Now when I think of ways a pirate should act, this is it. The founder of the iconic snack Pirate’s Booty Robert Ehrlich has now asserted himself as the village leader. Stating that he was THE candidate and that he won by rite in vote. Jury is out on whether or not that’s actually a fact. But as one of the Managers here at Nerdbot.com we’d like to support him in his pirate endeavors.
Sea Cliff is a small area on Long Island but it’s a place that sounds like it should belong to a pirate so we’re gonna go with it. Officials said on Thursday March 20th that he tried to commandeer the entire local government, attempting to replace the staff and assert his position.
Ehrlich went to Village Hall, and “presented a statement falsely asserting his authority as mayor, demanding access to office space, and declaring that the entire Village staff was fired effective immediately but could reapply for their jobs,” the village said in a statement.
“While Village staff remained calm and professional throughout the incident, Ehrlich and his associates raised their voices, used profane language, made outlandish claims, and engaged in direct harassment of Village personnel,” the statement said. “Despite multiple requests to leave, they refused, creating a hostile and disruptive environment that required police intervention.”
Who really won the vote?
Elena Villafane is the “official” leader of that small sea town. Winning by a landslide as she ran unopposed for her third two-year term. That is until Ehrlich threw his name into the mix. He is saying that his job is to unite his new town with the current town of Sea Cliff. The mayor elect is not sure that this is the way to go about it as it is quite “unorthodox” but fans of Robert are coming out in full force.
Why can he do this?
Well there is something called The New NY Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act. The “New N.Y. Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act” provides a process for voters to petition for a public vote on dissolving their local government. The new legislation requires the petition to be submitted to the clerk of the town containing the greatest portion of the entity to be dissolved.
Ehrlich rejected election results, saying they were “rigged” and counted in secret. Even claiming that his supporters voted multiple times to ensure that he was elected as the village leader. But we’re not sure that’s allowed.
“One of my supporters voted three times,” Ehrlich said, “Another one voted four times, and they didn’t even realize that he was coming in that many times. “
Could this also be a testament to how things are run there? If he’s seeing it as a dysfunctioning government entity, why not try and take over? Could this be a step in a new world made for Pirates? As someone with pirates in their ancestry this is both intriguing and slightly hilarious. But I can also understand why the Mayor would be very frustrated with the situation.
“I don’t want to dissolve the village. I want to consolidate the village,” Ehrlich, who calls himself the duly elected Mayor of the ‘Incorporated Village of Sea Cliff’ residents, said.
Ehrlich’s current complaints about the village government are remarkably simple. He says that services in the area aren’t delivered in a timely manner. And that he’d also like to see business increase along the main drag, Sea Cliff Avenue. He wants businesses to thrive in the area and that’s honestly a noble and good thing. Anything that can be done to encourage tourism, or increased sales in general would make him happy.
“Consolidation means that one entity, the ruling entity, the residents, who actually are the boss of the other entity, could then absorb that entity into this entity, making everything run the way it is now, except without the abuse and fear and threats that come to this village,” Ehrlich continued. “They really could not care less and do not want businesses to thrive. The place needs foot traffic. It needs people from the outside coming into Sea Cliff.”
Ehrlich states he has collected 1,900 “votes” at his coffee shop over the span of the last four years. Citing that the longest election in history ran from 1268 to 1271 when they couldn’t find a pope. So he wants to claim that he now has the longest election in history on top of everything else.
“He had a FedEx-type envelope that was sealed that he was waving around,” allegedly with petition signatures, at the March 10 meeting, Kennedy said. “And when he was asked, ‘Do you want to submit that?’ and he said, ‘No.’”
Technically Ehrlich or anyone else could submit a petition with 10% of the village’s registered voters asking for Sea Cliff to be dissolved. Then once signatures were verified, a village-wide vote would be held. Voting on whether or not Sea Cliff should be merged into the town of Oyster Bay.
Ehrlich invented the Pirate’s Booty snack in the 1980s, and has since then grown his wealth through various acquisitions. But, Despite his wealth, Ehrlich said he plans to remain active in local political politics. As a write-in candidate, Ehrlich had virtually no chance of winning Tuesday. But hey, that doesn’t mean he should just give up!
When he was asked if he’d go about things in a more official capacity after the vote he said, “No, I’m mayor now. Why do I have to wait two years? I am mayor at this moment. I can write an executive order.” And I just think that’s the most hilarious thing ever.
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