Petitions filed by the campaign of Chris Collins to help the Erie County millionaire qualify for the Conservative line on the NY-27 Congressional District ballot indicate Sen. Mike Ranzenhofer may not be as neutral in the race as he claims to be.
Though, even after being told of the petitions, the senator maintained he is staunchly neutral in the race.
"I have not endorsed and I will not endorse," Ranzenhofer said. "It's important that the voters in the district decide who will represent them in the general election. I do not even live in the district."
Ranzenhofer's involvement in the race became an issue last week when a former staff member told the Buffalo News she believed she was fired from the senator's office for supporting David Bellavia, the Iraq War veteran running against Collins.
The Batavian has obtained a half-dozen pages of Collins petitions (PDF) that indicate that paid legislative staff who report to Ranzenhofer worked in a coordinated manner to help gather signatures for the Collins campaign.
The fired staffer, Michelle McCulloch, a 45-year-old Attica resident, mother of four children, and Wyoming County GOP Committee member, said the message was sent loud and clear to staff members that Ranzenhofer expected all hands on deck to help Collins.
"This is a primary race," McCulloch said. "There are two candidates. If the senator wants to be neutral, that's a great thing to do, but when you direct your staff to do something else, that's a whole other thing."
After numerous attempts this week to get Ranzenhofer on the phone to discuss this issue, the senator called The Batavian today and denied that he directed staff members to gather signatures for Collins.
Ranzenhofer said that he cannot discuss specific personnel matters, but did say he "disagreed" with the assertion by McCulloch that he directed staff to help the Collins campaign.
"I believe I have staff members who are helping both candidates," Ranzenhofer said. "It's not unusual for staff members to circulate petitions for candidates and it's my belief that staff members have circulated petitions for both candidates."
Bellavia said he's only aware of two Ranzenhofer aides who have done anything for his campaign.
But McCulloch isn't the only member of the Bellavia steering committee who was harassed in his or her place of employment after the steering committee was announced, Bellavia said.
He's offered all steering committee members the chance to remove their names from the publically available list, but none have accepted the offer he said. He did add, however, that three new steering committee members asked that their names not be added to the list for fear of reprisal.
Also on the steering committee is Jay Grasso, a former Genesee County legislator who represents Ranzenhofer in the county.
Grasso has declined repeated requests for comment.
While Grasso and McCulloch have been publicly associated with the Bellavia campaign, all indications from McCulloch and other sources are that what they've done for Bellavia, they've done on their own.
The Collins petition effort, however, has the appearance of being a coordinated effort directed by somebody in authority.
The six staff members involved in the petition drive for Collins are all notaries public, enabling them to collect signatures across party lines (it's not uncommon for aides to be notaries just for this purpose).
The petitions were for signatures on the Conservative line.
The petitions were passed only in Newstead and Akron (with some spillover into Clarence), which McCulloch said was a conscious decision by the Collins campaign not to bother with collecting signatures in any of the GLOW counties.
The staff members involved were McCulloch, Emily Berry, Dan Aikin, Jon McNulty, Kathy Donner and Carol Wojkowski.
And while Bellavia-supporter McCulloch gathered signatures for Collins, she said she only did so because she felt directed to take part in the effort.
In an interview with The Batavian today, McCulloch detailed why she believed she was fired for her support of Bellavia, who currently lives in Batavia and is a lifelong GLOW-area resident.
On April 17, Bellavia's campaign released the names of people throughout the NY-27 serving on his steering committee.
Within minutes of the news of the steering committee coming out, Ranzenhofer staff member and Collins ally McNulty sent McCulloch a text message that read, "Hook called ranz. Just want to warn you."
"Hook" refers to Michael Hook, a Washington political consultant who has worked on previous Collins campaigns (and may be working with Collins now, though it's not been publicly announced since Hook has been tainted by the campaign losses of Jane Corwin for Congress and the last Collins campaign for Erie County executive).
It was Corwin's loss that led McCulloch to seek a job with Ranzenhofer, whom she respected and thought would be a good elected official to serve.
