Erie County Democratic Chairman Jeremy "Wonder Boy" Zellner, Democratic Election Commissioner Dennis "The Fixer" Ward and Erie County Executive Mark "Emperor" Poloncarz got their butts kicked Saturday afternoon. After more than two months of needless delay and obfuscation, attorney Peter Savage was recommended to fill the vacancy in County Legislature District 3 by the committeemen of the district. This decision followed seemingly endless gamesmanship by the Stooges and dealt them a humiliating defeat. When the seat became vacant in January, these schemers got together and decided that their best interests would be served by filling the vacancy with Ward's rubber stamp wife, Michele Iannello. Even though the Democrats suffered a series of catastrophic defeats 2013, the Stooges could thereby at least claim control of the impotent minority vote in the county legislature. There are now five Democrats against a Republican/Conservative/Independence majority of six. Although the Dems are largely powerless, control of the minority requires 3 votes and can be useful to prevent overrides of Poloncarz vetoes.
Unfortunately, everyone knew that Ianello lacked the support on the Democratic Committee to defeat Savage in a head up contest. Therefore, the Stooges plotted to paint a deadlock scenario, with each appearing to back a different candidate, hoping to somehow sneak a win out of the resulting artificial confusion. Wonder Boy backed Jennifer Diagostino, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Economic Justice, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation which is long on rhetoric and short on accomplishments. Polo picked Amber Small, the head of the Parkside Community Association of Buffalo, another not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, which is supposed to be providing services to the Buffalo Parkside neighborhood. In the final event, Small wasn't even nominated and Diagostino had to second her own nomination just to get into the balloting. Clearly, Small and Diagostino were merely dupes used by the Stooges in their scheme. As tax exempt entities are supposed to refrain from political activity, one has to wonder whether the paid leaders of such organizations should be seeking elected offices while still on the payroll.
Following a senseless beauty pageant meeting in February, Wonder Boy finally figured out how to call a meeting:
Unfortunately, everyone knew that Ianello lacked the support on the Democratic Committee to defeat Savage in a head up contest. Therefore, the Stooges plotted to paint a deadlock scenario, with each appearing to back a different candidate, hoping to somehow sneak a win out of the resulting artificial confusion. Wonder Boy backed Jennifer Diagostino, the Executive Director of the Coalition for Economic Justice, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation which is long on rhetoric and short on accomplishments. Polo picked Amber Small, the head of the Parkside Community Association of Buffalo, another not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, which is supposed to be providing services to the Buffalo Parkside neighborhood. In the final event, Small wasn't even nominated and Diagostino had to second her own nomination just to get into the balloting. Clearly, Small and Diagostino were merely dupes used by the Stooges in their scheme. As tax exempt entities are supposed to refrain from political activity, one has to wonder whether the paid leaders of such organizations should be seeking elected offices while still on the payroll.
Following a senseless beauty pageant meeting in February, Wonder Boy finally figured out how to call a meeting:
At the event, Wonder Boy suddenly produced another crudely typed contradictory agenda:
Commissioner Ward acquiesced in the popular demand that he absent himself from the meeting, thus avoiding a humiliating floor fight to eject him from the assembly. Following a rigid script, Wonder Boy insisted on reading the original meeting notice, despite a motion to dispense with the reading, apparently wishing to dispel rumors that he is illiterate. The new agenda is clearly absurd on its face, but Wonder Boy rejected all attempts to dispense with unnecessary foot dragging. There followed a bizarre spectacle, with candidates who weren't even nominated needlessly addressing the bored multitude, followed by unessential nominating speeches. After almost three months of letters, emails, and phone calls, we all knew the candidates and which one we were supporting. At least my repeated attempts to streamline the proceeding clearly rattled Wonder Boy and he forgot to call for the multiple seconding speeches. It was obvious that Zellner lacks the basic level of intelligence necessary to run an efficient meeting.
After an eternity of mincing and dithering, the motion for a secret ballot passed almost unanimously, much to Wonder Boy's surprise. Actually the motion was for a paper ballot. State law requires that committee members vote on a weighted basis determined by voting patterns in their respective election districts, thus rendering ballot secrecy nearly impossible. For instance, my weighted vote is 227. I cast my ballot for Savage, and anyone who witnessed the results knows exactly how I voted.
Once the motion for a paper ballot carried overwhelmingly, it appeared that Savage supporters would carry the day, as Zellner clearly didn't have the bodies to control the meeting. In the final result, Savage got 62% of the first ballot vote and walked away a clear winner. The meeting took 1.5 hours and would have been over in 30 minutes if Wonder Boy had stayed home. Since the vote of the committeemen is merely a recommendation to the County Legislature Democrats who fill the vacancy under the Erie County Charter, it remains to be seen whether they will appoint Mr. Savage to serve until a new election is held in November. Stay tuned for more entertaining Democratic Party hijinks.
After an eternity of mincing and dithering, the motion for a secret ballot passed almost unanimously, much to Wonder Boy's surprise. Actually the motion was for a paper ballot. State law requires that committee members vote on a weighted basis determined by voting patterns in their respective election districts, thus rendering ballot secrecy nearly impossible. For instance, my weighted vote is 227. I cast my ballot for Savage, and anyone who witnessed the results knows exactly how I voted.
Once the motion for a paper ballot carried overwhelmingly, it appeared that Savage supporters would carry the day, as Zellner clearly didn't have the bodies to control the meeting. In the final result, Savage got 62% of the first ballot vote and walked away a clear winner. The meeting took 1.5 hours and would have been over in 30 minutes if Wonder Boy had stayed home. Since the vote of the committeemen is merely a recommendation to the County Legislature Democrats who fill the vacancy under the Erie County Charter, it remains to be seen whether they will appoint Mr. Savage to serve until a new election is held in November. Stay tuned for more entertaining Democratic Party hijinks.
