Andy Liuzzo, Eddie Sundquist, and David Wilfong

JAMESTOWN – The Republican candidate for mayor of Jamestown says he’s surprised his primary opponent has decided to run as a Libertarian candidate, but adds he doesn’t think it will split the Republican vote in the Democratic candidate’s favor.

Republican David Wilfong defeated Andrew Liuzzo in the June Primary for the Republican line on the mayoral ballot. Last Tuesday, Liuzzo announced he would accept the Libertarian Party endorsement as a candidate for mayor, making the November race for the open seat of mayor of Jamestown an three-way race, with Democrat Eddie Sundquist the third individual seeking the office.

Wilfong admits that he was surprised to learn Liuzzo will still be running, considering he had initially pledged to not seek nor accept any other party endorsement in the 2019 election for mayor.

“I could have sworn that I heard somewhere that he wasn’t going to search for another line [on the ballot] and if he did not win he was not going to go on another line. So I was kind of shocked about that, but he has the right to [go with another party], I understand that,” Willfong told WRFA this week. “Now it’s going to be a three-way race – between myself, Eddie and Andy – and it should be more exciting now than ever.”

Liuzzo had made his pledge to not run as a third party candidate in May, making the statement on social media. However, last week he said he changed his mind because he felt the citizens of Jamestown deserved another option in November.

Despite both Wilfong and Liuzzo being registered Republicans, Wilfong said he doesn’t feel Liuzzo’s running will decrease his chances of winning.

“As far as taking votes, I think Andy will take votes from both sides. This is going to offer an opportunity for everyone in the city of Jamestown, not just the Republicans, everyone in the city will vote for the candidate they want to.  I’m sure that Andy has Democratic friends and he’ll pick up those votes. I myself happen to be a county legislator in District 11 and I’ve known Democratic people who’ve voted for myself too. And then I’m sure you’re going to have crossover with Eddie, too. I’m sure Eddie has Republican friends and Republican backers. So as far as splitting the vote, I don’t know if that actually will happen.”

Wilfong has served as a member of the Chautauqua County Legislature since January 2014. He’s also the current chair of the Chautauqua County Republican Committee.  Liuzzo has served on the Jamestown City Council since January 2018.  Sundquist, a local attorney, has not held political office. He did make an unsuccessful run for congress last year, losing in the Democratic Primary.

The three are vying to replace current Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi, who is in the final year of his fifth term in office and who announced earlier this year he would not be seeking a sixth consecutive term.

Andrew Liuzzo

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown city councilman who was unable to secure the Republican party’s nomination as a candidate for mayor in June may still appear on the November election ballot.

Members of the Chautauqua County Libertarian Party held their monthly meeting last week in Bemus Point and nominated several additional local candidates for the 2019 general election.

Among those who were chosen was Andrew Liuzzo for mayor of Jamestown. Liuzzo, who is currently a first-term city councilman at large, lost to Chautauqua County legislator David Wilfong in the Republican party primary last month.

While campaigning as a Republican candidate for mayor, Liuzzo had said that he would not be seeking any other party’s endorsement because he didn’t want to split the Republican ticket in November.

“I will not seek or accept another party line nor will I pursue an independent line. If I am not your choice I will not risk splitting the vote to let the opposition party win,” Liuzzo wrote on his Facebook page on May 4.

However, following the Libertarian party’s announced nomination, Liuzzo said he would have to consider the endorsement.

“I’m grateful for the endorsement from the Libertarian party and thankful for the support I’ve received since they made their announcement. I will take the next couple of days to discuss it with my family before I make a decision,” Liuzzo wrote on his Facebook page on July 13.

As of Monday morning he has not yet announced if he planned to accept the nomination.

In addition to Wilfong, the other mayoral candidate is Jamestown attorney Eddie Sundquist. Wilfong is also running under the Conservative party line n the ballot, while Sundquist is running under the Working Families and Independence lines on the ballot.

Current Mayor Sam Teresi, a Democrat, had announced in February he wouldn’t be seeking a sixth term in office.

Raven Mason Thompson

In addition to choosing Liuzzo as its candidate for Jamestown Mayor, the Libertarian party is also selecting Raven Mason Thompson as its only candidate for Jamestown City Council At Large. Mason Thompson had ran against Tony Dolce in the June Republican Primary for City Council Ward 2 – but was defeated.

The Libertarian party is also endorsing Dolce for Ward 2, along with Brittnay Spry for Ward 4. Both those two are also the endorsed Republican candidates for those respective offices.