Previously, McCulloch had worked for Rep. Tom Reynolds until she took a position on Chris Lee's congressional campaign in 2008 and then she worked for Lee until Lee resigned in disgrace.
After the "Craigslist Congressman" resigned, McCulloch retained her job in the congressional office, which was ordered to conduct all of its business, on and off the clock, in a nonpartisan manner, so McCulloch was not in any way involved in Corwin's campaign.
A couple of hours after McNulty's message, Erie County GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy sent text messages to McCulloch questioning her support of Bellavia.
Up until this incident, McCulloch said she considered Langworthy a good friend -- he had been over for family dinners and taken her sons to sporting events.
While Langworthy hasn't publicly endorsed Collins, in political circles he's considered a Collins ally and in his text to McCulloch he made it clear he supported Collins.
In a response to Langworthy, McCulloch suggested Langworthy had called Hook.
Langworthy responded, "I haven't talked to your boss or Michael Hook. I am fully with Chris Collins. Hook is one of your boss' best friends."
Ranzenhofer said he's been good friends with Hook for more than 30 years, going back to a time before either were in politics and both were in Jaycees.
When McCulloch returned home that day, she received a call from Ranzenhofer.
"He discussed his displeasure with me being on the steering committee, that it didn't matter that it was in Wyoming County or not, whether I was a committee member or not, and that further political actions by me needed to be reported to him immediately," McCulloch.
She said it was noteworthy that Ranzenhofer didn't demand that she resign from the steering committee.
On April 26, Bellavia called McCulloch, she said, and asked if she would be willing to introduce Bellavia to Republicans at a fundraiser later that night in Attica. Since she was a steering committee member, a county committee member and a lifelong Wyoming County resident, so McCulloch agreed to introduce Bellavia around.
Wyoming County is entirely outside of Ranzenhofer's senatorial district.
She said she introduced Bellavia to five or six people that night.
The next morning, McCulloch said she sent an email to Ranzenhofer and to his Chief of Staff Kathy Donner informing them of her political activity, which she understood to be the direction given to her by the senator.
The following Friday, Donner called McCulloch into her office and told her her services would no longer be needed.
There was no explanation given for her termination, McCulloch said.
Up to that point, according to McCulloch, she had never been reprimanded, suspended or otherwise given any indication she has not performed her job in an outstanding matter. She said, in fact, she had always been praised for her work.
It was the first time in her life she had been fired.
McCulloch initially didn't want to talk about the situation, she said, but then personnel from state agencies and other elected officials started calling her to find out what was going on.
She didn't want the story to be, even if just in rumor, that she was fired with no explanation, and since she believed she was fired for helping Bellavia, she wanted to tell that story.
"To say I was fired for the first time in my life for a reason that’s not there, I couldn’t just sit there and let that happen," McCulloch said. "I didn’t want to put myself in a position for people to think I was fired for any other reason because it’s just not true."
She's also speaking out for the sake of her four children, she said, whom she said she has always encouraged to get involved in politics and support candidates they believe in. She said she thought they shouldn't see her just backing down when she doesn't believe she was treated fairly.
Her firing, McCulloch said, may also make her a rather public casualty of a growing rift between the Erie County GOP -- at least the Langworthy/Hook/Collins wing of it -- and GLOW Republicans.
Many key GLOW GOP activists are supporting Bellavia, and McCulloch said she doesn't believe Collins gets the rural counties. He's hardly even stepped foot into any parts of the district outside of Erie County since the campaign began.
She said the Erie County GOP is trying to bully its way into a primary win.
"It’s not about the issues and who the candidates are (with the Erie County GOP)," she said. "It's about their strength and force and what they can do to our rural counties and it’s not fair to our rural counties."
Electoral Fusion. Making New
Electoral Fusion. Making New York a terrible, awful place since time immemorial.
Fusion is sleazy, Ranz and
Fusion is sleazy, Ranz and Langworthy are sleazier.
