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Twenty years ago, as Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush battled for weeks over whod won the U.S. presidential election, Floridas Republican secretary of state, Katherine Harris, helped hand the White House to Bush by declaring an end to recounts that showed him clinging to the slimmest of leads.

If the outcome of Novembers election comes down to fights over counting mail-in ballots and claims of fraud by President Donald Trump, Democrat Joe Biden may have a quiet advantage: the top election officials in many of the key states that could decide the election are Democrats.

Katherine Harris announces the certification of presidential ballots on Nov. 26, 2000.

Photographer: Peter Muhlay/AFP via Getty Images

In Michigan and Pennsylvania -- two Democratic-leaning states Trump won in 2016 -- the top elections officials belong to Bidens party. Thats also true in Arizona, which Trump carried but Biden is now leading in the polls, and Minnesota, which the president has targeted as a potential pickup.

Trump, who trails Biden in national polls, has tried to undermine the publics confidence in the election. He falsely claims that mail-in ballots are rife with fraud, and that the election will be rigged against him. This has led Democrats to worry about a scenario where Trump is ahead in the election-night count from in-person voters and declares himself the winner before all outstanding mail-in ballots are tallied.

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Should that happen, it will be up to the secretaries of state to preside over the counting of mail-in votes and certify the final outcomes, a process that could take days or even weeks. These relatively anonymous state officials could prove a bulwark for Biden as they cope with whats expected to be an unprecedented surge in mail-in ballots because of the coronavirus pandemic.

They will also be on the front lines in countering any claims by Trump or his allies that the election is somehow rigged.

It will be all hands on deck, but defending election results will definitely start with secretaries of state as the chief election officer, said Alex Padilla, a Democrat who was elected to serve as Californias secretary of state. In my mind, its definitely good that we have secretaries in swing states committed to strengthening and defending the voting system.

Election officials insist that theyre non-partisan and oversee voting according to the law. But J. Kenneth Blackwell, a former Ohio secretary of state, said its impossible to avoid politics when elections officials have to make tough decisions.

Why the U.S. Mail Is 2020 Presidential Campaign Issue: QuickTake

Blackwell was in charge of Ohios voting in 2004, when Democrat John Kerry delayed conceding to Bush until the morning after Election Day because of outstanding provisional ballots.

You cant take politics out of politics, said Blackwell, now a member of the Trump campaigns board of advisers. Its the way our system is set up. I dont all of a sudden become a non-Republican when I have to make a judgment associated with my job in the political sphere.

Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, tangled with Trump just this week. Brinson, who was appointed by a Democratic-controlled board, on Thursday warned voters that it is illegal to vote twice in an election after Trump encouraged people who mail in their ballots for the November election to also go to the polls on Election Day.

These mail-in ballots are a disgrace and they know it, Trump told supporters at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Thursday evening, speaking about Democrats and suggesting they could manipulate mail-in voting. The only way theyre going to beat us is by doing that kind of stuff.

Trump Call for Voting Twice Sparks Warning From State Official

The Democratic secretary of state in Pennsylvania, Kathy Boockvar, said in a statement that she has confidence county elections officials will count ballots efficiently to make sure the outcome of the election is known as quickly as possible.

While state officials influence the election with the rules governing voting, they also can play a pivotal role in ballot-counting if the race is close, with rulings to break tie votes or other actions such as Harris took in 2000, said Daniel Tokaji, a former Ohio State University election law professor and now dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School. Theres also inherent tension between discharging their official duties and the incentive to help their party, he said.

Theres just no getting around that conflict of interest, Tokaji added. Even well-intentioned officials trying to do the right thing, their actions can always be called into question.

But Charles Stewart III, a professor and elections scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said if the race does go into overtime, the courts likely would play the more decisive role. He cited changes made to ballot-counting processes after the Florida 2000 recount chaos that gave secretaries of state less discretion.

Earlier: Facebook, Twitter Flag Trump for Misleading Posts on Voting

Asked whether Trumps campaign is concerned about Democrats being in charge of overseeing post-election counting in some states, spokeswoman Thea McDonald focused instead on efforts to expand mail-in voting. Rather than trying to predict the future, the news media ought to draw attention to Democrats nonstop attempts to throw our electoral system into chaos 60 days before a general election, she said.

The Biden campaign declined to comment.

Election officials say that while television networks and news wires typically declare winners on Election Night, thats based on an unofficial count that doesnt become official until days or weeks later -- after outstanding ballots are counted and theres a canvass to determine final tallies with any recounts. The inability to declare an unofficial winner on Election Night isnt a sign of problems, they say.

