McCarthyisms: Lorigoist Stenography
Buffalo’s sleepiest political columnist™ strikes again!
Speaking of the Grisanti district, much has been made in some quarters about the efforts of Kitty Lambert — a same-sex marriage advocate and head of a group called Grisanti Grassroots – to register about 300 sympathizers in the Conservative Party. The idea would be to build support for Grisanti in the minor party should he face a primary over his 2011 vote in favor of same-sex marriage.
But Erie County Conservative Chairman Ralph Lorigo says about one-third of those new Conservatives hail from Niagara County, which is not expected to be part of the new district. And he points out that Conservative honcho Billy Delmont signed up another 200 Conservatives himself over the past few months. Those new Conservatives may not be as enthusiastic about the Grisanti vote.
His mustachioed somnolence also stuffed Sunday’s column with the third or fourth mention of Barry Weinstein and Chris Collins stalking NY-26, and how Collins in particular loves that he won all the Erie County towns in the district when he ran.
This is because much the suburbanite electorate is comprised of low-information WBEN voters.
But that Grisanti thing – “much has been made in some quarters”. Passive voice + strawman, paired with supposed information from what amounts to the boss of a political gang, just shouldn’t be in the paper.
Same-sex marriage and civil rights advocate Kitty Lambert set Stenographer Bob right. She runs a group called “Grisanti Grassroots” which has been working to register same-sex marriage proponents as Conservative Party members to help Grisanti should there be any primary.
Dear Bob:
I was pleasantly surprised to see my name in your column today, especially since I had not spoken to you. I was more surprised to see that you relied solely upon the Conservative Party to provide you with information about our registration drive. Of course, they know none of the details; we didn’t provide them with courtesy copies of our work…
… only 12.5% of the 304 Conservative Party members we registered are from outside Erie County – and nowhere near one-third are from Niagara County.
They lied to you.
Also, my election attorney advised me that, according to NYS Election Law Section 5-304.3, only voters whose registrations were collected and submitted before October 15, 2011 can legally vote in the 2012 Erie County Conservative Party Primary. That’s why we hurried to get it done. That’s also why we did it quietly: so the homophobes in the National Organization for Marriage wouldn’t do the same thing and negate our efforts. We caught them by surprise and they aren’t happy about it.
If our group could have been registering new Conservatives legally qualified to vote in the 2012 primary AFTER October 15, 2011, we would have certainly registered four or five times the voters we did. Therefore, not even one of the voters Billy Delmont allegedly registered “in the past few months” will be legally permitted to vote in the 2012 primary. The only exception to this rule are voters who just turned 18 years old after October 15, 2001 – and I doubt crusty old Billy Delmont knows two 18 year olds, let alone 200.
They lied to you again.
Perhaps we can talk on the telephone or over coffee the next time you write about a project I’m coordinating. My number is 716-xxx-xxxx. I would be delighted to talk or meet with you, as I am an avid reader of your column. And I won’t lie to you.
Sincerely,
Kitty Lambert-Rudd
Coordinator
This is probably illustrative of why buyers of the paper version of the Buffalo News prefer its coupons over anything else.
Kitty need not worry. Ralph Lorigo has not one ball on his body and will give Mark Grisanti the party’s endorsement. All Ralph’s waiting for is a little more grease from Grisanti’s campaign committee. And ole Billy needs, as is his usual custom, is a few minor patronage jobs somewhere – anywhere – to buy his silence.
Vote Conservative. It’s not your daddy’s party anymore!
I agree… from our conversations with Lorigo, he’s just looking for a little more cash this election cycle. Don’t worry. He’ll have it.
I wonder how Chuck Swanick and his lovely wife will feel when hundreds of LGBT activists protest outside his home – and when he gets beat in the Conservative primary by 250 new Party members who support marriage equality?
Chuck Swanick — now there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.