Eventually, the Erie County GOP is going to throw Nick Langworthy in the shark tank, but they're probably too slow on the uptake to make it happen before he loses them a couple more elections.
This story has a few angles and the one that interests me most is the ECGOP's disdain for for EVERY OTHER COUNTY IN THE DISTRICT.
The Monroe County GOP Chair even went on TV a few weeks back and told anybody who would listen that apparently Chris Collins doesn't give a damn if he takes a single vote out of Monroe.
Hook and Langworthy may want to have a gander at the new district map, and Ranz should probably join them since SD61 isn't exactly what it was 2 and 4 years ago either.
You also have to love that
You also have to love that the young and savvy Langworthy is ragetexing the mother of four he's about to have fired.
He's done three things of note as ECGOP Chairman
1: Bring us Carl Paladino, the guy who made Western new York the butt of national jokes.
2: Bring us Chris Lee, the guy who made Western New York the butt of national jokes.
3: Send Mike Mallia after Jack Davis. The thing that made Western New York the butt of national jokes.
If the establishment doesn't
If the establishment doesn't want Bellavia, then that is exactly who will get my vote in the primary.
Erie County GOP has been
Erie County GOP has been trying to get rid of Bellavia for years. Literally. But they're cowards, and Bellavia is never going to back down.
I'm glad to see that the job
I'm glad to see that the job description for working in Senator Ranzenhofer's do-nothing office is obtaining a Notary Public license and obtaining petitions for terrible people to be added to the execrable Conservative and IP lines.
LOl What does that even mean?
LOl What does that even mean?
Most congressional, state senate and state assembly aides are notaries because they have to certify all sorts of documents for thier own boss..
This is about manipulation not qualification
When I worked in the
When I worked in the California legislature none of us were notaries, but then we didn't have fusion ballots.
Political Parties Suck
Political Parties Suck
Mark, you're out of your
Mark, you're out of your depth here. Fusion voting and balloting candidates on minor party lines is a big part of this.
While some people don't like
While some people don't like fusion voting, both major parties like it.
No, John, not really.
No, John, not really.
Has the NYS Assembly or
Has the NYS Assembly or Senate passed a bill to stop the practice? They talk about it, but no bill has made to the governors desk.
Of course not, because minor
Of course not, because minor party favor traders hold their balls to the fire.
Minor Party Chairman says: 'Hey, Assemblyman, you can't sponsor a bill that would weaken me politically! If you do that, I won't be able to threaten you like I'm doing right now!'
Assemblyman says: 'Of course, sir, how could I have been so stupid? Now which property was it that you needed to have rezoned?'
If we could get rid of fusion
If we could get rid of fusion voting, you would get more true 3rd party candidates. Maybe they would not win, but the races would be more interesting.
Someday I'm going to get this
Someday I'm going to get this tight on the first try
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmXe4aMfRcI&feature=related]
Forget the third party
Forget the third party candidate stuff, let's just start with making it impossible for major parties to send their Assemblyman downstate to fetch minor party endorsements for their candidates.
Let's pretend there's a minor party called the Schmindependence Party and some local Schmindependence Party members started a local committee so they could independently endorse candidates. Now what would you say if the State Schmindependence Party ignored the existence of the local chapter and handed out endorsements all to one party as a favor to a local Assemblyman. That would be bullshit, huh?
The New York State Scmindependence Party Motto: You can't fix an election without breaking it first.
Anyway, we're way off the
Anyway, we're way off the rails here. Let's get back to the point of the article: Chris Collins and his staff are horrible, horrible people.
And my personal favorite:
And my personal favorite: Great take on the situation
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHMB83fBIMU]
You seem to be talking about
You seem to be talking about the issue with the Independence Party locally. Do you happen to know if they have an official local committee now?
Sorry, Chris, the problem is
Sorry, Chris, the problem is the same as it always is, the parties control the process, if people, I repeat people, were able to run for office instead of party hacks who are bought and paid for just to get on the ballot, let alone actually get elected; a lot of this back-office BS would bite the perpetrators in the ass by the voters electing an outsider, who is not beholden to anyone but the taxpayers. Unfortunately, right now, if you ain't in with the in-crowd, you ain't gettin' in. Ask David Bellavia. Yeah, yeah go ahead call me a crackpot, naive or pollyanna, but I believe it could work.