Other Libertarian Party endorsements that came out of last week’s meeting include:

• Rudy Mueller for Busti Town Supervisor,
• Russell Payne for Carroll Town Supervisor,
• Dennis Welka for Dunkirk City Council Ward 1,
• Daniel Heitzenrater for Ellicott Town Council Ward 4,
• Susan Baldwin for Villenova Town Council,
• John Dudley Robinson for Villenova Town Council,
• Ron Hall for Chautauqua County Legislator District 1,
• Christopher Schaeffer for Chautauqua County Legislator District 3,
• Terry Niebel for Chautauqua County Legislator District 5,
• and Bill Ward for Chautauqua County Legislator District 18.

Previous the party had already nominated Gerrit Cain for Chautauqua County Legislator District 16 and Ryan Sanders for Sherman Village Trustee. Other potential candidates will be voted upon in August.

The local Libertarian party has a deadline of Sept. 1 to announce its candidates for the November election instead of having an April deadline like other established parties. That’s because the Libertarian is a “start-up party” and is given more time to select candidates after receiving at least 50,000 votes during last year’s gubernatorial election.

A reason for the turnout was due in part to several high-profile Republican Party primaries for local office, along with the primary for the state seat vacated by Cathy Young.

In Chautauqua County, the primary election that saw the best turnout was in the Town of Carroll, where 37 percent of all registered Republicans came out to vote in the primary for Town Supervisor. Russell Payne ended up being the winner in that race.

Three Republican primaries saw turnouts of 26 percent. They were the race for Jamestown City Council Ward 2, the race for Kiantone Town Supervisor, and the Race for Chautauqua County Legislature District 18. The respective winners for those races were Tony Dolce, Joshua Ostrander, and Bill Ward.

The Jamestown Mayoral Republican Primary saw a turnout of 21 percent. David Wilfong was the winner.

And the turnout for the 57th senate district republican primary saw a turnout of 19 percent across the district, as well as 19 percent in Chautauqua county. George Borrello won that race.

The county Board of Elections will count absentee/affidavit results next Tuesday and certify all primary elections.

The only race it appears that could be impacted by an absentee/affidavit vote is the Independence Party primary in the town of Carroll for town clerk. Currently Susan Rowley leads the Independence Party primary over incumbent Tenneil Stelmack by a 20 to 19 vote. However, one absentee ballot was received for the primary.

David Wilfong

JAMESTOWN – David Wilfong is the winner of Tuesday’s Republican Primary for mayor of Jamestown, defeating opponent Andrew Liuzzo with an election night final of 480 to 271. An addition 61 absentee ballots were left to be counted.

Wilfong currently is in his third term in the Chautauqua County Legislature, representing Jamestown out of District 11. He is also the chairman of the Chautauqua County Republican Committee. He was the endorsed candidate for mayor by the Jamestown Republican Party Committee.  But Liuzzo – a first term City Councilman at large – secured enough signatures on a petition to force the Primary on Tuesday.

“Thank all of you who supported my campaign. America is great because we get to choose. Now the residents will decide in November who will lead the city the next four years. This process has been an honor and I look forward to finishing my term as your councilman at large,” Liuzzo said in a statement on his Facebook page following the announced results.

Of the roughly 3800 registered Republican who were eligible to vote, 751 turned out for the election. In addition to those voters, 61 absentee ballots are also left to be counted. That makes the voter turnout for the GOP mayoral primary at 21% – about double what a local primary typically sees, according to Board of Elections commissioner Norm Green.

Wilfong will go on to face the endorsed Democratic candidate Eddie Sundquist in the November General Election to be the city’s next mayor. The race for the open seat comes after Jamestown Mayor Sam Teresi announced in February he was not going to run for a fifth consecutive term in office.

Sundquist has also received the endorsements from the Independence and Working Families parties. Wilfong is also the endorsed candidate for the Conservative Party.

he General Election will be held on November 5th.

Meanwhile in the city’s only other Republican primary race, Jamestown Ward 2 City Councilman Tony Dolce defeated challenger Raven Mason Thompson, 119 to 34.

George Borrello

ALBANY – The GOP Primary race for the 57th State Senate District wasn’t very close.

Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello defeated Allegany County Legislature chairman Curt Crandall Tuesday by a marigin of 28%. According to the New York state Board of Elections, of the 11,700 votes cast across the district, Borrello picked up 7,453.

