Insiders Corner
Rumors Of Another Spitzer Like Scandal And Collins Repeating History
By The Insider
Apr 14, 2009, 09:42

The Insider Corner will not be used to repeat unfounded rumors like others. However, when we come across something that bears repeating we will do so with prejudice.

An interesting story is being worked on by a local TV station and it goes like this; the same name as that of a local high ranking politician has been discovered in a little black address book that was the property of a murdered Toronto prostitute. My source tells me the phone number attached to the name is a local number, but as of yet it has not been connected to the politician.

The fact that a name is identical to that of someone we all know does not mean it actually is that person, so this story will not see the light of day unless a direct connection is made. Should it actually be the local politician, well then you could kiss their career goodbye.

Turning the page, the Insider Corner was not created to feature County Executive Chris Collins every day, but today we just can’t help it. That’s because those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it. That quote should be chiseled into a block of granite and dropped at the door step of our County Executive. Collins is heading down the same path his predecessor Joel Giambra took and to quote that great philosopher Yogi Berra, “it’s déjà vue all over again.”

Like Collins, Giambra won in a landslide over a democrat to become County Executive in 2000 and his win was even more impressive as it was over then incumbent Dennis Gorski. Giambra underwent and survived life threatening cancer surgery before even taking office and had as high a popularity rating as one could have.

That was not enough for Joel; he wanted to change the face of the political landscape and tried to insert himself in key local races. Giambra’s political hit man was Bruce Fisher and they went after anyone they felt was not on board, even republicans like Dale Volker. In the end Giambra only managed to weaken his influence by creating enemies in all corners and they were quick to strike the minute Joel stumbled.

Collins ran on the platform that he was a chief executive, not a chief politician, but obviously he lied. Collins fashions himself as a bit of a Boss Tweed and his Bruce Fisher seems to be Chris Grant. The story in today’s News by Bob McCarthy repeated what many of us already knew and that is the fact Collins is searching for candidates to run against those in local office who have become thorns in his side.

The one quote Collins made in the story that has insiders laughing this morning is the one in which he claims Mark Poloncarz has a big ego! Certainly it takes an ego to run for political office, but no one in the state has a larger ego than our County Executive. Just ask former Deputy County Executive Mark Davis.

The county democrats are a bit splintered at the moment with Len Lenihan in one corner and Byron Brown and Steve Casey in the other. However, if Collins continues to target people in both camps he may unify the party and become the focal point in two years. The dems have the numbers and if they can find a suitable candidate Collins may take Giambra’s path from the penthouse to the outhouse after just one term.

If you read the News this morning you will have read what we mentioned last week and that is that Joe Mesi will work for the New York Senate majority office downtown. Mesi will use this position to better acquaint himself with local and state issues, which was a major weakness last year and take another run at Mark Ranzenhofer in a year.

We are hearing he hasn’t ruled out a run against Michele Iannello in a primary for her Legislature seat, but it certainly will not be as a Chris Collins backed candidate. Mesi is a democrat with a capital “D” and he will be a very visible face in our political arena for some time to come.

E-mail the Insider at insiderpage@speakupwny.com.




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