John, I don't know what the
John, I don't know what the hell you're talking about, that was totally hypothetical. I understand that there's also a (totally hypothetical) letter from a local party chair that proves it.
Dave, fusion voting is one of
Dave, fusion voting is one of the things standing in the way of your electoral Nirvana. All the things you despise are even worse when there's a fight over minor party lines by major party candidates.
I certainly hope these staff
I certainly hope these staff personnel of Senator Ranzenhofer's are soliciting signatures on their own time and not ours.
I get that Chris. If no party
I get that Chris. If no party affiliation was next to a candidate's name on the ballot, then the minor parties wouldn't have so much juice.
Dave, you pay for those
Dave, you pay for those stupid damned Halloween mailers and all the other (totally not, swear to god) campaign trash that comes out of their state offices. What's the difference?
None, you want to see poor
None, you want to see poor anger management, come over when I get those stupid things in my mailbox and swear and have spit run out my mouth while I tear them into tiny,tiny pieces. I'd love to see a stop to that too. Matter of fact, there's a whole litany of shit I'd like to put an end to, but alas............I'm just a hick with an internet connection.
That wasn't what I was
That wasn't what I was commenting on Chris, I know what fusion voting is
But your a mighty fine hick
But your a mighty fine hick with an internet connection dave
Yeah, you know what fusion
Yeah, you know what fusion voting is, but you think that small army of notaries in Ranz's office spend their time stamping important State Senate paperwork. Cute.
Actually Chris, Michelle is
Actually Chris, Michelle is my sister in law, I know exactly what this is about, Fusion voting was just the stage, Michelle did not refuse or complain about the petitions, If that is all thios was about it really wouldn't be the story
Michelle never did anything
Michelle never did anything wrong. It's not her fault Ranz is forcing his employees to put his friend on the ballot on a minor party line then firing them when they show some modicum of independent thought.
And that is the issue, Fusion
And that is the issue, Fusion be dammed. The article isn't about fusion, It is about apparant manipulation by the ECGOP to squash a Glow candidate.
Yuck, the whole thing is just
Yuck, the whole thing is just plain distasteful. I hope some great independent people run for both congress and the senate. Bellavia should run as an independent.
Perhaps Dave, but the sad
Perhaps Dave, but the sad fact is that outside of local dog catcher a true independant candidate hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell.
Distasteful, you bet, worse than that, some outright falsehoods.
This is beyond the theorhetical, if the staff were spreading petitions for Ranz himself, no story no harm no foul, but they were enmasse spreading for collin.s and he says he didn't initiate that? Kind of pales creditabilty, that becomes an issue of charactor
Well, be that as it is, Mark.
Well, be that as it is, Mark. I'm with Jesse Ventura in that I will not vote for Repub's or Dem's any more. Period. If Ron Paul actually gets the nomination, I will have quite a predicament. I might have the same problem with David Bellavia. I have also said I won't vote for anyone for national office (Congress, US Senate or Pres) that didn't bother to serve in the armed forces. That damn 2003 Iraq resolution cemented that one for me, those lily livered public approval whores should never have given W the authorization to do anything. They totally passed the buck. Both sides of the aisle. Which is why we need independent representatives who don't follow the party line, and who have a clue what they're ordering the military to do. You can't rely on Generals and Admirals, those guys will always want to attack, it's what they do.
Mea Culpa, I voted for Ian Murphy in the last congressional election instead of Jack Davis who met both criteria.
I've been on the losing side of lots of things in my life, and that's OK. Political Parties still suck. Upraised finger
LOL Dave, you do have a sort
LOL Dave, you do have a sort of Country Joe & The Fish sort of way of saying things
that's a compliment, Thanks
that's a compliment, Thanks Mark. I gotta go watch "The Finder" now, great TV show.
