Latest news with #Pirate'sBootySnacks
The Guardian
21-03-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Pirate booted out: popcorn mogul's coup in New York village falls flat
The popcorn mogul who founded Pirate's Booty Snacks tried to commandeer a New York village's local government, storming this minuscule municipality's office armed with a false statement claiming that he was mayor. Robert Ehrlich strode into the town hall of Sea Cliff, a village of fewer than 5,000 residents within the larger town of Oyster Bay on Long Island, with all the finesse of a literal pirate on 10 March. He 'presented a statement falsely asserting his authority as mayor, demanding access to office space, and declaring that the entire village staff was fired effective immediately but could reapply for their jobs', authorities said on Facebook. Ehrlich, 66, cited a New York state law that permits local residents 'to dissolve their town or reformulate it', the New York Times explained. Under this legislation, one needs signatures from 10% of town voters. Ehrlich brandished an envelope claiming that he had 1,800 signatures – but reportedly refused to show it to town workers, alleging that signatories were worried about blowback. After his failed takeover, Ehrlich entered Sea Village's mayoral race as a write-in candidate. On Tuesday, Ehrlich lost heavily to the incumbent, Elena Villafane, in a 1,064-to-62 vote, according to reports. Ehrlich's mutinous moves are reminiscent of the campaign by Donald Trump's key aide Elon Musk to slash federal spending as head of the so-called 'department of government efficiency', an ad-hoc body created by the US president upon returning to the White House two months ago. Doge staffers have repeatedly arrived at federal agency offices demanding access to premises and computer data, while firing or putting on notice hundreds of thousands of public service employees. Many of his moves have been successfully challenged in court. After village employees told Ehrlich that his proclamation was 'invalid and unsupported by law', they asked him to leave. But Ehrlich and his associates turned 'increasingly confrontational and refused' the village said in a Facebook post. The pushback left Ehrlich's timbers un-shivered. Although city staff kept calm, Ehrlich and his crew 'raised their voices, used profane language, made outlandish claims, and engaged in direct harassment of Village personnel', the post added – and would not raise anchor. This created 'a hostile and disruptive environment that required police intervention.' Village workers suffered 'nearly an hour of escalating hostility before Mr Ehrlich and his associates left and order was restored.' Village leaders thanked office staff for remaining cool-headed and respectful despite 'being subjected to intense and outlandish behavior'. 'They are a credit to our Village and demonstrate the motto of 'Keep Calm and Carry On,'' the Facebook post said. After his loss, Ehrlich reportedly insisted 'I'm still the mayor' and, like Trump since his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, claimed the village election 'was rigged'.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pirate's Booty founder stages Long Island mutiny, declares he's mayor and tries to fire village staff
The founder of Pirate's Booty Snacks lost his chaotic bid for mayor of a tiny New York community after he claimed he was the village leader and had the authority to replace the entire local government, officials said Thursday. Elena Villafane, the incumbent mayor of Sea Cliff, defeated Pirate's Booty Snacks founder Robert Ehrlich, 1,064-62, on Tuesday in the village, which is about 26 miles northwest of midtown Manhattan. Villafane had been running unopposed for her third two-year term when Ehrlich jumped into the fray a week ago Monday. That's when Ehrlich went to Village Hall and "presented a statement falsely asserting his authority as mayor, demanding access to office space, and declaring that the entire Village staff was fired effective immediately but could reapply for their jobs," the village said in a statement. "While Village staff remained calm and professional throughout the incident, Ehrlich and his associates raised their voices, used profane language, made outlandish claims, and engaged in direct harassment of Village personnel," the statement said. "Despite multiple requests to leave, they refused, creating a hostile and disruptive environment that required police intervention." The brazen assertions stunned village officials who said they'd never seen or heard from Ehrlich before in any civic context. "To the best of my knowledge, he has never participated in any government entity, in any volunteer agency, any board or commission," Village Administrator Bruce Kennedy told NBC News on Thursday. Ehrlich rejected election results, saying they were 'rigged' and counted in secret. He said that poll workers weren't properly checking rolls — and that he'd know, claiming his supporters made repeated visits to the voting booth. "So one of my supporters voted three times," Ehrlich claimed to NBC News. "Another one voted four times, and they didn't even realize that he was coming in that many times. " Ehrlich insists he and other village residents have power, under the New York Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act, to completely replace the village government structure with another. "I don't want to dissolve the village. I want to consolidate the village," said Ehrlich, who calls himself the duly elected mayor of the 'Incorporated Village of Sea Cliff Residents.' "Consolidation means that one entity, the ruling entity, the residents, who actually are the boss of the other entity, could then absorb that entity into this entity, making everything run the way it is now, except without the abuse and fear and threats that come to this village." Ehrlich's primary beefs with village government are remarkably pedestrian. He says that services aren't delivered in a timely manner and that not enough is being