But the possibility of delayed results this year is real, said Maria Benson, spokeswoman for the National Association of Secretaries of State, and we ask all voters and the media to be patient.

Current laws in states including Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin dont allow mail-ballots to be processed until Election Day, meaning they may not all be counted by the end of the night. Certain other states, including Ohio, allow ballots received after the election to be counted as long as they are postmarked earlier.

In a year when voter turnout is expected to be high, first-time voters and those going to the wrong polling place will lead to more provisional ballots, which are held until voter eligibility is determined, said Michael Morley, an assistant law professor at Florida State University whos worked on election emergencies and post-election litigation.

Democratic Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said on CNNs Inside Politics on Sunday that if the state legislature doesnt change the law to allow early processing of mail-in ballots, it may take until the Friday evening after the election to get full results -- and if thats the case, shell be emphasizing that until every vote is counted, it wont be possible to say who won any race.

Benson said it will also be critical for election officials to be transparent about whats happening with the ballot-counting process, and depend on data and facts to combat any misinformation that undermines public confidence in the accuracy of the results.

Its going to be really important for every secretary of state this year, as we seek to cut through lots of different rhetoric thats going to only be increasing in the weeks coming up to Election Day and beyond, Benson said in a separate appearance on NBCs Meet the Press.

Washingtons Republican secretary of state, Kim Wyman, said her colleagues should be prepared to manage a legal crisis that could determine the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

This will have shades of 20 years ago during Bush v. Gore, said Wyman, whos running for re-election herself. I hope my colleagues and I will be able to present the facts to voters in our own states and the facts will prevail. That has been a challenge in 2020.

(Updates with Benson comments from 23nd paragraph.)

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Democrats Hold Secret Edge If Election Is Too Close to Call - Bloomberg

FILE PHOTO: Former Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg endorses former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's campaign at Chicken Scratch in Dallas, Texas, U.S., March 2, 2020. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Joe Bidens presidential campaign on Saturday added former Democratic primary rival Pete Buttigieg, along with senior officials who served under President Barack Obama, to an expanded White House transition team.

Biden added four new co-chairs to the team led by his longtime ally Ted Kaufman: New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, former Obama economic adviser Jeffrey Zients, Louisiana Representative Cedric Richmond and his campaign adviser Anita Dunn.

He also named Buttigieg, a military veteran and former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, to the advisory board, together with former deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, and Susan Rice, national security adviser to Obama who was on the shortlist to be Bidens running mate.

We are preparing for this transition amid the backdrop of a global health crisis and struggling economy, Kaufman said. This is a transition like no other, and the team being assembled will help Joe Biden meet the urgent challenges facing our country on day one.

Kaufman said the expertise of advisory board members will help Biden respond to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which continues to ravage the United States, and the economic recession.

Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who has been advising Biden on the pandemic response, has also joined the transition team.

Zients was tasked with taking over after the botched rollout of the Obamacare enrollment website in 2013. Lujan Grisham has a background in health and aging and has led her states coronavirus response.

Other new transition team members include Teresa Romero,president of the United Farm Workers, Lonnie Stephenson, president of the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers and Tony Allen, president of the historically black Delaware State University.

Reporting by Valerie Volcovici; Editing by Tom Brown

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Democrat Biden adds former rival Buttigieg, ex-Obama officials to transition team - Reuters

If the vote total trend holds up when all mail ballots are counted, Ruggerio could be weakened by a poorer-than-expected showing. When the polls closed Tuesday, he was leading with 54 percent of the in-person vote over Leonardo A. Cioe Jr.

I think that even if Ruggerio hangs on, we need a new Senate president," Bell said. "The people of Rhode Island have spoken. Voters last night sent a clear rejection of the extreme conservatism of Senator Ruggerio and the right-wing machine that has dominated state politics for far too long.

Bell has long been critical of Ruggerio and other Senate leaders, saying they are too conservative on issues such as gun control, abortion, and tax cuts for the rich.

Ruggerio, a North Providence Democratic, has been Senate president since 2017; before that, he was Senate majority leader.

The Ruggerio camp shrugged off any suggestions that his tenure as Senate president could be at risk. Senator Bell is entitled to take any position he wants," said spokesman Bill Fischer, but Senator Ruggerio has faith and trust in his colleagues that they will be returning him to the position of Senate president.

