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Dennis Virtuoso

By: Tony Farina

As Democrat Dennis Virtuoso of Niagara Falls seeks his 15th term in the Niagara County Legislature, he has come under attack from his Republican rival who wants the County Ethics Board to investigate Virtuoso for what he called “a disgusting abuse of his position” to find “dirt” on him.

The charge comes from David Zajac who claims Virtuoso used his position as a legislator to gain information from Zajac’s personnel file, “sensitive personal information,” that was then given to the media and members of the legislature’s Democratic caucus.

“Not true,” says Virutoso who has led the Democratic caucus for 18 years although he admitted to calling the county social services office to check on reports of a DWI arrest of Zajac in 2015, wanting to know if he had included that in his application for a job driving children which he no longer holds.  

“They said it was taken care of,” said Virtuoso who has been a thorn in the side of the GOP majority for years.  He denied he leaked the information about Zajac’s driving record to the media although he conceded he may have mentioned it during an interview on the Sal Paonessa internet radio show. 

Zajac, who works in county social services, charges that four weeks before the election, Virtuoso suddenly “had a burning desire to see if there’s anything in my personnel file that he can use against me politically.  Unfortunately for him, he found nothing.” 

Zajac wants the Ethics Board to present their findings to appropriate agencies, including the Sheriff’s office, county attorney, and the district attorney’s office when they have completed their investigation. 

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