Dave, people just don't vote
Dave, people just don't vote for anyone who isn't on a party line. I really think our country would be better off without the two party system.
Charlie, surprised to hear
Charlie, surprised to hear you say that -- seems like we've had some big arguments in the past where you defended the two party system.
I'm evolving.
I'm evolving.
Which would qualify you for
Which would qualify you for elected office. You should consider running for something some day.
I would like to see fiscally
I would like to see fiscally conservative, socially progressive candidates. The political shifts over the last few years have done a lot of harm to those of us who look for that.
Dear Chris:
Dear Chris: http://bit.ly/d0cxT5
Look. Let's just create a
Look. Let's just create a party locally here and build it up. We could do it. It's the right environment.
The Batavia First Party. All
The Batavia First Party. All welcome who believe in community over state and national partisan agendas.
I say we do it. It's time to
I say we do it. It's time to ignore D's and R's and start doing what's best.
Howard - Although we clash
Howard - Although we clash occasionally, this is an excellent and well rounded article. I think this is the sort of thing that makes you a high quality journalist.
Alan - We've been around and
Alan - We've been around and around about fusion voting, but I don't think taking it away is going to solve the above problem. Had it not been minor party petitions, it would have just been Republican party petitions. The real issue here is Mike Ranzenhofer and his uselessness as a Senator combined with his blatant disregard for not only his own statements, but his staff's performance and responsibilities.
My concern with abolishing
My concern with abolishing parties is that it would, in today's expensive media world, possibly mean that only independently wealthy people would be able to run for office. Parties aren't all good, but they can, to a certain extent, allow people without vast financial resources to run for office with some sort of fundraising and organizational support. It also make sense, given that people generally either are center-left and center-right (most aren't on the extremes of either side) that there would be two major parties.
The reality is, that as a
The reality is, that as a member of the house or as a US Senator, even if you were elected The Joe Smith Party, The Free Electors Party, The one Eyed Jacks Party, The Conservative PArty, the Progressive Party, The Socialist Party or what ever lower party, you can not be effective for your constituents unless you caucus with either the Republicans or the Democrats. It is just the current reality.
On the local level, I would love to see four or five parties focused on local issues. Sadly, if you want to vote on the NATIONAL FRONT you pretty much have to pick the party that best fits your belief between the two powerhouse parties, To create a third or fourth party that would be effective on national issues would take Billions of Dollars and would invite the same kind of wrangling that currently exist with the Democrats and Republicans in order to obtain the money needed to promote the party platform. I don't like it, but that is the way it is.
When was the last time that a third party in the US garnered more than 10% of the national vote? For that matter 5%?
You have roughly equal consistant support nationally for Dems and Repubs as a base in every election, that leaves around 10% of the vote to fight for, so it boils down to turn out, and turn out takes money, enthusiasm and committment.
Mark - Ross Perot in '96, and
Mark - Ross Perot in '96, and he had virtually an unlimited amount of funds. There are a few names of independent candidates with the ability to self finance such a massive operations, among them Michael Bloomberg and Tom Golisano. That being said, I don't see either of them undertaking a mission of which they cannot win. Perot was the high watermark of third party candidates. I think that Gary Johnson may do better than everyone thinks, but I can't see a third party President unless something totally drastic happens, like both candidates cheating on their spouses with the other spouse.
Always an excuse to protect
Always an excuse to protect the party system.
To my way of thinking, people of good conscious just opt out.
Keep finding an excuse for the two major parties, and you help just perpetuate what's wrong with the system.
One thing I appreciate about our local GOP and Dem committees, with a few people excepted on both sides, for the most part their like two civic group teams, each vying for a win in the next big game. Everybody for the most part gets along and respects each other. The only real difference comes up when discussing national issues or statewide offices.
However, I still can't see being a participant in either party on a statewide or national level or supporting their candidates. I see the bigger parties as corrupt machines only interested in perpetuating their own power.
So I say, just opt out. If enough people do, it starts to erode their power.
But at least you're not contributing to their power.