The Senate contains 38 members, including 33 Democrats and five Republicans. So 17 votes are needed to elect the leader of the Democratic majority.

Definitions vary of which Democrats are considered liberals, and any calculus of progressive power will hinge on the mail ballot count. The Board of Elections does not expect to announce final results until Thursday.

But with vote totals updated on Wednesday with emergency ballots cast, several candidates backed by progressive groups such the Rhode Island Political Cooperative and the Working Families Party were leading.

For example, with seven of eight precincts reporting in Senate District 6 in Providence, progressive Tiara T. Mack led with 59 percent of the vote over Senator Harold M. Metts, who had 41 percent.

With all precincts reporting in Senate District 16 in Central Falls, progressive City Councilman Jonathon Acosta led with 48 percent of the vote over incumbent Senator Elizabeth A. Crowley, with 40 percent, and Leslie Estrada, with 12 percent.

With all precincts reporting in Senate District 18 in East Providence, progressive Cynthia Mendes led with 68 percent of the vote over incumbent Senate Finance Chairman William J. Conley Jr., who had 31.5 percent.

And with all precincts reporting in Senate District 30 in Warwick, Jeanine Calkin, a co-founder of the Rhode Island Political Cooperative, held an 35-vote lead over incumbent Senator Mark P. McKenney 617 to 582.

The general election also will play a role in determining the number of liberal senators. For example, Democrat Jennifer C. Douglas, who is backed by the Rhode Island Political Cooperative, is challenging Senator Elaine J. Morgan, a Hopkinton Republican, for the Senate District 34 seat.

But the idea of a progressive Senate leadership team is far from a certainty.

For one thing, it remains unclear who progressives would put forward as their choice for Senate president. The current leadership team will have open slots to lead key committees. And it remains unclear if Democrats would join with Republicans to fend off progressives in a leadership battle.

Senator Gayle L. Goldin, a Providence Democrat who is one of the longest-serving progressives in the Senate, did not address questions about a possible leadership battle directly.

But, she said, one of my biggest takeaways from last night is that even in the pandemic, with so many concerns with being in crowds, people came out to vote, and they voted for progressives. What we have seen is a strong message from the voters of Rhode Island that progressive issues resonate with them.

Goldin who sponsored the bill that passed last year to protect abortion rights in Rhode Island in case the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade said the newly formed Rhode Island Democratic Womens Caucus supported Senate and House candidates in Tuesdays primaries, and women could soon make up a majority of the Senate.

That would be historic, not only for our state but the entire country, she said, noting that women make up a majority of the legislature in just one state (Nevada) and the majority of the House chamber in Colorado.

Goldin said the vote results also reflect a desire for legislative leaders to govern in a transparent way, even during the pandemic. The legislature should be doing more to vote on matters both related and unrelated to the pandemic, and that can be done remotely, providing needed transparency and public engagement, she said.

It is a progressive wave, Goldin said, and its a wave that is against politics as usual.

Some progressive candidates also received support from groups such as Reclaim RI, the Democratic Socialists of America, and the Rhode Island Coalition Against Gun Violence.

The Rhode Island Political Cooperative backed 10 Senate candidates and seven House candidates. Calkin said one of the groups goals was to give progressives a governing majority in one chamber, so it focused on the 38-member Senate rather than the 75-member House.

So does Calkin expect a Senate leadership battle? I think we will get a better idea after all the votes are counted, she said. But yes, I believe so.

Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at edward.fitzpatrick@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @FitzProv.

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Progressive gains in the Democratic primary raise the prospect of a Senate leadership battle - The Boston Globe

WILMINGTON, Del. The Democrats made one thing clear with the virtual pageantry of their convention last week: They are united to defeat President Trump in November. The festivities also foreshadowed another looming fight, this one between the moderate and progressive wings of the party.

The convention sketched out a policy agenda for Joseph R. Biden Jr., the Democratic nominee, in broad strokes, showcasing his big-picture priorities without citing many dollar figures. That helped Democrats appeal to as wide a universe of voters as possible. It also allowed them to skirt the policy disagreements that still exist between moderates like Mr. Biden and the progressive wing of the party, which has claimed a number of notable victories in congressional primaries this year.

Its not that weve changed our opinions on what is necessary, Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington and a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said after the convention. Citing the crisis facing the country, she predicted that Mr. Biden is going to be pushed by the times to be bold.

We have to do some immediate things, and the task will be to make them as progressive as possible, with the platform being sort of the floor and not the ceiling, Ms. Jayapal said.

