Rochester mayoral candidate Rachel Barnhart says she will file ethics complaints against Mayor Lovely Warren, as well as former chief of staff Jeremy Cooney.
It has to do with the job fair and roundtable discussion held at City Hall on Wednesday regarding the ride-hailing services that will soon be operating in Rochester and other upstate cities.
Barnhart, who plans to challenge Warren in a Democratic Primary, has a problem with the events held this week because Cooney now works with a public affairs company which Barnhart says lobbies the city on behalf of Uber.
She says he failed to register as a lobbyist, and there needs to be better transparency here.
“The city allowed Uber to hold a job fair on its property and allowed Uber to create a banner with the mayor’s name and city logo, implying an endorsement of its services; this raises a red flag because city government should not be showing favoritism to one ridesharing company over another."
Barnhart questioned "why multi-billion dollar corporations can’t pay for rooms at hotels to have job fairs, but be that as it may, if the city feels it needs to hold a job fair, it needs to be inclusive of all companies,” Barnhart told WXXI News.
The public relations firm that Cooney works for, Mercury, issued a statement saying that the company understands the law and is careful to fully comply with it.
A spokeswoman for Rochester City Mayor Lovely Warren says the city remains focused on job creation and welcomes the ride hailing services as a new job-creating industry. She says the city will continue to work with employers to host job fairs and looks forward to hosting a similar event with another ride hailing company, Lyft, in the near future.
Rochester Corporation Counsel Brian Curran issued this statement:
"The main point of Rachel Barnharts’s complaints relate to an allegation of improper lobbying activity by Uber or it’s representatives. Under New York State law lobbying is defined as an attempt to influence the passage or defeat of legislation or regulations. In this case the State has already adopted legislation to license ridesharing companies. No proposed legislation or regulatory action is pending before the City. Therefore it is clear that holding a public event to promote employment opportunities does not involve lobbying.
The complaint to the City Board of Ethics will need to be reviewed by the Board of Ethics and I cannot speak for them. However, I can say that under the City Ethics Code the Board of Ethics is not tasked with reviewing complaints from the general public. It reviews requests for advisory opinions from City officials and employees."