done to revitalize business on the main drag, Sea Cliff Avenue. "They really could not care less and do not want businesses to thrive," he said. "The place needs foot traffic. It needs people from the outside coming into Sea Cliff, from [other North Shore Long Island communities, such as] Roslyn, from Great Neck." Ehrlich said he has collected 1,900 "votes" at his coffee shop for the past four years, saying such an unusual ballot has holy precedent. "Nineteen hundred votes since our election," he said. "The longest election in history was from 1268 to 1271, when they couldn't find a pope. So actually, I have the longest election in history." In theory, Ehrlich or anyone else could submit a petition with 10% of the village's registered voters asking for Sea Cliff to be dissolved. Once such signatures were verified, a villagewide vote would be held to ask whether Sea Cliff should be eliminated and then folded into the town of Oyster Bay, Kennedy said. "He had a FedEx-type envelope that was sealed that he was waving around," allegedly with petition signatures, at the March 10 meeting, Kennedy said. "And when he was asked, 'Do you want to submit that?' and he said, 'No.'" As a write-in candidate, Ehrlich had virtually no chance of winning Tuesday. Asked whether he might take another shot at running for mayor in two years, using more conventional methods that could land him on the ballot, he said: "No, I'm mayor now. Why do I have to wait two years? I am mayor at this moment. I can write an executive order." This article was originally published on
NBC News
20-03-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
Pirate's Booty founder stages Long Island mutiny, declares he's mayor and tries to fire village staff
The founder of Pirate's Booty Snacks lost his chaotic bid for mayor of a tiny New York community after claiming that he was the village leader and had the authority to replace the entire local government, officials said Thursday. Elena Villafane, the incumbent mayor of Sea Cliff, defeated Pirate's Booty Snacks founder Robert Ehrlich, 1,064 - 62, on Tuesday in the village that's about 26 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan. Villafane had been running unopposed for her third two-year term when Ehrlich jumped into the fray a week ago Monday. That's when Ehrlich came to Village Hall and "presented a statement falsely asserting his authority as mayor, demanding access to office space, and declaring that the entire Village staff was fired effective immediately but could reapply for their jobs," according to a village statement. "While Village staff remained calm and professional throughout the incident, Ehrlich and his associates raised their voices, used profane language, made outlandish claims, and engaged in direct harassment of Village personnel," the satement said. "Despite multiple requests to leave, they refused, creating a hostile and disruptive environment that required police intervention." The brazen assertions stunned village officials who said they'd never seen or heard from Ehrlich before in any civic context. "To the best of my knowledge, he has never participated in any government entity, in any volunteer agency, any board or commission," village administrator Bruce Kennedy told NBC News Thursday. Ehrlich rejected election results, calling them 'rigged' and counted in secret. He said poll workers weren't properly checking rolls — and he'd supposedly know, claiming his own supporters made repeated visits to the voting booth. "So one of my supporters voted three times," Erlich claimed to NBC News. "Another one voted four times and they didn't even realize that he was coming in that many times. " Ehrlich insists he and other village residents have power, under the "New York Government Reorganization and Citizen Empowerment Act," to completely replace the current village government structure with another. "I don't want to dissolve the village. I want to consolidate the village," said Ehrlich, who calls himself the duly elected mayor of the 'Incorporated Village of Sea Cliff Residents.' "Consolidation means that one entity, the ruling entity, the residents, who actually are the boss of the other entity, could then absorb that entity into this entity, making everything run the way it is now, except without the abuse and fear and threats that come to this village." Ehrlich's primary beefs with village government are remarkably pedestrian, saying services are not delivered in a timely manner and not enough is being done to revitalize business on the main drag of Sea Cliff Avenue. "They really could not care less and do not want businesses to thrive," he said. "The place needs foot traffic. It needs people from the outside coming into Sea Cliff, from (other North Shore Long Island communities such as) Roslyn, from Great Neck." Ehrlich said he's collected 1,900 "votes" at his coffee shop for the past four years, saying such an unusual ballot has holy precedent. "Nineteen hundred votes since our election," Ehrlich said. "The longest election in history was from 1268 to 1271, when they couldn't find a pope. So actually, I have the longest election in history." In theory, Ehrlich or anyone else could submit a petition with 10% of the village's registered voters asking for Sea Cliff to be dissolved. Once such signatures are verified, a village-wide vote would be held to ask if Sea Cliff should be eliminated and then folded into the town of Oyster Bay, Kennedy said. "He had a FedEx-type envelope that was sealed that he was waving around," allegedly with petition signatures, at the March 10 meeting, Kennedy said. "And when he was asked, 'Do you want to submit that?' and he said 'No.' " As a write-in candidate, Ehrlich had virtually no chance of winning on Tuesday. When asked if he might take another shot at running for mayor in two years, utilizing more conventional methods that could land him on the ballot, Ehrlich said: "No, I'm mayor now. Why do I have to wait two years? I am mayor at this moment. I can write an executive order."
