Wonder how Bill Reilich emerging as the favorite to be the Monroe County Republican Committee chairman sits with Jim Alesi?
Alesi had stood on crutches in the middle of the R News newsroom just five days earlier. The state senator is still recovering from a fall from a ladder.
Alesi had just finished an on-air interview in which he reacted to the resignation of committee chair Steve Minarik. As he casually fielded questions from R News staffers, Alesi was asked if he wanted the job.
"We don't do things that way?" Alesi said, in reference to the Monroe GOP's record of never installing an incumbent legislator in the role of chairman. "Creates too many conflicts."
Talk about conflicting signals.
Maggie Brooks appeared to send them by announcing that, in her search for new leadership for the committee, she would endorse Reilich, a three-term Assemblyman, former county legislator and current Greece Republican committee chair.
"Bill will offer exactly the kind of leadership we need to move our great party forward in a positive direction," Brooks said in a statement. "He understands that we must begin a new era of inclusiveness and collaboration, and set a new tone that will make divisiveness a thing of the past."
Reilich called it an honor. "In my role as State Assemblyman, serving in the minority party, I understand what it takes to get things done by building relationships with people who may not always agree with me politically. I know first-hand that collaboration is a powerful means for achieving our goals."
Part of Brooks' plan to back Reilich comes with the qualifier that four vice chairs be appointed as well. We don't know who they will be, but bet on their "inclusive" skills rising to the top, the way the county executive said Reilich's did.
Meanwhile, Reilich says he'll reach out to party leadership to support his bid for the chairmanship. Look for more conflict from interested party members, like Alesi.
Or maybe it will be another fall from a ladder.
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