Heres a guide to the policy vision that was outlined at the convention and the disagreements that may flare up in the future.

Democrats used the convention to further a message that propelled their candidates to success in the 2018 midterm elections: The party wants to expand health coverage while Mr. Trump and the Republicans want to take it away. Mr. Biden, the former vice president, is a capable messenger on the issue, having been at President Barack Obamas side when the president signed into law the Affordable Care Act.

But in the Democratic primary, no major issue showed a starker division within the party than the future of Americas health care system. Mr. Biden made the case for expanding on the Affordable Care Act and offering a government-run insurance plan known as a public option. Other Democrats, particularly Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, advocated Medicare for all, a government-run health insurance system under which private coverage would be eliminated.

That debate continues to this day. Mr. Sanders acknowledged it in his convention speech, saying, Joe and I disagree on the best path to get universal coverage. Instead of dwelling on that point, he made note of Mr. Bidens plans to expand coverage, reduce the cost of prescription drugs and lower the age of Medicare eligibility to 60, from 65.

Ady Barkan, a progressive activist who was diagnosed with the terminal neurodegenerative disease A.L.S., also spoke at the convention in support of Mr. Biden and kept up the pressure to make big changes to the countrys health care system. Mr. Barkan supports Medicare for all and has focused on health care advocacy after his diagnosis. With a compassionate and intelligent president, he said, we must act together and put on his desk a bill that guarantees us all the health care we deserve.

There may be more disagreements to come. If Mr. Biden wins and Democrats control both houses of Congress, and if he moves ahead with trying to enact a public option, there are many variables in how exactly it could be structured.

As wildfires tore across California and as the Gulf Coast faced the threat of potential hurricanes, Democrats made climate change a central theme of the convention and Mr. Biden named it among the four historic crises confronting America.

His plan calls for spending $2 trillion over four years to escalate the use of clean energy. It sets a goal of eliminating planet-warming emissions from the power sector by 2035, as well as upgrading four million buildings and weatherizing two million homes over four years to increase energy efficiency. In a parallel policy plank that Mr. Biden issued around environmental justice, he set a goal for disadvantaged communities to receive 40 percent of the benefits of spending on clean energy and other areas.

Its not only a crisis, its an enormous opportunity, Mr. Biden said in his speech accepting the nomination on Thursday night. An opportunity for America to lead the world in clean energy and create millions of new good-paying jobs in the process.

It is a stance that has gotten more aggressive since the start of the Democratic primary race, during which rival candidates, along with young activists, accused him of being insufficiently committed to dealing with climate change. Activists on the left credited themselves and the pressure they had put on Mr. Biden for making the issue a core element of his first speech as the Democratic nominee.

But his policy still leaves some progressives unhappy, particularly when it comes to the shale drilling technique known as fracking. Many of his rivals in the primary including Senator Kamala Harris of California, whom he selected this month to be his running mate have called for a national ban on fracking.

Mr. Biden has said he supports a moratorium on new leases on federal lands but not a full ban. He also has pushed back aggressively on Trump campaign statements that seek to tie him to calls for a ban. It is a particularly sensitive issue in swing states like shale-rich Pennsylvania, which Mr. Trump won in 2016 by less than one percentage point.

It was notable then that Michelle Lujan Grisham, the governor of New Mexico, one of the countrys largest oil and gas producing states, was chosen to speak during a segment on climate change at the convention. Like Mr. Biden, Ms. Lujan Grisham has walked a fine line on natural gas enacting stricter regulations on the industry while still remaining supportive of it.

Ms. Lujan Grisham did not mention fracking. Instead, she stuck to Mr. Bidens theme, which links cutting emissions to creating clean energy jobs.

Central to Mr. Bidens campaign pitch is the promise that he can respond to the coronavirus crisis in a competent manner and steer the economy back on track.

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Biden ticked off his plan for confronting the virus head-on, including expanding testing, giving a megaphone to public health experts and mandating that people wear masks.

Precisely how Mr. Biden, if elected, would address the viruss economic toll is hard to game out, because it will depend on the conditions in the country next winter.

One open question, for instance, is the size of an economic package Mr. Biden might seek next winter, and what steps the federal government should take to provide financial assistance to Americans. Before she was picked as Mr. Bidens running mate, for example, Ms. Harris teamed up with two colleagues, Mr. Sanders and Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, to propose giving $2,000 monthly cash payments to Americans throughout the crisis.

Mr. Biden has signaled that he is open to big policy solutions to revive the economy. But they might not be big enough for some progressives.

