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<\/p>\nGood government watchdog Paul Wolf asked for the appointment calendars of Erie County legislators. Chair Tim Meyers said there were none to be had. Now Wolf is suing. <\/p>\n
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Old Erie County Hall. Photo: J. Dale Shoemaker.<\/p>\n
Erie County legislators told a government transparency watchdog they didn\u2019t keep calendars tracking their daily meetings and activities.<\/p>\n
So he tricked them into admitting they did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And now he\u2019s suing the Erie County Legislature in state court, asking a judge to compel the body to collect and release the documents they claimed they did not have \u2014 not once, but three times.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf schedules exist, the public has a right to see them,\u201d attorney Paul Wolf \u2014 founder of the New York State Coalition for Open Government<\/a> \u2014 said in a statement he shared Friday morning with Investigative Post.\u00a0<\/p>\n He noted that legislators earn $65,000 a year for what is considered a part-time job, and taxpayers have a right under state law to know who their elected officials are meeting and why.<\/p>\n \u201cTransparency about how elected officials spend their time is a basic expectation of accountable government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how the records request turned into a lawsuit.<\/p>\n Back in December, under the auspices of the state\u2019s Freedom of Information Law, Wolf requested copies of appointment calendars for all 11 Erie County legislators. He asked for all entries from January 1, 2025 forward.<\/p>\n Wolf does this sort of thing all the time. He frequently sends FOIL requests for public records \u2014 sometimes because he wants the documents and sometimes because he wants to test public bodies for transparency and responsiveness.<\/p>\n Incredulous, he asked her if she\u2019d checked with each legislator to be sure. She assured him she had.<\/p>\n \u201cThat claim raises serious questions,\u201d Wolf said in his statement. \u201cMost professionals maintain some form of calendar to manage their responsibilities. It is difficult to understand how 11 elected officials \u2026 would operate without any record of their work-related activities.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Attorney Paul Wolf.<\/p>\n Several legislators are, like Wolf, practicing attorneys who need calendars to track appointments, court dates and billable hours, he noted. All 11 legislators campaigned for reelection last year, an endeavor that likewise demands careful scheduling.<\/p>\n Wolf appealed this denial of his request to Legislature Chair Tim Meyers, who, as the head of the body that denied Wolf the records, is responsible for its compliance with state transparency laws.<\/p>\n Meyers, a Cheektowaga Democrat, said the same thing as Owens: After \u201ca diligent search,\u201d he \u201cdetermined that no responsive records exist.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSuch efforts included review of the Legislature\u2019s electronic recordkeeping systems, and consulting with relevant Erie County Legislature staff and members who could potentially create, possess, or maintain the records requested,\u201d Mills wrote.<\/p>\n Not satisfied, Wolf emailed 10 of the 11 legislators individually, asking them whether they kept calendars. (Meyers told Wolf in person that he himself did not keep a calendar, according to Wolf\u2019s court papers.) Only Legislator Lawrence Dupre, a Buffalo Democrat, responded. Dupre suggested Wolf file a FOIL request with Owens, the clerk \u2014 which, of course, he had already done.<\/p>\n Wolf suspected he was being blown off. So he devised a test.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Jan. 22, he emailed all 11 legislators individually to see if they\u2019d be available the last week of February to take part in a panel discussion on the subject of term limits for elected officials.<\/p>\n Dupre wrote back the next day:<\/p>\n \u201cThank you for the invite to what I know will be a robust discussion. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend due to a scheduling conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n Dupre went on to say he would be out of town for most of that week and already had events scheduled upon his return.<\/p>\n A few days later Legislator Lindsay Lorigo, a West Seneca Republican, replied:\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI needed to see if it would be possible to adjust my schedule to accommodate. I can make myself available for this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n A few weeks later one of Lorigo\u2019s staffers followed up looking for a firm date to put in the legislator\u2019s calendar.<\/p>\n Wolf, in the lawsuit he filed Thursday morning, called the responses from Dupre and Lorigo \u201can admission\u201d that \u201cdirectly contradicted\u201d what he\u2019d been told by the Legislature\u2019s chair and clerk.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth Legislator Dupree and Lorigo have confirmed in their own words that they maintain schedules and calendars,\u201d Wolf wrote in the lawsuit he filed Thursday morning<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cThe Legislature\u2019s claim that a diligent search was conducted for such records and not a single legislator keeps such records \u2014 is false.\u201d<\/p>\n Subscribe to our free weekly newsletters<\/p>\n<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/investigativepost.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_8573.heic?w=900&ssl=1\")
The Legislature\u2019s clerk, Olivia Owens, was certainly responsive. She got back to Wolf in a mere three business days to tell him no such documents existed.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/paul-wolf.jpg\")
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