When Niagara County Republican Chairman Henry Wojtaszek announced his resignation following last week's election, he did so in the knowledge he was going out a winner.
For his opposite number -- county Democratic Chairman Dan Rivera -- the mood was more somber. Incumbent Democrats in North Tonawanda and Lewiston lost by huge margins, Niagara Falls' Fifth District county Legislature seat had gone Republican for the first time since the Eisenhower administration, and highly respected members of his own party were publicly calling for his resignation.
And for state Rep. Francine Del Monte, who fancies herself the spiritual leader of Niagara County Democrats, the loss served as a reminder that her rival, Republican state Sen. George Maziarz, will continue to be the county's smartest and most powerful politician for the foreseeable future.
Considering there are about 8,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans in the county, it seems odd that the GOP maintains a 15-4 majority in the Legislature as well as holding all of the important mayoral or supervisor positions, save that of Niagara Falls.
It is only when the disastrous Democratic leadership is taken into account that the reasons behind the disparity become obvious. Both Del Monte and Rivera have spent more time purging their own party than they have finding even marginally qualified candidates to run for office.
Take Nick Melson, Del Monte's "legislative aide," who ran against Republican Vince Sandonato in the former Democratic bastion of the Fifth Legislative District. Melson was thought to be a shoo-in to win the seat right up until the votes were counted. He lost by a whopping 11 percent.
Another blow to the Democrats came with the passage of a ballot initiative designed to reduce the Legislature from the current 19 members to 15 members. The city of Niagara Falls -- home to all four Democratic county legislators -- is expected to bear the brunt of the cuts, two for sure and possibly three.
That's because the about-to-be-released 2010 census is expected to show that the city has lost around a fifth of its population over the past decade, and census figures will be used to determine which seats will be cut.
Democrats campaigned strongly against the measure and even attempted to block it from appearing on the ballot, but to no avail. Niagara County voters cast their ballots overwhelmingly for the downsizing, which passed with an incredible 83 percent of the vote.
With one exception, every Legislature candidate backed by the GOP handily defeated his or her Democratic rival. And Republicans swept the field in a number of important municipal races as well.
In Lewiston, incumbent Democratic Supervisor Fred Newlin -- a virulent supporter of Del Monte and Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster -- garnered just 38 percent of the vote in his race against his successor, Republican Steve Reiter. Kathryn Mazierski, who opposed Newlin in the September primary and ran on the Independence Party ticket in the general, took away about 7 percent of the vote.
While Newlin -- who had been seen as an up-and-coming luminary by the Democratic establishment -- blamed negative campaigning and Republican money for his crushing defeat, Lewiston voters cited his propensity for giving himself raises and the skyrocketing cost of electric service resulting from the poor deal he cut for the town with the state Power Authority as reasons for sending him to the unemployment line.
Since he is not known to have ever held a real job before becoming supervisor, Newlin took solace in the fact that the Orange Cat was said to be hiring.
"If this means a break from politics for a while, there are worse things in the world," he told reporters.
But no race was more significant than that for North Tonawanda mayor, where incumbent Democrat Larry Soos fell by more than 30 points to city Treasurer Rob Ortt. The city is home to Rivera, Wojtaszek and Maziarz, and Soos' stunning inability to run even a competitive race shocked everyone, including Soos.
"I am totally amazed," he told the Buffalo News. "I thought I was doing a good job."
Almost immediately following the election, Democratic county Legislators Jason Cafarella and Renae Kimble publicly called for Rivera's resignation.
"It's time we moved to new leadership. Under the current regime, we have not been able to compete and we haven't been able to gain legislative seats," said Kimble.
Rivera's ouster was the subject of a meeting of Democratic elected officials held in a very small room on Saturday. The meeting was called by Del Monte, who spoke in tepid support of Rivera immediately after the election, but was expected to plunge the shiv in his back over the weekend -- because, after all, that's what she is best known for.
Opposing his ouster when the majority of the party clearly wants to see Rivera go would leave Del Monte vulnerable when she seeks a fifth term next year, and at least two political heavyweights from both sides of the aisle seem to be positioning themselves for a run of some sort.
The shocking loss of her hand-picked office boy Nick Melson by such a wide margin gives the appearance Del Monte is slipping and, in the rough-and-tumble world of Niagara County politics, that appearance is an open invitation for all kinds of trouble.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | November 10 2009 |