Which Straw Broke The Elephant's Back?

Political party chairmen are likes coaches, Steve Minarik once told me. They're hired to be fired. And the only thing that keeps them in a job is winning.

Minarik won plenty. Some, his peers said, he had no business winning.

But he'll win no more as chairman for Monroe County's GOP. County Executive Maggie Brooks asked for his resignation Friday and got it.

A change in style is what Brooks wanted. "No one thing led to the request," the county executive said.


Over 16 years as the county GOP chairman, Minarik became as close to a dynasty leader as could be found in Rochester-area politics. He assumed the mantel of leadership as Democrats took the White House, but ushered in a Republican Revolution two years before it arrived in Washington. Republicans haven't relinquished either the county legislature majority or the county executive's office since Minarik's arrival in 1992.

"A worthy adversary," is what Democratic chair and state assemblyman Joe Morelle added.

Conservative Party chair Tom Cook called him a political giant. "As influential a political leader as Monroe County saw in the last 100 years." Together, the two made a lot of kings. And enemies. Minarik never had a problem with that. "You do what you think is right for the people you're serving, the people of Monroe County."

So what was the straw that broke the elephant's back? Minarik's at-times coarse ways didn't play well with plenty of people, even those in the brass knuckle world of politics. Even those who benefited from them.

Did Minarik's bullying ways lead to the GOP losing Mike Green to the Democratic party as Green prepared to succeed his boss, Howard Relin in the D.A.'s office?

Some believe this spring's stalemated search for a new MCC president did it. Two long-time GOP lieutenants were pushed onto the finalists' list. Both were viewed as Minarik placements. Faculty, staff and students protested. Trustees deadlocked. No president was chosen. Brooks called the search outrageous and unacceptable.

All of that came after the prickly public defender search and the F.A.I.R. plan controversy. And let's not forget the Renaissance Square spectacular; announced days after Brooks entered office and now, on life-support, in need of substantial bi-partisan support just so ground can be broken.

Minarik's two years as State GOP chair may have made Minarik vulnerable. He backed William Weld for governor, a candidate who never even made it out of the party's convention. With anti-Republican sentiment roaring from Washington to Albany, the GOP lost the governor's mansion.


With State senate majority leader Joe Bruno, and now Minarik, stepping aside at the start and finish of the business week, the GOP's fortunes will be in new hands.

Even Minarik, who valued loyalty nearly as much as victory, had to feel his visit with Brooks Monday was a tollbooth moment.

Who drove him there? Only his favorite find, Brooks; a former TV anchorwoman he helped get into county office, who starred as county clerk, then became the warm, familiar face of his party. Maggie is as popular a government official as has ever served Monroe.

Ain't politics a grand ol' party?