City insiders' tickets dismissed at much higher rate than most

Patrick Lakamp of The Buffalo News analyzed 24,000 parking ticket hearings, finding that most Buffalo residents pay the majority of their fines, whereas as a select few city insiders get their fines dismissed. "They just write letters to the city's parking enforcement director. Two-thirds of the time, their tickets go away." A deputy commissioner of jurors saved $1,205 when 95 percent of his contested fines were waived. The story also includes a sidebar detailing the city's biggest benefactor Paul G. Gaughan, deputy commissioner of jurors in Erie County.