    "When you have a situation like this, there's a certain amount of adrenaline that takes over," said Partacz.

    Mychajliw: "You've talked to Mr. Cutler, does he express any kind of remorse or regret for what happened?"

    Doyle: "I don't think anyone is happy at all about what happened. Especially Mr. Cutler."

    2 on your side asked the Buffalo Police Department to release Peter Cutler's mug shot from that night. WGRZ filled out a Freedom of Information request for the photo.

    It was denied.

    It is the City of Buffalo's policy not to release mug shots.

    Cutler continues to work as the Mayor's Communications Director. He's the person who sets up interviews for news reporters.

    Keith Borders is not back to work as a motorcycle service technician

  4. #4
    moonshine
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    Thanks.

  5. #5
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    It's early in Brown's administration, but these are two cases which don't smell very good. Both involving senior aides for the new Mayor.

    The old saying is, "You're known by the company you keep."

    It'll take a lot more than Burberry scarves to make stuff like this look right.
    Truth springs from argument among friends.

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    Zero tolerance is only for those who break the law.
    In WNY, no matter how hard they might try, politicians and their buddies never break the law.

    WNY your eyes are and have been for a long time, wide shut.

    This is just the begining for the new Mayor and his people. It is going to get much better then this.

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    Scott Brown (hardly hostile to Democratic interests) asked Mayor Brown, "With all these tickets, just who is running the Police Department. The PBA or you and the Police Commissioner?" Mayor Brown, visibly bristling, retorted, "I can't believe you even asked that question."
    Truth springs from argument among friends.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by biker
    Scott Brown (hardly hostile to Democratic interests) asked Mayor Brown, "With all these tickets, just who is running the Police Department. The PBA or you and the Police Commissioner?" Mayor Brown, visibly bristling, retorted, "I can't believe you even asked that question."
    I was listening to that interview and LMAO, thinking that the voters of Buffalo have put in office an arrogant ass. Who believes himself to be above reproach.
    Hey Byron! You go!
    These people will never catch you because they can't believe that the political system in NYS is corrupt. The news medias will never ask the tough questions. Even when the questions to ask should be abvious.
    It can't be because it doesn't have George Bush running it.

  9. #9
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    Cutler apologizes . . occasionally

    Cutler's current apology brings to mind his much more serious 'expletive' nearly five years ago, for which there has never been an 'apology' of any kind.

    Unfortunately, motorcyclist Keith Borders, suffering life-altering injuries at Cutler's (drunken, hit-&-run) hand, does not have the political muscle of Mark Goldman, so Cutler's 'expletive' was totally covered-up, . . with a little help from DA Clark.

    Will Cutler's apology ever come?

    Is it true, “That’s not how we act,” Cutler said??



    Cutler's new apology:
    http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article95428.ece

    Cutler apologizes for expletives
    Brown aide clashes with businessman
    By Patrick Lakamp , NEWS STAFF REPORTER

    Published:August 07 2010, 12:00 AM, Updated: August 07, 2010, 6:38 AM

    “I know all about you, you [expletive].”

    Local businessman Mark Goldman said Peter K. Cutler, in a loud, threatening voice, also called him other names that cannot be published in The Buffalo News.

    Cutler, Mayor Byron W. Brown’s communications director, wrote a letter of apology Friday to Goldman.

    “There can be no excuse for the manner, tone and content of what I expressed at that moment, and I sincerely regret what I said to you,” Cutler wrote. “I hope you accept my sincerest and most heartfelt apology.”

    The confrontation late Wednesday in the Common Council Chambers followed lawmakers’ failure to approve a waterfront land agreement for HSBC Bank that the Brown administration strongly supported. That same day, The Buffalo News published Goldman’s op-ed article, “A Buffalo ‘obstructionist’ proclaims his manifesto.”

    In the piece, Goldman described himself as “one of the few obstructionists Mayor Byron Brown referred to as responsible for the decision by Bass Pro not to come to Buffalo.”

