Buffalo News, July 31, 2003
By NIKI CERVANTES AND HAROLD MCNEIL and NIKI CERVANTES AND ANTHONY CARDINALE and NIKI CERVANTES AND BECKY OSVATH and NIKI CERVANTES AND JANE KWIATKOWSKI and LOU MICHEL AND NIKI CERVANTES and JERRY ZREMSKI AND NIKI CERVANTES and LEN DELMAR AND NIKI CERVANTES and MARY PASCIAK AND NIKI CERVANTES and NIKI CERVANTES and NIKI CERVANTES AND ELMER PLOETZ |Published Thu, Jul 31, 2003
The surprise defections to a rival political party by the wife of Lancaster's supervisor and the wife and daughter of two allies has set off a round of angry finger-pointing and accusations.
But it is not Supervisor Robert H. Giza, a Democrat, who is upset by his wife's decision to switch political allegiances.
The one feeling betrayed here is Hank Gull, the leader of the town's Independence Party -- and an unabashed Giza detractor.
Much to Gull's dismay, his party now counts Giza's wife, Carol, as one of its newer members. Joining her are Michele Montour, the wife of Councilman Mark Montour, and Danielle Ruffino, the daughter of Councilman Ronald Ruffino.
"They are infiltrators," Gull said of the women. "They were deployed on the slim chance that they might be able to do some good later on. It is very devious."
Both Giza and Ruffino denied that allegation. Montour did not return calls to comment.
"My wife isn't political," Giza said. "She just wanted to be Independence. This is America. You can join any political party you want."
Gull says the new members managed to get enough signatures to force the Independence Party's endorsed candidates into a potentially damaging primary Sept. 9.
Now Lancaster Mayor William G. Cansdale, a Republican running against Giza in the November election, will have to fight to retain the Independence Party line against Nicholas Sherwood, a Depew village trustee.
And the party's two endorsed candidates for the town board, Daniel R. Centinello and Kenneth L.O'Brien III, will run against Michael Myszka.
Both Sherwood and Myszka were leaders in the Independence Party before Gull took over. He accuses them of joining forces with the Democrats in an effort to regain control of the party.
"It's a contrivance, that's for sure," he said.
Neither Sherwood nor Myszka could be reached to comment.
After learning there would be a primary, Gull said he checked the party's registration rolls and learned that the three women had all joined in October, within 12 days of each other.
They were part of a wave of 40 new members who had joined since 2002 alone, more than two-thirds of them Democrats and 20 of whom had registered in October, according to Board of Elections records.
Giza said the timing of his wife's registration was a coincidence, and that his wife had no idea Michele Montour or Danielle Ruffino had also joined.
Cansdale -- widely considered the strongest opponent Giza has faced in years -- said he believed the family members had been sent to the Independence Party to force him into a primary.
"I think they're there to make mischief," he said.
The flap underscores the importance of the town's minor parties in the election this fall. The race for supervisor in particular is expected to be so close that either the Independence Party or Conservative Party could bring in the winner.
The Independence Party has 727 members, according to the Board of Elections, or 2.87 percent of the registered voters. The Conservative Party has 669 members, or 2.64 percent.
Overall, 41 percent of the voters in Lancaster are Democrats; 30 percent are Republicans. Almost 23 percent of the voters are unaffiliated.
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