ERIE COUNTY NOTEBOOK: County executive race draws contenders
By Dan Miner/minerd@gnnewspaper.com The Tonawanda News
Local legislators have received some contributions from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union Local 1000, the county’s labor union, according to the state’s campaign expenditures Web site.
Michele Iannello, D-Kenmore, received $200 in July 2006, according to her January 2007 campaign disclosure form. Lynn Marinelli, D-Town of Tonawanda, received $400 total in 2006 from the local AFSCME and $500 from the union’s national office.
Shots at Giambra
Jim Keane, former Deputy County Executive under Dennis Gorski and a main contender to garner the county’s Democratic Committee endorsement, recently asserted that the county’s fiscal crisis isn’t over, despite reassurances from current County Executive Joel Giambra.
“County Executive Joel Giambra’s recent declaration that Erie County’s fiscal crisis is over is both misleading and premature,” Keane said in a release. “It is reminiscent of previous claims from this administration that preceded the biggest fiscal crisis in Erie County’s history.”
Keane has been running on further restraining county spending, reducing county debt and continuing to build the surplus Giambra’s administration has raised in the last two years.
Another one on the ticket
Area businessman and entrepreneur Chris Collins formally announced Tuesday that he is running as a Republican for Erie County Executive. Collins is expected to garner the Republican Committee endorsement, and with his private business credentials, may prove a tough challenge for the Democratic nominee, who will be picked right now out of a field of career politicians.
Collins ran against John LaFalce for Congress in 1998 and lost, but did gain 38 percent of the vote.
The formal announcement for the Republican endorsement will come Saturday, after the Republican Executive Committee’s 85 members vote.
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