Robert Ehrlich, known best for founding the popular Pirate’s Booty cheese-puff snack brand back in 1987, has bizarrely staked his claim as mayor of a newly-created village within the already existing Long Island village of Sea Cliff by invoking an obscure New York State law.
Ehrlich is citing the "New N.Y. Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act" passed in 2010 - which established procedures for citizens to initiate municipal dissolution and consolidation via a petition signed by at least 10 percent of its population - as a means to create the new village-within-a-village of Sea Cliff, and declaring himself as its new mayor.
However, it is not currently known if Ehrlich has even circulated the required petition amongst Sea Cliff's 5,000 residents, let alone actually acquired the needed 500 signatures needed to clear the ten percent threshold.
“I have so many great ideas. I love Sea Cliff from the bottom of my heart, and I don’t want this to go in the wrong way,” Ehrlich said in a video posted by News 12 Long Island.
The current governing body of Sea Cliff, however, is not taking the 66-year-old's out-of-left-field attempt to usurp their authority lightly. Village officials reacted with unbridled outrage when Ehrlich attended a Sea Cliff village town hall meeting earlier this week and declared his purported new authority, demanding his own office and that all current employees resign.
“Upon arrival, Ehrlich 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,” said the Village of Sea Cliff in a Facebook statement posted on Wednesday.
When village officials dismissed his demands, Ehrlich and his advisers grew angry, yelled, and issued threats for over an hour.
“The activities of daily governance are unchanged, and the Village of Sea Cliff continues to operate under the guidance of its duly elected Board of Trustees,” the Sea Cliff Facebook statement read.
Sea Cliff will be holding their elections on Tuesday, March 18; current Mayor Elena Villafane is running unopposed, and Ehrlich has declared himself a write-in candidate.