Golisano’s Money and Michelle Iannello/Ward Whines, that should be the real title to this article. If this is true that you cannot meet with a candidate and talk about the campaign then we have elections violations going on everywhere and in every election.
This is one of those elections laws that will only be used when an opponent challenges the status quo. Only when there is a threat to “the chosen” like Iannello/Ward will the “Elections Law” be challenged, and who is bringing this to the forefront? Her husband and Democrat elections commissioner Dennis Ward. Anyone see a conflict of interest here?
Of course he is in the perfect position, he knows all the elections Laws and knows exactly how to fight back. This is a new ball game for Mesi, this is not the boxing ring, this is the nasty ring of politics in New York.
This type of meeting happens all the time, think about the union endorsements, and those Iannello/Ward has consistently gotten year after year, why? Because she agrees to do what they want, she endorses their agenda and votes for ALL of their legislation and introduces some that clearly benefits the unions. What does she get in return? MONEY, mega bucks, she also gets the manpower to distribute campaign literature, mailings and pack debates in support of her. They will supply you with what ever you need including running smear campaigns and pay for commercials and ads.
So this is nothing but a bunch of BS. It is a threat to his control of his bride and her huge pension and pay for the easiest job in New York politics.
I will be more than happy to help out Golisano, anyone know how to get a hold of them? Have them contact me. I ran against Iannello/Ward, I know how she works, I know how her husband helps, I know how the unions supported her. By the way,,,,, anyone know where her new office is? It’s not downtown any more, WE pay her rent and bloated staff now, she’s a big wig now don’tcha know.
It was a major announcement by Sabres owner and Rochester businessman Tom Golisano. He put 5 million dollars of his own money into a fund to support candidates for the New York State legislature. It’s called a multi-candidate unauthorized independent committee. “It’s pretty straight forward. We want a responsible state budget. We want responsible process for coming up with a state budget and we want to remember we have to keep our expenses under control because our economy is not growing as fast as the budget is.” said Golisano on Tuesday of last week.
But now Erie County board of elections commissioner Dennis Ward is crying foul, saying that Golisano’s committee could be breaking the law. According to election rules, when a committee hands out a lot of campaign money, it’s not allowed to meet with the candidate and talk about the campaign.
Ward says that Golisano has already met with candidates like Baby Joe Mesi, who happens to be running against Ward’s wife, Erie County legislator Michelle Ianello, in the democratic state senate primary. Mesi was supported by Steve Pidgeon, the man now running Golisano’s new committee and handing out all the money. “How does the candidate not cooperate or foster if your sitting and discussing the campaign with Mr. Golisano, or Mr. Pidgeon, or Mr. Parenti that they will not cooperate and use the money. What do you just sit and talk about the weather?”, said Ward.
“Dennis Ward is probably the biggest whiner and cryer in Western New york Politics and is wrong again.” replied Pidgeon. He doesn’t deny knowing Mesi, but says it doesn’t matter what happened in the past because the committee didn’t exist when he was working with Mesi. Pidgeon claims so far no decision have been made about where the money is going. “It’s a matter of coordination going forward, going on in the future. He hasn’t made any designations yet. He doesn’t need to make designations.” said Pidgeon.
Still political analyst Bob Davis says this is a real issue that may eventually end up decided by the courts. “I think the state election law is set up to prevent things like this from happening. I think somebody needs to challenge it.” said Davis.
Tags: Erie County Insanity
[...] Matt wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptBut now Erie County board of elections commissioner Dennis Ward is crying foul, saying that Golisano’s committee could be breaking the law. According to election rules, when a committee hands out a lot of campaign money, … Read the rest of this great post here [...]