A disagreement between two
county legislators from the
Town of Tonawanda may shift
the balance of power in Erie
County government.
The split became evident recently when Legislative Chairman Charles Swanick (D- Kenmore) found he had lost the
support of Lynn Marinelli (D-Tonawanda) for the appointment of commissioner for the
Erie County Water Authority.
Marinelli's vote is pivotal because the 17-member county
Legislature has been divided
lately by eight legisialors who
normally back Swanick, and
eight who regularly align them-selves with the Republican
forces led by County Executive
Joel Giambra.
Recently, Marinelli has been
voting with the Republicans.
Most recently, she opposed
Swanick's two successive
choices for the coveted Water
Authority position.
Swanick's first choice,
Democratic Party Chairman G.
Steven Pigeon, withdrew his
nomination on June 5, when
Marinell, along with two other
Democrats, refused to support
their chairman's nomination.
Marmelli also said she will not
support Swanick's second choice,
attorney Acea Mosey Pawlowski.
She denied any falling out be-tween her and the Democratic
majority.
"We just don't agree on the
Water Authority issue," said
Marinelli, whose Tonawanda dis-trict, ironically, does not have a
single constituent who buys wa-ter from the authority.
"It is like a marriage." she said.
"You don't always agree with your
spouse. I have to do what I think
is best. I support Steve Pigeon for
party chairman, but I pledged my
support to George Hasiotis, (for
commissioner). ... I think he has
done a wonderful job at the au-thority."
But political observers say the
tide is changing.
The facts: Several months ago,
Marinelli had proposed to the Leg-islature that she planned to use
about half of her $100,000 annual
member item money to hire her
former campaign manager, David
Pfaff, of Tonawanda, as an aide in
her office.
Swanick went on record opposing
her plan, saying member item
money should go to programs that
help the community. Marinelli
said that Pfaff s skills would be an
invaluable resource to her
Tonawanda district. Pfaff was not
hired.
Marinelli said she is no longer
pushing the Pfaff issue, which she
added had nothing to do with the
fact that she now considers her-self politically independent.
Still, the water appointment
could go either way and may have
an impact on Swanick's leadership
of the Legislature.
Giambra is not mustering the
same spirited opposition to Mosey-Pawloswski that he evinced in
opposing Pigeon. Giambra said
that the Mosey-Pawlowski appointment is "entirely up to the
Legislature."
Swanick remains firm in his
support.
"If Pawloski is appointed,"' he
said, "it will be the first time a
woman ever sat as commissioner
on the Water Authority. She is well
qualified, as an attorney, and as a
business woman. She'll make a
great commissioner."
