Erie County, New York, Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw spoke out about criticism he’s received after establishing long-term installment plans for businesses hit by COVID-19 related fines in his county.
Mychajliw last week used his powers as comptroller to strip the Erie County Health Department of the power to collect and cash such fines, instead directing them to his office and putting them on installment plans that range from 20 to 100 years.
Under the plan, businesses that owe $1,000 or less have 20 years to pay it off. The years to pay then increase with the amount, with those that owe $15,001 or more getting 100 years to pay off the fines.
Appearing on Monday night’s edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Mychajliw, the son of Polish and Ukrainian immigrants, told Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the “radical left” is “turning our country into the same communist regime that my family fled.”
“I’m fed up, I’m angry and I said enough,” he said.
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“We froze the Health Department’s ability to make deposits on Covid fines, and, yes, as controller I have the authority to come up with a 100-year payment plan for those businesses that were fined. Because they are hurting over coronavirus rules that people on the extreme left are making up for other people, for small businesses who are hurting and they don’t follow the rules themselves,” Mychajliw continued. “I’m angry, I’m fed up and I put my foot down.”
Asked about reaction from other officials in New York, the Erie County comptroller said he wears attacks “like a badge of honor.”
“Our local newspaper even wrote an editorial that basically accused me of killing people for helping businesses when it comes to their fines,” he said before criticizing regulations like school closings and forcing business to close at certain times as if “coronavirus is so smart that it won’t attack you in a restaurant at 9:59 but look out at 10:01, you’ll be stricken with it.”
“Having that hammer in my office, I’m willing to flex it,” he concluded. “What’s the point of having the authority if you’re not going to use it to help businesses?” (RELATED: CNN Anchor Blasts Democratic Leaders For Hypocrisy)
Mychajliw’s ability to put rule breakers on installment plans was disputed by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, who said in a statement last week that the “Erie County Charter does not give the Comptroller the powers he is claiming to have.”