Nov 25
2025
‘Falls mayor in need of anger management
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by Jim Heaney, editor of Investigative Post
Many politicians and bureaucrats drag their feet when they field a request for information from a reporter they don’t like or are asked about something they’d rather not disclose. But they at least go through the motions of responding – eventually.
Then there’s Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino, who recently announced on his YouTube channel that he’s refusing to respond to information requests from the Niagara Gazette.
Wrote the newspaper, in a story we republished last week:
In his message, Restaino also suggested the newspaper and members of its staff have refused to “honor” an “obligation” to report on things that the mayor and members of his administration think are important, which he said has resulted in the administration “ignoring” requests for information from the Gazette.
“We’re not refusing. We’re just ignoring,” he said.
“We’re ignoring for those reasons, for those reasons I’m explaining to you. We’re ignoring the fact that you simply don’t want to report those things that we think are important information for residents to know about their city.
Trouble is that Restaino breaks the law when he doesn’t respond to requests made under the state Freedom of Information Law. Then again, playing by the rules isn’t his forte.
Niagara Falls Mayor Robert Restaino. Photo courtesy of the Niagara-Gazette.
In 2007, he was removed by the Commission on Judicial Conduct from his position as a city court judge a year after threatening to jail 46 people when no one fessed up to possessing a cell phone that rang in his courtroom.
His threat, according to the court’s transcript:
“Everyone is going to jail; every single person is going to jail in this courtroom unless I get that instrument now.”
His removal from the bench didn’t preclude him from getting elected mayor in November 2019. The city has floundered under his leadership and that of the city administrator, his brother, Anthony.
Yeah, I know.
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomThe mayor is peeved at reporter Mark Scheer, a former member of Investigative Post’s staff, whose work we frequently republish in partnership with the Gazette. I know from editing his work while he was with us that Mark is a top-shelf reporter.
He has been keeping a close eye on city government, reporting of late on crews, at taxpayer expense, removing trees from in front of Restaino’s house and complaints of mismanagement in the Falls police department that the mayor has not acted on.
Scheer isn’t the only journalist Restaino has clashed with. Two years ago the mayor stuck his hand in front of the camera of a Channel 2 photojournalist after objecting to a question. He did the same thing this fall.
Restaino’s conduct is in marked contrast to that of his predecessor, Paul Dyster, one of the most decent elected officials I’ve ever dealt with.
Dyster was civil, honest and smart. He provided Niagara Falls with upright, competent leadership that had been all too often lacking in previous mayors. Restaino represents a return to the dark past.
A version of this story led Jim’ Heaney’s Weekly Post, free email newsletter sent Sunday mornings. You can subscribe below.
