|
Tony Masiello has withdrawn as a candidate to succeed Len Lenihan as chair od the Erie County Democratic Party, leaving the field looking much as it did before his name began to circulate as the favored choice of Governor Andrew Cuomo. James Eagan, who has a reputation as a fundraiser, wants the job, and is throwing a big to-do at the Statler this Tuesday, September 18, for all members of the county’s Democratic committee. Attorney Marc Panepinto is still in the mix, as is Lenihan’s former right hand, Jeremy Zellner, but neither has broad support. Lackawanna city chair Fran Warthling keeps falling in and out of the mix, and on the periphery stands Jack O’Donnell, the Erie County Water Authority commissioner who is a protege of former county chairman, Steve Pigeon. That association probably makes O’Donnell an impossible choice, as does his current position: When Pigeon was chairman, he tried to win himself an appointment as commissioner of the water authority, but that was regarded that as too much patronage in the hands of one man, even for Erie County.
|