David Andreatta

@david_andreatta

Cheryl Rozzi, clerk of the town of Greece, will run for Monroe County clerk on the Republican ticket in November.

Her candidacy was announced Friday by the Monroe County Republican Committee chairman and Greece town supervisor, Bill Reilich, who hired Rozzi as town clerk.

In a prepared statement issued by the party, Rozzi said she was honored to have the opportunity.

"I am not a politician," she said. "I am someone who believes that delivering real results for this community is the top priority."

The position of Monroe County clerk has been something of a sore spot for Republicans ever since Gov. Andrew Cuomo tapped Democrat Adam Bello, the former supervisor of Irondequoit, to fill the vacancy left by Cheryl Dinolfo, a Republican who stepped down this year after being elected county executive.

Reilich argued that a Republican should have filled the vacancy, as that had been the preference of voters. He later came under heavy criticism for invoking the popular I-Square development in Irondequoit as a means of branding Bello as unprepared for the clerkship and disloyal to constituents.

"The people of Monroe County deserve a strong, independent county clerk who is committed to the job at hand," Reilich said in his statement announcing Rozzi's candidacy.

Reilich's earlier attack on Bello included potentially damaging financial information about I-Square that was little known outside county government, leading many to question how close the party chairman is, and ought to be, to county operations. Dinolfo fired a top aide over the matter, and the ethics officer of the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency, which kept the financial records for I-Square, has said how Reilich got the information is being investigated.

Democratic county legislators wasted no time issuing a statement blasting Rozzi's candidacy.

"Today's announcement that Republican Party Chairman Bill Reilich has handpicked his town employee, Cheryl Rozzi, to run for county clerk should be of concern to all county taxpayers," Democratic Minority Leader Cindy Kaleh said. "This is not business as usual when serious questions about Chairman Reilich's reach into county government remain unanswered."

Prior to being named Greece town clerk, Rozzi, 55, was the clerk of the Republican-controlled Monroe County Legislature. She lives in Ogden with her husband, Rick, and their daughter.

DANDREATTA@gannett.com

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