Cain says Falls mayor, police chief violated campaign rules, privacy

Oct. 2—Former Niagara Falls police officer and the endorsed Republican candidate in this year's race mayoral race has publicly accused incumbent Mayor Robert Restaino and city police Superintendent John Faso of campaigning on public time while threatening him to stay out of the election or face the release of potentially damaging information from his personnel file.

In a statement posted to his campaign committee's Facebook page on Friday, Cain claims both the mayor and the police chief told two of his friends — including one who is currently a police officer in the Falls — that they should warn him to avoid running against Restaino this year. He described the conduct of both city officials as part of a larger pattern of activities that raise "serious ethical and legal concerns."

During an interview with the newspaper on Monday, Cain doubled down on his Facebook claims saying although he has not yet filed any formal complaints, he intends to send his concerns in writing to the Niagara County District Attorney's Office and other investigatory agencies, including the state attorney general.

"They are using their official positions to interfere with the political opponent of the mayor, me, a retired deputy chief of police," Cain wrote on his campaign's Facebook page. "This goes beyond the boundaries of fair play in our democratic process."

Cain said Restaino called a "friend" who was applying for a job at city hall into the mayor's office where the person was shown paperwork, including documents from his personnel file tied to his 30 years of service with the Niagara Falls Police Department.

Cain claims Restaino told his "friend" about his intention to make the former Falls deputy police chief's record public and told the friend to relay the message that it "was not personal" but "political."

"This was no vendetta, he assured my friend, but, rather, a political maneuver," Cain wrote on his Facebook post. "He wanted to make it clear that this was just business as usual in the world of politics."

Cain also said Faso, Restaino's appointed police superintendent, called another "friend" who is a Falls police officer into his office to have him "deliver a chilling message" about why it would be wise for Cain to stay out of this year's mayoral race.

"The police chief is getting paid by the city," Cain said. "He should be worried about our crime rate in the city, not the political opponents of the mayor."

On Friday evening, Cain's campaign Facebook page also posted a video of the endorsed Republican telling a crowd of supporters that Faso sent his message to him through a third party in a way that would give the Falls police chief "plausible deniability."

"If he runs, we're going to destroy him. That's the message he sent," Cain said in the video. "He's so bold, he told him to come tell me. That's what bullies do, right?"

Cain said he has filed a formal request with the city under New York's Freedom of Information Law that seeks copies of video from city hall from the day in which he says his friend was called into the mayor's office by Restaino.

"Show me the video from where the guy didn't come into the mayor's office," Cain said. "Show me the video where he didn't come into city hall. That's why I FOILed it, to say 'OK, show me it didn't happen.'"

Faso referred all questions on the matter to the administration.

In a statement issued in response to questions Monday morning, Restaino described Cain's accusations as "incredible" while indicating that the administration is aware that his previous application to become police chief under a prior administration "failed" because his personnel file was purged and "apparently missing various reports, complaints and/or statements that members of the department were aware previously existed in the file."

The statement references what Restaino describes as a "publicly reported sexual harassment settlement," which he indicates was "not in the file."

"While we have learned, anecdotally, of many incidents involving Mr. Cain that involved his service and personal activities, including his time being in charge of the personnel records, many of which resulted in items placed in his personnel record, remarkably none are there," the statement from the mayor reads. "His statement of transparency and officer accountability should also apply to him so perhaps the missing files will soon appear somewhere, we presume only Mr. Cain knows the answer to that question."

Cain said it sounded to him like the mayor was implying that he took items from his personnel file with him when he retired from the police force in April 2019.

While he said it may be possible for a person to remove physical files of that nature, Cain said the city should still retain electronic files of all documents, including those related to his tenure as a city police officer.

"In order for me to do that, it would mean every administrator in the building would have to be in cahoots with me," Cain said.

In 2010, Cain was accused of inappropriate conduct as a defendant in a 2010 lawsuit filed by Jennifer LaMarca, a North Tonawanda resident who sued the city claiming that she was denied a position as a police officer due to retaliatory and discriminatory acts.

According to LaMarca's lawsuit, Cain called and texted her regularly while she was involved in the hiring process and eventually "started openly flirting with [her] and otherwise pursued a romantic and/or inappropriate relationship with Ms. LaMarca, all of which was unwelcomed and unsolicited."

The lawsuit suggested that Cain gave LaMarca flowers on two occasions and engaged in behavior she considered inappropriate and offensive even though she told him "on numerous occasions" that "she had no interest in dating him, in having a romantic relationship with him" and that "his comments were unwelcome, inappropriate and/or offensive."

In the lawsuit, LaMarca indicated that she "felt compelled to continue some type of relationship with Detective Cain so as not to anger him due to his position with [the department], his role in the hiring process and his position as a police academy instructor."

The lawsuit maintained that former Niagara Falls police Superintendent John Chella told LaMarca, during a follow-up interview tied to the hiring process for a police officer job, that Cain's conduct constituted harassment.

In speaking with a reporter on Monday, Cain denied having any inappropriate contact with LeMarca and said he was drawn into her legal claim after he came forward during the hiring process with information about relevant incidents in her background that she failed to disclose.

Cain said it was the decision of the city's outside attorney to settle the case for $30,000 and he would have preferred to have been able to defend his conduct in court.

"I could have easily proven my innocence," he said.

Cain said the mayor's response proves Restaino has knowledge of his police department background and his personnel file. He noted that his background could not have been too big a problem for Restaino after he was elected mayor in 2019 because he appointed Cain to a city committee that focused on law enforcement reforms.

Cain suggested threatening to release information about his police record "runs afoul" with state privacy laws, including the Personal Privacy Protection Law and Freedom of Information Law.

"I'm retired," Cain said. "Even if I wasn't retired, there's no reason for him to have my personal files. There's no reason for it."

Cain believes the behavior of both Restaino and Faso not only violates the principles of fair elections but could potentially constitute violations of federal law, including the Hatch Act, which bars public officials from performing campaign-related duties in their official capacities or out of their public offices.

"They just want to take whatever allegations they can find to misconstrue my record," Cain said. "I'm not afraid of anything in my personal file. I'll put my file against (Restaino's) file any day."