Borrello also picked up 4500 votes in Chautauqua County alone, while Crandall was only able to gain about 400 votes here. Borrello also beat Crandall in two out of the three other counties in the district. Crandall did easily win in his home county, where he won 1566 to 459.

Borrello will now face Democratic candidate Austin Morgan of Cattaraugus County in November’s general election.

The 57th Senate District seat was vacated earlier this year when Republican Cathy Young resigned in March to take a job at Cornell. The district covers Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, and a portion of Livingston counties.

Both mean are running for the seat that was held by David Himelein of Findley Lake until his passing earlier this year. The district covers most of the town of Chautauqua – including the Mayville area – as well as the Towns of Mina and Sherman.

Ward is now the endorsed candidate for both the Republican and Democratic party, as well as the Independence and Working Families parties.

Syper will still appear on the ballot as a candidate for the Conservative party.

Meanwhile, incumbent Republican Kevin Muldowney of Legislature District 1 in Dunkirk won his party’s primary in the north county.

In the tightly contested Republican Primary for Town of Carrol Supervisor, challenger Russell Payne defeated incumbent Laura Smith 188 to 159.

In the Republican Primary for Town of Kiantone Supervisor, Joshua Ostrander defeated Kevin Myers.

George Borrello (left) and Curt Crandall

The Chautauqua County Board of Elections says a total of 25,500 Republican voters are eligible to vote in today’s Primary for the 57th NYS Senate District – with candidates George Borrello, the current Chautauqua County executive, and Curt Crandall, the chair of the Allegany County Legislature, squaring off.

The Senate district includes Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany and part of Livingston Counties. There are 64,000 active Republican voters eligible to vote across the district.

Borrello was elected Chautauqua County executive in 2017 after spending eight years in the Chautauqua County Legislature, representing his home area of Hanover. Crandall is a long-time member member of the Allegany County Legislature and has served as its chair for the past 14 years.

Sen. Cathy Young was reelected to office in November 2018, but when she announced she was resigning from her seat in late February of this year, it meant that a special election would have to take place to fill that seat. As a result, the Republican party chairs for each of the four counties that comprise the 57th district (Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Livingston) met in early March to select their candidate and it was Borrello, with only the Republican Party chair from Allegany County selecting Crandall.

When Gov. Andrew Cuomo did not set a special election date to fill the vacated seat, the special election date was set for this coming November’s general election. That gave Crandall an opportunity to challenge Borrello’s endorsement and force a primary.

Borrello is also the endorsed candidate for the Conservative Party.

• LISTEN: WRFA INTERVIEWS GEORGE BORELLO AND CURT CRANDALL

Andrew Liuzzo (left) and David Wilfong

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR JAMESTOWN MAYOR

An estimated 3800 Republicans will be choosing their candidate for mayor to appear on the ballot for the November general election.

The two candidates who will appear on today’s republican party ballot are City Councilman at Large Andrew Liuzzo and Chautauqua County Legislator David Wilfong. Liuzzo was first elected to the Jamestown City Council in the 2017 election, while Wilfong was first elected to the County Legislature in 2013. He’s also the current chair of the Chautauqua County Republican Committee.

In February, Wilfong became the endorsed candidate of the Jamestown Republican Committee. But Liuzzo was able to force a primary by collecting an overwhelming number of petition signatures from registered Republicans living within the city.

Wilfong is also the endorsed candidate for the Conservative Party.

• LISTEN: WRFA INTERVIEWS ANDREW LIUZZO AND DAVID WILFONG

Tony Dolce and Raven Mason Thompson

CANDIDATES FOR CITY COUNCIL – WARD 2

There’s also a Republican primary for Jamestown City Council Ward 2 – with incumbent Tony Dolce being challenged by newcomer Raven Mason Thompson.

Dolce is the city Republican committee’s endorsed candidate, having served on the city council since 1999. This is Mason Thompson’s first attempt at running for public office.

• LISTEN: WRFA INTERVIEWS TONY DOLCE AND RAVEN MASON THOMPSON

OTHER LOCAL PRIMARIES

Other local primaries for the Republican Party include Carroll Town Supervisor and Town Clerk, Charlotte Town Council (Vote for 2), and Kiantone Town Supervisor. Also, Republicans have County Legislature primaries in Legislative District 1 in Dunkirk and Legislative District 18, covering the Mayville area, along with the towns of Mina and Findley Lake.

