The founder of the Pirates’ booty snack lost a confused bid for the mayor of a small New York community after claiming he was the village leader and had the authority to replace the entire local government, officials said Thursday.
Elena Villafane, the incumbent mayor of the Sea Cliff, defeated Robert Erich (1,064-62), the founder of the Pirate Booty Snack, in a village about 26 miles northeast of midtown Manhattan on Tuesday.
Villafane was running unopposed in her third two-year term, when Ehrlich jumped into the fight a week ago on Monday.
At that time, Erich went to the village hall and submitted a statement declaring that he “misertly asserted his authority as mayor, requested access to office space, and that the entire village staff came into effect immediately, but could reapply for their work,” the village said in a statement.
“While village staff remained calm and expert throughout the incident, Yerrich and his companions raised their voices, using profan languages to make the villagers’ claims and engage in direct harassment of the villagers,” the statement said. “Despite multiple requests to leave, they refused, creating a hostile and destructive environment that required police intervention.”
The brave claims surprised village officials who had said they had never seen or heard from Ehrlich before in the civic context.
“As far as I know, he has never participated in government agencies, volunteer agencies, boards or committees,” village manager Bruce Kennedy told NBC News Thursday.
Ehrlich rejected the election results and said they were “equipped” and counted in secret.
He said the voting workers were not properly checking the roles – and he said he knows his supporters claimed to have repeatedly visited the voting booth.
“That’s why one of my supporters voted three times,” Erich insisted on NBC News. “Other people voted four times, but they didn’t even realize he’d come many times.”
Ehrlich argues that he and other village residents have the power to completely replace the village’s government structure with another building under the New York Government Reorganization and Civic Empowerment Act.
“I don’t want to disband the village. I want to consolidate the village,” Ehrlich said.
“Integration means that one entity, a dominant entity, or a resident who is actually a boss of another entity, can absorb this entity into this entity.
The main beef in Ehrlich, along with the village government, is very pedestrian. He says the service is not provided in a timely manner and is not enough to stimulate the business on the main drug, Sea Cliff Avenue.
“They really couldn’t care much and didn’t want the businesses to flourish,” he said. “This place requires pedestrians, people from outside need to enter the sea cliffs.
Ehrlich said he has received 1,900 votes at his coffee shop over the past four years, saying there is a sacred precedent for such a rare vote.
“1,900 votes since the election,” he said. “The longest election in history was from 1268 to 1271 when they couldn’t find the Pope. In fact, I’m the longest election in history.”
In theory, Ehrlich or others could file a petition asking 10% of registered voters in the village to dissolve the sea cliffs.
Once such a signature is verified, a village-wide vote will be held to ask whether the sea cliffs should be removed and folded into the town of Oyster Bay, Kennedy said.
“He had a FedEx type envelope that was sealed off as he was swinging around,” Kennedy said. “And when he was asked, ‘Do you want to submit it?” and he said, ‘No.’ ”
Ehrlich invented pirate booty in the 1980s, making cheese, corn and rice snacks ubiquitous at checkout stands across America.
Then, in 2013, B&G Foods Inc. purchased Robert’s American Gourmet Food, which owns the Pirate’s Booty brand, for $195 million.
Five years later, Hershey “purchased Pirate Brands from B&G Foods, Inc., which includes Pirate Booty, Smart Puffs and the original Tings brand, for a $420 million purchase price,” the well-known chocolate company announced.
Despite his wealth, Erich said Thursday that he plans to take an active and proactive approach in local political politics.
As a writer candidate, Ehrlich had little chance of winning Tuesday.
He asked if he might take another shot when he runs to mayor two years later, using more traditional methods that allow him to land on the poll. “No, I’m the mayor now. Why should I wait two years?
