“They make the rules, we pay the bills, and we’re expected to keep our mouths shut”
From Cattaraugus County Sheriff Eric Butler,
The Governor’s spokesperson says counties “do not get to pick and choose which state laws they follow” and then has the audacity to suggest that those of us who disagree with her policies are somehow “not interested in keeping New York communities safe.”
I categorically reject that accusation.
Governor Hochul does not know Cattaraugus County better than I do. She does not patrol our roads. She does not operate our jail. She does not answer the calls of our residents when they need help, and she does not stand beside the men and women of this Sheriff’s Office who do that work every single day.
Yet Albany continually dictates to local governments how we must operate, what programs we must provide, how we must police our communities—and then expects our local taxpayers to pick up the bill.
Look no further than New York State’s mandated Medication-Assisted Treatment program in our county jail.
Albany requires us to operate this program and provide medications, including controlled substances such as methadone and buprenorphine, to qualifying inmates suffering from opioid-use disorder. But who pays the costs associated with carrying out Albany’s mandate in Cattaraugus County? We do. Our local taxpayers do. The program costs our county hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Whether someone supports MAT or opposes it is almost beside the point. My objection is to a state government that can mandate an expensive program in a locally funded jail, require us to administer it, and then hand the bill to the taxpayers of Cattaraugus County.
That is Albany’s definition of local government: they make the rules, we pay the bills, and we’re expected to keep our mouths shut.
I won’t.
And now the Governor wants to tell me that cooperation with federal immigration authorities somehow demonstrates that I am not interested in keeping my community safe.
That assertion is offensive.
Our 287(g) agreement is about public safety. When an individual is already lawfully in our custody and is wanted by federal immigration authorities, I believe the safest place to coordinate that transfer is inside the secure walls of our correctional facility—not unnecessarily out on the streets of our communities.
The Governor may disagree with me. That is her right. But she does not get to question my commitment—or the commitment of the men and women who work for me—to protecting the people of Cattaraugus County simply because I refuse to blindly accept every policy that comes out of Albany.
I was elected Sheriff by the people of Cattaraugus County. I took an oath to uphold the Constitution and the law, and I have a responsibility to protect the people who elected me. I take all three of those obligations extremely seriously.
Governor Hochul talks about accountability. I welcome that conversation.
But accountability works both ways.
Albany should be accountable for the consequences of the laws it passes, the mandates it imposes, the financial burdens it places on local taxpayers, and the public-safety policies it forces upon communities hundreds of miles away.
I will continue to stand up for Cattaraugus County, even when doing so means standing up to the Governor of the State of New York.
