This is just a quick update on petitions filed with the Erie County Board of Elections concerning the upcoming September primaries:

• John Flynn filed approximately 14,000 Democratic signatures in his campaign for Erie County District Attorney. Acting DA Michael Flaherty’s number is about 4,000, with Mark Sacha close behind at 3,466. Flynn’s number is impressive but Flaherty’s is poor for a candidate with $300,000 to spend. They were paying $15 per hour to petitioners. Sacha’s number is not great, but it is also not bad for someone with no ties to the party apparatus.
• Cute move by whoever is running the Reform Party in Erie County. You may recall that that Party is what Rob Astorino’s Stop Common Core Party morphed into after the 2014 gubernatorial election. The Reform Party authorized both Sacha and Republican DA candidate Joseph Treanor to contest the nomination. There are currently only 11 registered Reform Party members in Erie County. So the Chairman Langworthy thinking must go like this: if Treanor wins the line, good for him; but maybe it is to the Reps’ advantage to round up a half dozen or so Reform Party members to write in Sacha, which would give him a line in November and potentially hurt Flynn’s campaign.
• Speaking of Flynn, in addition to the Democratic primary he will also have a primary in the Conservative Party. Treanor is a registered Conservative and just needed to file Conservative petitions.
• In the 60^th State Senate district Al Coppola filed 2,847 signatures, enough to put him on the ballot in September. While Amber Small will have a larger number of signatures, Al’s total is impressive for a non-endorsed candidate. The Small-Coppola contest will be competitive.
• Kristy Mazurek has filed petitions against Monica Wallace in the 143^rd Assembly District Democratic primary. Depending on whether those petitions can be challenged or can withstand a challenge, the Pigeonistas live!