Robert Ehrlich, the 67-year old founder of Pirate’s Booty, responded to claims that he was attempting to dissolve, remake and take over the government of the Village of Sea Cliff during an exclusive interview with the Sea Cliff-Glen Head Herald on Friday.
The businessman attempted to seize control of Village Hall on Monday, accompanied by three supporters, under the Citizens Empowerment Act, part of a 2009 law that gives citizens the right to dissolve their local government if they can acquire the support of 10 percent of a municipality’s population. He claimed that village officials refused to stamp his paperwork, despite the fact that a few village officials deny that he ever presented them with the aforementioned petition.
Ehrlich added that he was attempting to assert his legal rights “as a taxpayer, as a citizen, and as a human being.”
“I’m interpreting the law any way I want, the way Trump would interpret laws as he sees fit,” Ehrlich said. “It’s called trickle down politics, which is what we’re doing.”
The Citizens Empowerment Act requires that Ehrlich obtain at least 500 votes from village residents to dissolve the government, but in the interview he repeatedly claimed that he had “picked up 1,800 signatures.” The businessman further claimed that he was gaining national support for his movement, even supposedly being “invited to the White House.”
When asked what his motivations for conducting his apparent mayoral campaign in such an atypical manner, Ehrlich said that he believed the village government had not been conducting itself in a transparent manner for years, alleging that the village had not been serving its citizens, although the only examples he provided were in regards to a lack of outdoor seating and “limits on creativity.”
“It is our belief that there are situations that are not transparent or not common sense in the village,” Ehrlich added. “You know, when someone takes Austria or Ukraine, they don’t go and ask for permission, they just do it. I’m asserting my rights to have a free, open life, and have transparency”
In a now-deleted comment on the Village of Sea Cliff’s Facebook page, Ehrlich said that he met with Gov. Kathy Hochul about the Citizen Empowerment Act. Gordon Tepper, a spokesman for Hochul, said the governor's Long Island team has not been in contact with him at all.
When asked about this, Ehrlich claimed that he never said he met with Hochul, despite what his own previous Facebook comment stated.
Ehrlich said that he plans to be a write-in candidate for Sea Cliff’s village election on March 18, against incumbent Mayor Elena Villafane. He said that if he loses Tuesday night he and his supporters will begin “a one-year tax strike in Sea Cliff.”
"All of our supporters will not pay taxes for one year if I lose,” Erhlich said, “and we plan on continuing our effort to finish the act with the help of the governor, who now is very aware of this is happening.”
Tepper said that the governor’s office was unaware of Erhlich’s claims until media outlets began reporting on it Thursday afternoon.