Last week offered a potential preview. Ted Kaufman, the former senator and longtime Biden adviser who is leading his transition team, suggested in a live interview with The Wall Street Journal that Mr. Biden would not significantly increase federal spending.

The pantrys going to be bare, Mr. Kaufman said. When you see what Trumps done to the deficit in terms of just forget about Covid-19. All the deficits that he built with the incredible tax cuts. So were going to be limited.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, a leading progressive who symbolically nominated Mr. Sanders at the convention, called that assessment extremely concerning.

The pantry is absolutely not bare, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter. We need massive investment in our country or it will fall apart. This is not a joke. To adopt GOP deficit-hawking now, when millions of lives are at stake, is utterly irresponsible.

Over the course of the week, Democrats mentioned a variety of economic proposals, including raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, investing in infrastructure and expanding access to affordable child care. And in his convention speech, Mr. Biden said that we dont need a tax code that rewards wealth more than it rewards work.

Im not looking to punish anyone, far from it, Mr. Biden said. But its long past time the wealthiest people and the biggest corporations in this country paid their fair share.

In the primary campaign, Mr. Bidens plans to raise taxes were smaller than those of his top rivals. For example, he has not called for creating a so-called wealth tax an annual tax on the fortunes of the superrich that was a central plank of Ms. Warrens presidential campaign and was also promoted by Mr. Sanders.

There are other areas, too, where Mr. Bidens economic plans are more limited than what some in his party would like to see. While he moved leftward on the issues of free college tuition and student loan forgiveness this year, his proposals on those topics are narrower than what some on the left have called for. And Mr. Biden has no detailed plan on Wall Street regulation.

The convention also put a significant focus on racial justice, an issue that Mr. Biden has emphasized following the killing of George Floyd while in police custody.

During the conventions opening night, Mr. Biden was shown saying, Most cops are good, but the fact is, the bad ones have to be identified and prosecuted and out, period. That comment was troubling to some activists at a time when progressives are seeking transformational changes in the nations criminal justice system.

Mr. Biden has longstanding ties to police unions, and he has not gone as far as some on the left in his comments on how policing in America should be changed. He has rejected the defund the police movement, though he has expressed openness to reallocating some funds, and he has proposed increasing funding for community policing.

Like others in his party, he supports tighter gun control measures, but he has not called for a national licensing program or mandatory gun buybacks, as some of his primary rivals have. He has not endorsed legalizing marijuana, a move that is widely supported by Democratic voters.

In addition, he has not expressed support for decriminalizing illegal border crossings or abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And it remains to be seen how Mr. Bidens administration would approach issues like border security, deportations and funding for the Department of Homeland Security, especially given the criticism Mr. Biden has faced over the number of deportations that occurred during the Obama administration.

Mr. Biden has called for a 100-day moratorium on deportations, but what happens after that is unclear.

In his convention speech, at least, Mr. Biden did not shy away from embracing big plans. For a historical parallel, he reached back to Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal.

Stricken by disease, stricken by a virus, F.D.R. insisted that he would recover and prevail, and he believed America could as well, Mr. Biden said. And he did, and we can as well.

Thomas Kaplan reported from Wilmington, and Lisa Friedman from Washington.

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The Democrats Are United to Fight Trump, Tensions on Policy Are Looming - The New York Times

The state of Monroe County politics on the Democratic side of aisle is a mess.

For starters, who is in charge?

In some respects, that matters less with the splintering of the Democratic caucus on Wednesday into two separate groups. The ramifications of that need some explanation.

And then there is the uncertainty around what happens next, as a majority of Democratic legislators bypassed their colleagues' objections and voted Thursday to appoint Jackie Ortiz the party's next Democratic elections commissioner.

Why is all this important? Because County Executive Adam Bello is the first Democrat to hold that seat in more than a quarter century and was, until Wednesday one vote shy of a majority in the Legislature. And what aspects of his agenda weren't already derailed by the pandemic could be wrecked by what is happening this week.

Monroe County Office Building in Rochester, NY.(Photo: Brian Sharp/@sharproc)

"I think it ultimately plays out with the implosion of the Monroe County Democratic Committee, and then it's going to be done and Adam is going to be done."

Those are the words of Minority LeaderVince Felder, D-Rochester. Except he isn't minority leader, according to the majority of his caucus. Except he insists he is. And Legislature President Dr. Joseph Carbone isn't recognizing anyone as minority leader for the moment. And now there is a vote scheduled on the Democratic elections commissioner Thursday morning. Which Felder says will be illegitimate as well.

