On the beaten path

Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner John Brunell fired longtime Deputy Commissioner Debra Bruno last Thursday for what some say was no reason at all.

Bruno’s apparent crime was that she was a supporter of Democrats considered to belong to the old guard: Keith Defayette, John Gallagher and Jackie Walker.

Defayette, Gallagher and Walker are Clinton County legislators running for re-election.

The feud goes back to when Gallagher defeated Shirley O’Connell for the party chairmanship a few years ago.

O’Connell and her supporters have been wanting revenge ever since. They got some of it last year when Brockway was able to orchestrate a successful coup and defeated Gallagher for chairman.

With Gallagher disposed of, the Brockway/O’Connell camp set their sights on Defayette.

The popular, 10-year legislator from Schuyler Falls all of a sudden found himself facing a primary challenge when Willard Todd decided to run as a Democrat.

With the Republican endorsement and the ballot lines of at least three other parties, Defayette should be able to ward off the challenge, but one never knows in a primary.

It’s at least enough to cause the veteran incumbent plenty of aggravation.

The intra-party squabble was riveting enough, but Brunell’s move last week topped everything.

Within minutes of the firing, Democratic cell-phone lines were burning up. The buzz got so hot that the party held an emergency two-hour meeting Saturday morning in the parking lot of the Government Center.

The meeting was supposed to be inside, but Brunell, who has the key to the building, mysteriously did not show up.

Word is that at the meeting, Brockway ordered party members not to speak of Bruno’s firing until after the election, especially to media types like me.

I’m no genius, but I don’t think any party could have much success if they want dozens of people to keep quiet for three-plus months about an event that everyone already knows about.

The better idea would have been for Brunell to wait until after election day to fire Bruno if the party really wanted to avoid a public mess.

Brunell told me that he can’t talk about Bruno’s dismissal because it is a personnel matter.

He also told me that anything written about her might cause her distress, so I should keep my keyboard quiet.

Huh??

Bruno’s supporters are marshaling their forces, and don’t be surprised to see her case end up with some kind of legal action.

It seems to me that Democrats might want to meet this situation head on and deal with it instead of trying to cover it up and pretend all is well.

These sorts of brouhahas happen with every political party in the country, from time to time, and it will continue to go on as long as politics exists.

Just ask local Republicans, who went through a few of their own dust-ups over the past 10 years.

Heck, it was only last summer when city Republicans were split during the mayoral primary between Mike Drew and Don Kasprzak.

We’ll see how this latest episode will affect the already fractured Democrats.

Remember, Election Day is Nov. 6, preceded by Primary Day on Sept. 18.