Facing allegations of fueling a political witch hunt, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz is defending spending $25,000 to investigate Majority Leader Joseph Lorigo.
"There was no attempt to remove Joe Lorigo as a legislator. It's as simple as that," Poloncarz said.
The county spent $25,000 in legal fees with two law firms to see if Lorigo could legally accept a position as part-time town prosecutor in West Seneca while also being a legislator.
"If Mr. Lorigo was precluded from serving in the role... it would have been a much worse disaster if a $1.7 billion dollar government was questioned because one individual might not have been able to serve," Poloncarz said.
Lorigo has since resigned from his post as town-prosecutor.
