A dispute between the Monroe County Legislature’s Democrats boiled over on Tuesday as a majority of the Democrats say they have removed Legislator Vince Felder as head of their caucus.
Meanwhile, Felder says he remains Minority Leader because he cut off a meeting being held via ZOOM before the vote could take place.
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Democratic Legislators Yversha Roman, Rachel Barnhart, Joshua Bauroth, John Baynes, Linda Hasman, Howard Maffucci, Joe Morelle Jr, Justin Wilcox and Michael Yudelson say they have replaced Vince Felder with Ms. Roman of Gates. They so notified Legislature President Joe Carbone (R-Irondequoit) before the start of a special county legislature meeting Tuesday night.
But shortly after the meeting started online, Carbone said he would not be picking sides in the dispute and said he would recess the meeting until the Democrats sort out their differences.
This comes after Felder and four other Democrats split with the majority of the caucus over appointing Jackie Ortiz as the county’s Democratic elections commissioner. They favor acting Commissioner Lashana Boose, who was backed by Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren. The majority of the caucus wants to appoint Jackie Ortiz, who is the party’s official nominee.