BY SCOTT LEFFLER
scott.leffler@allwnynews.com
To hear Niagara County’s Democratic Party chairman tell it, today’s announcement that two high-profile members of the county’s Republican hierarchy were indicted and a third pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge was inevitable.
Nick Forster |
“I think that for a lot of years, there’s been suspicion of illegal activity — especially on the republican side,” Nick Forster said tonight by phone. “The chatter has been very loud lately about (state) Sen. (George) Maziarz and (state) Sen. Rob Ortt.”
Add in the immunity given to former Niagara County GOP Chairman — and current Assemblyman — Mike Norris and it just made sense something big was in the pike, Forster explained. “He was given full immunity … I’m surmising the fact that the AG needed someone that was going to be fully cooperative.”
A sealed indictment was handed down today that reportedly charges Ortt with three felony counts of offering a false statement for filing and charged Maziarz with … something — also reportedly a felony — although it’s still unclear of what that is.
The indictments follow an investigation by the New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman into Ortt, Maziarz, and former Niagara County Republican Chairman Henry Wojtaszek. Wojtaszek pleaded guilty today to a misdemeanor election law violation relating to campaign filings that were made in 2012-13.
A handful of individuals tied to Maziarz had reportedly been subpoenaed to testify before the Grand Jury, including Wojtaszek, Norris, Ortt’s wife, Meghan; Former Niagara County Legislator Glenn Aronow; Timothy P. Synor; and Jack Cookfair.
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