Collins Owns Illuzzi, Not Beach

If you believed Joe Illuzzi you would think his political web site had thousands of readers, not so. Recent numbers show PoliticsNY.net has several hundred readers a day. Those numbers mean Joe Illuzzi substantially over charges for ads placed on the site, but that matters little to the folks who buy them. Purchasing an ad on the Joe Illuzzi's site means he will sing your praises more than not. Pay as much as Chris Collins and then you down right own the guy.

When first elected Illuzzi went after Collins and oddly enough Chris Grant. It really bugged Grant at the time because he was inexperienced at being in the limelight. Illuzzi was critical for about six months and then suddenly Chris Collins began to buy ad space and the Illuzzi web site was his oyster.

Collins was turned on to Illuzzi by Steve Pigeon, who was rumored to be buying out Illuzzi. That never materialized, but Pigeon has used Illuzzi as both a weapon and mouth piece for years. The arrangement means whatever Chris Collins does is now worshiped as if it had been chiseled in stone on Mt Sinai. Opponents of Collins are also ridiculed by Illuzzi, even former pals which means Collins is paying Joe his price.

Whether its ethical means little to a man who is a convicted felon and once publicly fantasized about Legislator Lynn Marinelli like she was a Maxim hottie. Joe Illuzzi stumbled upon his success by repeating a story he had heard about Sam Hoyt fooling around in Albany. The blog was carried by several statewide media outlets and for about a month the Illuzzi letter was a must read in political circles. Joe was too lazy or creative to keep up the pace and as I wrote at the top, his numbers have dropped off significantly. I won't waste anymore time bashing Joe because its all been done before and his public profile can sink no lower.

So Chris Collins has a writer on the take in Joe Illuzzi, but he no longer is in the good graces of WBEN talk host Sandy Beach. Beach has been poking fun at Collins since Dan Neaverth Jr. was fired months ago. Neaverth worked at the County Emergency center in Cheektowaga, a position mostly funded by the Feds after 911, but Collins cut him loose anyway.

I believe Dan Neaverth Sr. worked with Beach in the 1970's on 1520 radio and Dan Jr. worked with Beach in the 1980's. So while Sandy normally leans right and defends Republicans, I'm told he considers Dan Jr. to be family. So much so that Dan Neavreth Sr. recently went on Beach's show proclaiming himself a candidate for County Executive, running on the ABC line, Anybody But Collins.Expect more of the same as the election gets closer and Beach can be a real prick if he decides to make it personal.

Between the two, its better to be friends with Sandy Beach than Joe Illuzzi and it costs much less.