Online readers of Artvoice were among the first to learn that the video-shooting political operative who goaded Congressional candidate Jack Davis into taking a swat at him on May 11 was Assemblywoman Jane Corwin’s young chief of staff, Michael Mallia. The incident has played out terribly for Corwin, despite (or perhaps because of) the worst efforts of Erie County GOP chairman Nick Langworthy to use the incident to impugn Davis’s temperament. Apparently, there is something in Mallia’s demeanor that causes viewers to wish Davis will hit him.

Now a new mystery has been addressed: a second camera. The Corwin campaign sent two volunteers to mock Davis that day: One was Mallia, who makes about $40,000 per year working for Corwin, and the other was his girlfriend. Some media outlets have identified Mallia’s girlfriend as Emily Hunter, a staffer for former Congressman Chris Lee.

Others have identified her as Emilie Rosenbluth. Rosenbluth, who is chief of staff for Erie County Legislator Lynne Dixon, has not returned our call. Mallia himself has been unavailable to comment, having fled New York for Florida. (We’re told he was spotted at the Blue Martini in Fort Lauderdale over the weekend.)

The Corwin campaign has not released the complete video recorded by Mallia, just the few seconds in which Davis seems to give him a shove and Mallia squeals his displeasure. The Corwin campaign has not released any video from the second camera, claiming that its battery was dead. Davis supporters say that the complete video would show Mallia taunting Davis, calling him a “coward” for backing out of a debate with Corwin and the Democratic candidate, Kathy Hochul. The Davis campaign, through former Conservative candidate David Bellavia, is making much of Mallia’s use of the word “coward”: The incident took place at a gathering of military veterans in Greece, New York, and Davis is a veteran.

—geoff kelly