    “As an obstructionist, I believe that when a small group of tightly connected political insiders hijacks the city planning process, it must be stopped,” Goldman wrote.

    After Wednesday’s encounter, Goldman protested to the mayor

    about Cutler’s behavior.

    “Understandably upset with the outcome of the vote, Mr. Cutler, in the Council Chambers, in front of dozens of people, approached me in a finger-pointing, in-your-face threatening way and proceeded to swear at me in the most abusive manner,” Goldman said in his letter to the mayor. “Worse still, from my point of view, was that he did so in front of my [32-yearold] daughter.”

    In describing the encounter with Cutler, Goldman wrote that “with a loud threatening voice he called me a ‘[expletive],’ saying that ‘I know all about you. You don’t care about jobs in Buffalo, you piece of [expletive]. [Expletive].’ ”

    Stephen C. Halpern, a University at Buffalo political science professor, who witnessed the encounter, said Cutler’s behavior frightened him. Halpern, with Goldman, is a plaintiff in a lawsuit brought to challenge the since-killed proposal to transfer land to Bass Pro.

    “This is a public official speaking to a private citizen who expressed disagreement with a governmental official about policy and was subject to verbal abuse in a public setting.

    “It was threatening and intimidating behavior,” Halpern said. “There’s no other way to describe it. If I were Mark, I would be worried.”

    Goldman now wonders how he will be treated at City Hall.

    “As a local business owner, I have official business with City Hall on a regular basis,” he told The News. “Barely a month goes by when I do not have to seek City Hall’s permission for something:a permit, a license, a certificate of occupancy. How will my need for the city’s help, following Cutler’s outburst, undermine and compromise my First Amendment rights?

    “Will City Hall, because someone in the mayor’s office didn’t like my constitutionally protected freedom of expression, undermine my efforts to open my new restaurant on Amherst Street? Will Cutler tell an inspector to deny me a license to operate? Will he call the new police commissioner and have him harass me in my place of business or in my home,” Goldman asked.

    “It is for this reason, not the gross personal insult, that I would like, and believe I am en-titled to, an apology from both Mayor Brown and Mr. Cutler,” Goldman said.

    As of Friday afternoon, Goldman had not received Cutler’s letter of apology.

    Cutler said the mayor attempted to reach Goldman on Friday but would not disclose what the mayor intended to tell him.

    Cutler acknowledged to The News that he used foul language in his encounter with Goldman but denied using the most offensive obscenities that Goldman accused him of using.

    “His characterization of what I said is not completely accurate,” Cutler told The News. “It was an emotional moment for a lot of people for different reasons,” Cutler said. “If what I said to Mr. Goldman caused him any kind of stress, I regret that and I apologize.”

    As for Goldman’s fears about retaliation, he needn’t worry, Cutler said.

    “That’s not how we act,” Cutler said.

    PHOTO) Peter K. Cutler, left, says he has “no excuse” for remarks to Mark Goldman


  10. #10
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    Unspeakable crimes?

    Having repeatedly watched the coverup of crimes in Bflo by "connected" folks, I have been again dismayed by the dramatic coverup of Cutler's DWI-hit-&-run downtown encounter with motorcyclist Keith Borders late the night of October 15, 2005.

    Cutler, who had earlier been Masiello's 'mouthpiece', was just beginning as Byron Brown's "mouthpiece" (now paid $86,300) as the cover-up became public on February 28, 2006, 3 1/2 months after the crime occured.

    Hoping to get attention to a festering injustice, I responded to the News article about the current Cutler "obscenity" yesterday morning, with links to both the Channel 2 report & this SpeakUp archive.

    But this by morning my comment had been removed.

    Why? Is Cutler's crime "unspeakable" because he has succeeded in keeping it covered-up for so long?

  11. #11
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    I know it's a slow News season when I see that the arrival of "LLoyd", the food truck makes the Local Broadcast News, but, seriously, the Cutler Story has already been told and retold and it's how many years old now?

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