As for a localist party -- I think such a party could help mold and define a greater focus on a common cause of local issues and act as a more effective voice (if successful) for local issues on a statewide basis, especially if other communities followed the example. Such a successful example might further serve to undercut the big parties.
Change has got to start somewhere. It ain't going to start in Albany or Washington, so why not Batavia?
Well put Howard, you make a
Well put Howard, you make a very valid point. Voter turnout is horrendous in any election. THe special election to replace Chris Lee only garnered about 25%. Even the 2008 election only got about 60% of eligible voters to bother with it. Why do you think those people don't vote? I can buy that maybe 15% have extenuating circumstances preventing them from voting. As for the rest, I suppose some just don't care, but no way is it all of them. Ever hear the expression "I never vote, it only encourages them"? A lot of people think the 2 main parties suck and agree with Howard that they are only interested in self-perpetuity and more power. I'm one of them.
I like Ralph Nader's idea of
I like Ralph Nader's idea of putting a "none of the Above" option on every ballot.
Dan if you went to public
Dan if you went to public campaign finance, then your point is moot. BUT since it's all about money....neither party is there for the greater good, they're there to stay there and reap the benefits of the position.
I agree Howard. I say we do it. You, Dave and I.....who else? All are welcome!
I'm willing to help a
I'm willing to help a movement to get some independent people elected to County Legislature, state assembly & senate and congress. I don't know that I'd want to be part of a formal party, even with you Phil, no offense. I confess to some guilt over not helping Chris Barons as much as I could have. He seems to be a very independent minded and intelligent guy and I'm sure would represent us well wherever. Not that I'd have made any difference in the outcome, but as was said above, winning isn't as important to me as is the effort. So, I'd get involved in helping a candidate or candidates, but they would have to share at least some of my positions and not be a Demican or Republocrat.
Localism is an ideal that
Localism is an ideal that really needs to happen, the more dealt with on the local level the better off we are
None taken. I don't know if
None taken. I don't know if it would have to be that formal, but more an alternative.
Starting a local party is the
Starting a local party is the easy part. Finding people to run is much harder.
You can expect to pay $2-5 thousand for a County race (signs to let people know your running, brochures or handouts, etc).
A city ward race between $500 and $2,000 dollars and about the same for some town boards.
With enough people, you can raise the money.
As a general reply to all,
As a general reply to all, this is facially about Ranzenhofer and his fealty to Hook & Collins, and his general awfulness in this situation. People get fired every day for any reason, or no reason at all. Sometimes for flawed reasons. McCullough was an employee-at-will, and as such the only recourse she has is to expose Ranzenhofer's true partisanship behind his supposed sheen of "neutrality".
The real story here isn't about some staffer being fired for supporting the wrong guy, as far as the ECGOP is concerned, but about the fusion substory - McCullough circulated CP petitions for Collins because she was directed by people in the ECGOP to do so. I heard that Ralph Mohr himself delivered them to Ranzenhofer's people, and that's why all of these signatures she and her cohorts collected were obtained in and around Newstead. The GOP currently owns or is the puppetmaster for both the CP and IP lines. It's the only way they can make some headway in bridging their enrollment gap.
The real story - the real harm being done is this cynical transactionalism and the way in which political appointees are harangued into using personal time to electioneer for their bosses' bosses, with the threat of termination hanging over their heads.
Any talk about principle and policy is BS. It's all about transactional politics, and who scratches whose back.
That's the real issue, that's the real problem. http://bit.ly/Jbi3hC
As long as we continue to
As long as we continue to feel compelled to choose between republicans and democrats, we will continue to get exactly what we deserve; mob style intimidation and corruption. Unfortunate that Bellavia has to romance the likes of a Ransenhofer in order to have even a remote chance of being a viable candidate. While I know many honorable individuals who are affiliated with both the democratic and republican parties, I am absolutely convinced that the two parties are the biggest obstacles to change in this country. They are perhaps a bigger threat to us than any foreign enemy could ever hope to be. Being the troops home from the middle east and have them safeguard us from the politicians.