There are no primaries scheduled for the Democrats in Chautauqua County. However, a few third party primaries will be taking place in other areas of the county outside of Jamestown.

Polls are open Noon to 9 p.m.

Election officials say the busiest times to avoid will be Noon to 1 p.m. and in the evening during the dinner hour. All county poll sites will be open.

Results for all races will be posted online tonight at the website VoteChautauqua.com for local races and at Elections.NY.gov for 57th Senate district-wide results.

• MOBILE APP USERS: LISTEN HERE

Originally airing Thursday, June 20, 2019

WRFA’s Jason Sample talks with Republican Candidates for State Senate George Borrello and Curtis Crandall. The two will square off in a GOP Primary on Tuesday, June 25 to determine who will represent the party in the 2019 November General Election for the 57th Senate District.

• [RELATED] April 2019 Interview with George Borrello, Republican Candidate for State Senate
• [RELATED] March 2019 Interview with Curtis Crandall, Republican Candidate for State Senate

The race is taking place due to former Republican Senator Cathy Young leaving office in early March 2019.

Andrew Liuzzo (Left) and David Wilfong

JAMESTOWN – The Republican Primary for Jamestown mayor will take place next Tuesday, June 25 and is open to all registered Republican voters living in the city.

Both Jamestown City councilman Andrew Liuzzo and County Legislator David Wilfong are seeking the party’s endorsement and have spent the past couple months sharing their views with residents and explaining why they should be the next mayor of Jamestown. Last week both candidates were on WRFA’s Community Matters program and we asked them how they would address the city’s financial challenges if elected.

For the past three years city government has had to rely on supplemental funding from Albany to help close its budget gap. Most agree this funding won’t continue over an extended period of time, meaning the next leader of Jamestown will have to find other ways to balance the city’s books. That’s especially true if a state appellate court upholds an arbitration ruling with the police union that will retroactively increase their salaries by 2 percent, going back to the start of 2016.

Wilfong said that no matter who’s elected or what the next mayor plans to do, it’s unlikely much can be done to get the city out of a financial hole without the state will having to step in to help fix things.

“If the arbitration for the police department does come true, it’s going to put us in a huge financial burden and I believe you’ll probably see some type of control board come to the city of Jamestown. Whether that’s good or bad – I’m sure there’s both sides to that argument – but I embrace that. I think that sooner or later we are going to have to step up and take a look at what we’ve been spending our money on and how we’ve been spending our money. So as the mayor, I’m going to do the best I possibly can to work us through the situation. I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better and I bet you I’m the only candidate who says that,” Wilfong said.

It is worth noting that the state has already done an investigation of the city’s finances via an audit from the State Comptrollers office, released in September 2016. The audit didn’t find any glaring discrepancies or impropriety when it comes to spending, but did indicate city officials adopted budgets that were not structurally balanced, nor did the city have a multiyear financial plan in place. It also said the city did not properly budget for health care expenditures. However, the audit did not see the need for state intervention at the time of its release.

• READ THE 2016 STATE COMPTROLLERS AUDIT ON JAMESTOWN

Meanwhile, Liuzzo agrees that the city is in serious financial jeopardy. But he adds that if he’s elected to be the next mayor, he will work to grow the tax base to help bring in additional revenue for city government. He said that would include developing programs that encourage local entrepreneurship and business development from those who are already living within the city.

“We have good carpenters, good plumbers, good electricians. We have tradesman. And we still have the natural resources that helped to put Jamestown on the map to begin with,” Liuzzo said. “These are where we should be looking, from within, to expand our tax base, bring new jobs, and make our manufacturing home grown manufacturing.”

Liuzzo also noted that because the city is on such unsteady financial ground, he wouldn’t be opposed to seeing a tax cut to offer relief to homeowners and business.

“I want you to have skin in the game in what we’re doing. I think we need to be better neighbors. We need better neighborhoods, better gateway entries, and lowering the taxes for people that want to come hear. No tax break, just lowering the taxes. We can’t pay our bills anyways. What’s so difficult about giving the citizens of Jamestown a 2 percent tax cut? We can’t pay our bills anyway the way we are going, what difference does it make. Take the 2 percent,” Liuzzo said, later adding, “If I can [cut taxes] I will. If we’re so out of sync with paying our bills with the taxes that we can’t collect anymore anyways, you know what Jamestown? Let’s just save a couple dollars before the inevitable happens.”

