Irene Elia made it until Election Day.
Jim Galie and Jake Palillo lost bitterly contested primaries.
In trying to become the first multi-term mayor of Niagara Falls since Michael O'Laughlin, it looks like Vincenzo V. Anello won't even last as long as his three predecessors.
Objections have been filed to Anello's nominating petitions for both the Democratic and Independence parties, with political insiders telling the Niagara Falls Reporter that the incumbent's signatures are unlikely to survive scrutiny by the Niagara County Board of Elections.
Should Anello's petitions fail to pass muster, he would become the first sitting mayor in anyone's memory who sought re-election, yet failed to gather enough support to get on a Primary Day ballot.
Anello, facing fresh harassment charges and a long-running federal corruption investigation, turned in 1,391 signatures on Democratic nominating petitions. Party officials and former city councilman Paul Dyster, whose campaign also contested Anello's petitions, said fewer than half appear to be valid, leaving the mayor well short of the 791 needed to make it to the primary.
Almost one-third of the signatures on Democratic petitions were gathered by people ineligible to do so, with almost as many signatures by residents who had already signed another mayoral candidate's petition, gave the wrong address or printed their names, rather than signing as required by law.
"They're a mess," said Mickey Rimmen, chairman of the city Democratic Committee, who also contested signatures submitted by mayoral hopefuls Paul Argy and Norton Douglas. "They're very suspect."
Anello turned in 39 signatures for the Independence line, just five more than the required number. Dyster's campaign challenged those petitions, as well. If Anello's Independence petitions are tossed, Dyster holds three minor-party lines -- Independence, Conservative and Working Families -- heading into November.
No one challenged petitions submitted by City Councilman Lewis "Babe" Rotella, the endorsed Democrat, or Dyster. Former city councilwoman Candra Thomason was the only Republican candidate to turn in petitions for the mayor's race.
Anello missed the deadline for turning in his nominating petitions in person, instead mailing them on July 19 from a Cheektowaga post office that stays open until midnight, in order to earn the requisite postmark. Close examination of those petitions shows the reason for the last-minute scrambling. About 400 were collected by people who were ineligible to do so, either because they were not registered to vote or not enrolled Democrats.
The bulk of those were gathered by Chester Bradley, including 260 before July 17 -- the day he registered as a member of the Democratic Party for the first time, according to Board of Elections records.
With most Democratic Committee members circulating petitions for Rotella, Anello's workers were mainly family members and people with no apparent previous connection to Democratic Party politics.
The group included Lucia Sabater, a registered Republican; Charles Byrd and Khawan E. Hooks, whose addresses listed on the petitions they witnessed did not match Board of Elections records, rendering those sheets invalid; Samantha Flores and Jennifer La Marca, who are not registered as members of any party; and Richard Baskerville, who records show is not a registered voter.
Most of the petitions gathered by suspect witnesses were gathered in the final days of the signing period, suggesting a desperate last-minute rush by the Anello campaign.
Michael Bird, who managed Dyster's mayoral campaign in 2003, when he finished a close second to Anello in a four-way Democratic Primary, filed the challenges on his candidate's behalf.
While only general challenges had been filed against Anello's petitions as of press time, both Dyster and Rimmen said they expected to file specific objections before the deadline for doing so. Democratic Elections Commissioner Nancy Smith said Board of Elections officials would begin reviewing challenges on Monday and start making rulings by the end of the week.
Dyster said his campaign staff analyzed the petitions in as generous a manner as possible.
"We're trying to preserve the franchise of the people involved, so we're trying to give every benefit of the doubt," he said. "What we felt was that when we looked over the Anello petitions, what we found there was so far from the right way of doing things that we felt we had to issue a challenge to protect the integrity of the democratic process. The campaigns that legitimately had people out going door to door, you have to protect the work of those people."
Bird and Rimmen each challenged the petitions submitted by two political newcomers running for mayor, Paul Argy and Norton Douglas. Both filed specific protests against Argy, who turned in only 82 signatures more than the required 791, but had filed only a general complaint against Douglas as of press time.
If the challenges against Anello, Argy and Douglas are upheld, Rotella and Dyster would square off in a two-way race for the Democratic nomination, with the winner to face Thomason in November.
Dyster's trio of minor-party lines would also make him a force in November if Rotella wins the Democratic Primary, since Thomason lags badly behind both men in fund-raising to date.
And even if election officials somehow find 791 valid signatures by Democrats on the incumbent's petitions, or 34 by Independence Party members, the fact that there are questions remaining reveals a re-election campaign run much like Anello's City Hall -- not very well.
Third Street tavern owner and political novice Steve Fournier may not make it to the Democratic Primary either -- but unlike Anello, he's already guaranteed a spot on the ballot in November.
Last week, Rimmen protested the 993 signatures submitted by Fournier's campaign in an effort to eliminate a challenge to the endorsed Democrats, Council Chairman Bob Anderson and businessman Nick Ligammari. The Board of Elections is expected to rule on Rimmen's challenge later this week.
Fournier received Republican backing without gathering a single signature for that party's line, though. Only two GOP candidates, Christina Ventry and Joseph Falcone, circulated petitions for the two City Council seats on the November ballot, with each turning in more than enough to qualify.
Falcone, a Laborers Local 91 member who did not have the backing of his union, decided to withdraw from the race, said Niagara County Republican Chairman Henry Wojtaszek, and a committee selected Fournier to take his place.
"I like Steve," Wojtaszek said. "I think he's a good man, and he's built a business on Third Street when other people didn't."
The city Democratic Committee also challenged petitions submitted by City Council hopefuls Elliott White and Walt Kendzia, Rimmen said.
Rimmen said he has submitted specifications for his challenge to White, who turned in 849 signatures, and a general challenge to Kendzia's petitions, which included 1,064 names. He said he would decide early this week whether to submit specifications on the Kendzia protest.
If all the challenges are upheld, Anderson and Ligammari would avoid a primary.
"We've got our endorsed candidates and we need to protect them," Rimmen said.
A longtime supporter of county Legislator Renae Kimble challenged the petitions submitted by challenger Candace Corsaro for both major parties.
Shirley Hamilton filed against Corsaro's Democratic petitions, which were signed by 169 people, as well as the 25 Republican names submitted. Corsaro needs 133 legitimate signatures to force a Democratic Primary and 25 from Republicans.
In 2005, Kimble's campaign effectively snuffed a challenge by newcomer Tateanna Jenkins by successfully challenging her nominating petitions.
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 31 2007 |