Tony Orsini will officially not be a member of the NYS State Committee as of next month. Apparently he had his petitions thrown out by the Commissioners of the Erie County Board of Elections last week. I’m told that Tony didn’t properly identify who was running as the male member and who was running as the female member. That’s pretty petty considering the only two people on the petition were Tony and his wife Judy.
Never-the-less the law stipulates that it must be identified which one is the male member and who is the female member running on the petition. I believe this rule is meant only for those names that can be confused as male and female and the BOE took this to far. Any how, I haven’t heard about Tony taking this into court to get back on the ballot. Tony believes that the State Chairman Frank McKay is going to protect him and appoint Tony, Judy and one of Orsini’s relatives to a special board to represent the Erie County IP. I’m under a different impression.
Recent conversations with many members in the IP including Frank McKay lead me to believe that Orsini is going to be out in the cold. I am also led to believe that anyone who had their petitions witnessed by or filed by a Democrat is going to face expulsion from the Independence Party. I know for a fact that IP State Chairman Frank McKay is furious that the Democrats have meddled in the IP to the point that they can dictate who becomes county chairman.
Therefore he is looking at ways to rid the party of those who have effectively raided it. This could be very bad for people like Tony Mingarelli and Mary Rose Gaughan who have relied on the Democrats to do a lot of their work for them. Tony Mingarelli was actually a Democratic Town/City Chairman for several years in Lackawanna before switching to the IP after the Dems were defeated in Hamburg and Sorrentino lost control of the Hamburg Town Council.
Tony Mingarelli is best freinds with Sorrentino and obviously switched because Sorrentino needs a strong presence in the IP to help him get back in power. Mingarelli actually assisted Sorrentino in garnering the attorney position for the Lackawanna Housing Authority. I’m told this is the first time that position has ever gone to a lawyer outside of the City of Lackawanna.
Dennis Koziol will now represent the 146th Assembly District on the IP state Committee. Had I known this would have happened, I would have run petitions against Dennis Koziol myself. I figured why get into the middle of a Koziol-Orsini battle. I had no idea that Orsini would get his petitions tossed out. It’s a shame that it ended up this way. Their should always be a choice on the ballot.
So the bottom line and big question is shaping up to be about who will be the Erie County IP Chairman. That name will either unite us or split us deeper. I believe Frank McKay is looking for a strong IP member who never sold out to the Dems to lead us at the county level. If that person is found then the state will get out of our county and let us run ourselves. Only time will give us that answer.
