Legislature Majority Leader Alan Sorensen, a Republican, is now the deciding vote on whether Legislature Chair Rob Doherty is re-elected in January, sources have told The SullivanTimes.
As of now, challenger Joe Perrello and Doherty have locked up four votes each, including their own.
Doherty has Nicholas Salomone Jr. , George Conklin III and Legislature Vice Chair Mike Brooks on his side while Perrello can count on Ira Steingart, Nadia Rajsz, and Luis Alvarez, sources said.
Sorensen may have shown his hand a bit in that he recently and publicly supported a call by Rajsz for an investigation of the role played by Doherty and County Attorney Mike McGuire into their November 2 confrontation at a meeting of the Town of Liberty Board of Assessors.
Reached at his Orange County government office this afternoon, The SullivanTimes asked Sorensen if he could at least say if he has come to a decision, without identifying who he would be voting for. He said he could not comment and was on a Zoom call and to check back with him after work.
Meanwhile, County Manager Josh Potosek would not comment except to say "it's a personnel matter" when asked by two citizens during public comments at the Government Center yesterday if an investigation into the November 2 incident has been launched.
Town of Liberty Supervisor Frank DeMayo and Liberty Assessor Vanessa Kelder have gone public with the incident, in which Doherty allegedly used the "c" word against Kelder and in which McGuire attempted to bully Kelder into changing the town's position that the County owed the Town of Liberty $226,000 - now that the Care Center at Sunset Lake property was transferred to the Sunset Lake Local Development Corporation and no longer tax exempt.
DeMayo has warned the County that the building where the incident occurred has surveillance footage but that has not yet been made public.
The vote to select the chair is expected to happen on January 2.
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