This year’s mayoral election is an important one for the city, not only because of the financial challenges that have been gripping the city and will continue to likely do so for the next several years, but also because the current mayor – Sam Teresi (D)- has opted not to seek a fifth consecutive term in office. That means the city will have new leadership in January 2020 for the first time in 20 years.

The winner of the Republican primary will move on to face Democratic candidate Eddie Sundquist in November.

Andrew Liuzzo

JAMESTOWN – Both Republican candidates running for mayor of Jamestown agree that city police officers and fire fighters deserve every cent they are paid by local taxpayers. But both Andrew Liuzzo and David Wilfong also acknowledge that financial challenges facing Jamestown will likely prevent public safety workers from getting all they they deserve.

• [RELATED] LISTEN TO FULL LIUZZO/WILFONG INTERVIEW

In 2019 the city of Jamestown has budgeted nearly a third of its total budget – $11 million – toward police and fire salaries and other related expenses. And a larger chunk could be on the way if a state appellate court upholds a recent state Supreme Court decision involving an arbitration ruling giving the police union a 2% pay raise. City officials say any increase the police receive in salary will also likely be given to firefighters as well, so the outcome of the arbitration appeal will be a challenge facing whoever is the next mayor of the city.

Liuzzo is currently a member of the Jamestown City Council and is the only council person to vote against challenging the arbitration ruling in State Supreme Court, as well as voting against the decision to appeal the Supreme Court decision.

Liuzzo told WRFA in our recent interview that it’s not the salaries but the healthcare and pension mandates from Albany that are what the city should be focused on.

“This all goes back to our retirement benefits and our healthcare benefits, and the Taylor Law and the Triborough Amendment. These laws and amendments have hurt upstate communities immensely. These were downstate laws that got applied to the whole state,” Liuzzo said. “My question would be, ‘Why hasn’t the New York Conference of Mayors, as a group, addressed this?’ Our current mayor was president of NYCOM, yet that question is still out there. Why wasn’t this addressed? These kinds of laws are what has hurt upstate New York Communities.”

Liuzzo added that he would also be willing to local at regional policing by trying to improve relationship with adjacent communities like the Town of Ellicott and Busti – which each have their own police force as well.

“Jamestown encompasses West Ellicott, Ellicott, Lakewood-Busti. What I would like to see is an inter-municipal police force. I would like us to negotiate instead of litigate with our neighbors and come to an agreement where we can use the existing police force we have outside of Jamestown to be the same police force. And to protect all of us. That’s one way I see of bringing the cost down, or at least maintaining the cost,” Liuzzo explained.

David Wilfong

Wilfong has served on the Chautauqua County Legislature since 2014 representing Jamestown. During his time in Mayville a report was completed by the Center or Governmental Rochester using over $200,000 in state money that provided a plan to consolidate the Jamestown Police Department with the County Sheriff’s office gradually, over two decades or no longer.

The consolidation would come at no additional cost to county taxpayers but would save Jamestown some money. That plan was never put up for a vote, let alone publicly discussed by Wilfong and his colleagues after it was completed.

• VIEW THE CGR REPORT

Wilfong said he agrees that regional policing may be better solution, though the push should come from the state, not the local, level.

” It would have been very difficult to put together a group of people that would have voted in favor of the consolidation. I don’t know if that would ever go off. I’ve seen it, I’ve read the document and I actually think it was a good proposal. But one of the things is, ‘Do we want a change?’ I don’t know if the Jamestown Police Department wants to merge and I don’t know if the sheriff wants to merge,” Wilfong said. “I did see the figures and the cost savings would be good for the city of Jamestown and a flat cost the county. But we’re talking about the county legislators and you’ve got to get them on board with their own districts. Because what they’re going to say is, ‘How does that benefit my district. I live in Silver Creek or I live in Findley Lake.’ It’s a hard sell.”

Instead, Wilfong said he’d prefer to see the effort to deal with police costs lead by the state representatives, similar to what former Sen. Cathy Young had worked on with school districts.

“I am not against it. I think to make change and to move our county forward and our state forward, we’ve got to start thinking consolidation. I don’t know at the mayor level what can be done there. I think that needs to be done more at the state level – maybe our assemblyman or our next senator. I think that is where that type of change has to come from,” Wilfong said.

The complete audio of our interview with Liuzzo and Wilfong can be found at our website.

Liuzzo and Wilfong will square off in the June 25 Republican Primary, which runs from noon to 9 p.m. and is eligible to all 3800 registered republicans living in the city.