New York Times
19-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Hold My Snacks: Pirate's Booty Founder Attempts a Seaside Coup
The little village of Sea Cliff, on Long Island's north shore, re-elected its mayor on Tuesday. For the normally placid small town, the election capped eight turbulent days and seemingly ended a quixotic write-in campaign by a brash snack-food mogul. But elections these days don't always end when they're over. And so even before the final vote had been counted, that snack food mogul — who professionally uses the title Captain Bootyhead — declared that the election was 'rigged' and that he was the mayor of Sea Cliff. He received 62 votes. 'Our movement continues,' he announced. 'This place needs a voice, and at the moment it's me.' It all started last Monday, when Robert Ehrlich, the founder of Pirate's Booty Snacks, marched into the Village Hall in Sea Cliff (pop. 5,000) and announced that he was now the mayor. Everyone else, he said, was fired. Mr. Ehrlich, 66, was invoking a 2009 state law that empowers residents to dissolve their town or reformulate it. The first step is to gather signatures from 10 percent of the town's voters. Mr. Ehrlich waved an envelope that he claimed held 1,800 signatures. He declined to show them to anyone because he said the signers were afraid of retribution. 'I told him to leave and called the police,' said Brian Kennedy, the village administrator. The following day, Mr. Ehrlich announced that he was running as a write-in candidate. As rationale, he offered a blizzard of dubious claims and unsubstantiated allegations. Painting the current administration as calcified and no fun, he promised to lower taxes and cut regulations on local businesses. His greatest wrath seemed to be aimed at a restriction on outdoor dining, and at the officials who created it. Mr. Ehrlich, it should be noted, owns a cafe in town. 'If you ask me,' he said in an interview, sounding already like a national political figure, 'the election will be rigged.' But win or lose, he said, he would still be mayor. He vowed to call for a village-wide tax strike if he lost. 'Let's see where they go without any of the revenue,' he said. Elections in Sea Cliff — a waterfront hamlet of wooden clapboard Victorian houses, originally founded as a Methodist tent camp — are not typically W.W.E.-style smackdowns. Elena Villafane, the incumbent mayor, who was running uncontested until Mr. Ehrlich's surprise announcement, won the last election with only 182 votes. The job pays $12,000 a year and is, she said, a lot of work. 'I would welcome a contestant,' she said. 'But you have to give people a chance to find out who you are and what you're going to do. You can't come out on the eve of the election and just throw everything up in the air.' She paused. 'Well, I guess in the current world order you can.' She pointed out what she saw as a flaw in Mr. Ehrlich's electoral logic. 'He wants to dissolve the village,' she said. 'OK. There's a process for that. Go ahead. But then if you dissolve the village, there's no village to be a mayor of.' Mr. Ehrlich said he was driven to take over the town by a group of residents who were fed up with the local rules and regulations and the difficulty of getting building permits. He declined to name these backers, and in two group conversations this week, none agreed to use his or her full name, fearing that if they publicly supported Mr. Ehrlich, they would never get a permit again. Mr. Ehrlich, a political novice, started Pirate's Booty in 1987; it was acquired by B&G Foods for $195 million in 2013. He now runs Vegan Rob's snack foods. He has a history of legal battles with the village. After a 2004 lawsuit over a zoning dispute, in which he accused town officials of discriminating against him because he was Jewish, he was ordered to pay $900,000 to cover the officials' legal fees. On Tuesday, Election Day, Mr. Ehrlich and his supporters circulated what he called 'a second ballot,' which — unlike those at the polling center — included his name along with Ms. Villafane's. By midday he said he had collected nearly 800 votes. Surely this meant he was the true mayor, he said. 'This is not going to be a peaceful transfer of power,' he vowed. Outside the polling center, he met voters, pro and con. Keep spreading the manure, Rob, yelled Dianna LeMieux, using an earthier word for manure. She said his entry in the race was unhelpful. 'This is a very connected village,' she said. 'People like each other here.' Inside, voting was unusually robust. Natasha Kosnac, an accountant, who declined to say how she voted, said she agreed with Mr. Ehrlich that village life was encumbered by too much red tape. His unconventional candidacy, she said, was 'bringing light' to Sea Cliff. 'I don't know,' she said. 'He could be good.' A little after 10:30 p.m., the results were in: 1,064 votes for Ms. Villafane; 62 write-in votes for Mr. Ehrlich. Ms. Villafane said she wanted a return to normalcy. 'I will not tolerate any further attempts to undermine the governance of this Village,' she wrote in a text message. But Mr. Ehrlich was undaunted. 'I'm still the mayor,' he said, adding that he wanted to meet with the governor to enforce his claim. As for the current administration, he said he will sue them for $390 million for impeding his business opportunities. Speaking with an authority that only he recognized, he said, 'I plan on taking their homes.'