To help make sense of what has happened, and what is about to happen, here goes:

Democrats metprivately ahead of Tuesday evening's special meeting of the Legislatureto discuss a potential settlement in a Sheriff's Office lawsuit and review agenda items for the meeting. Felder was asked to put forth the Ortiz appointment and, by differing accounts, either refused to do so or asked, "Why?"

Felder has objected to the process for selecting Ortiz, and maintained he would not carry it forward.

Felder said the meeting then descended into chaos, and he ended the call asLegislator John Baynes, D-East Rochester/Perinton, made a motion toappoint Legislator Yversha Roman, D-Gates/Greece/Rochester,as leader, which was seconded. Felder said he had already pushed the button ending the Zoom call as Baynes spoke up. Legislators then voted by email, Roman said.

"The vote can only take place at a meeting called by me," Felder said.

Said Roman: "Many of us were concernedwith the direction county government was going. That is ultimately one of the reasons why there is a new minority leader."

Carbone cited the dispute in leadership when he abruptly ended the Legislature meeting, saying he wouldn't pick sides. The Zoom call was cancelled as Legislator Rachel Barnhart, D-Rochester was heard calling for a vote.

"The technology was abused twice," Barnhart said of the day's events."If we had in-person meetings, you would not be able to do that. In an in-person meeting they would have had to kick everyone out of the room ... in a Zoom meeting they just hang up the phone call."

Some technical notes:Ortiz was not on the Legislature's meeting agenda, officials said, and could not have been added at that late stage. Also, the Democratic caucus has no bylaws, so there is no set process for a transfer of power.

Democrats control 14 of the Legislature's 29 seats, and align behind a minority leader as the Democratic caucus with its own staff office.

That group is divided 9-5, split largely along racial lines that have coalesced around selection of the Democratic elections commissioner. The Board of Elections is jointly overseen by a Democratic and Republican commissioner and their staff.

Felder is part of the five, which have aligned with Republicans to override a Bello veto of legislation increasing BOE staffing.The other four in Felder's camp, announced formation of the Black and Asian Democratic Caucus during a Wednesday news conference, and laid out an agenda focused on social services and social justice issues. They took no questions. Legislator Ernest Flagler-Mitchell is leader of that group, which also includes legislators Sabrina LaMar, Calvin Lee and Frank Keophetlasy.

Background: Breakaway faction of Democrats circles back to LaMar, Morelle clash

The split allows them to amplify the issues important to city residents, they say. But itweakensthe Democratic minority as a voting block, and thus weakens Bello.

The county executive, in a statement, directed his criticism at Carbone, for allegedly putting politics over community and "grinding legislation to a halt" that would benefit the community. Carbone fired back with a statement of his own, saying "Bello needs to get his own house in order," and blaming the county executive for leading Democrats "down the destructive road they are on today."

Bello has not responded to multiple interview requests from the Democrat and Chronicle over the past two weeks. As for the legislation being held up,nothing much changed as matters require approval of the full Legislature, which has its next regularly scheduled meeting on Sept. 8.

Legislation authorizing the additional caucus includes a provision to fund its staff office by reallocating money from the existing Democratic office. Money would be appropriated based on the caucus' percentage representation in the Legislature. If approved, Democrats will lose more than one-fourth of their current allocation of $228,676. The legislation could be taken up by the full Legislature at its next meeting on Sept. 8.

"(Thursday) morning we will convene as a caucus to appoint Jackie Ortiz," Roman said. "I will be calling that meeting as the leader," Roman said in an interview Wednesday.

That vote was 9-0, with only the majority faction attending the virtual meeting. Ortiz is expected to be sworn in Thursday afternoon, and could take office this week, or attempt to. Ortiz did not immediately respond to a messages seeking comment.

Felder hasinsistedthat any appointment vote would be illegitimate;same as the one to replace him. He reiterated that in a letter to Carbone on Wednesday, writing "As I am still leader, you should not receive any appointments to positions from anyone or correspondence regarding the responsibilities given to the minority leader per the County Charter."

All of this seemed to be sorted out two weeks ago when state Supreme Court Justice John Ark said there was no legal reason the Legislature couldn't vote to install Ortiz, and encouraged them to do so.

Ark is scheduled to have all parties back in his courtroom on Friday. But Ark's previous directive hasn't changed much.

Pressing Felder on what he meant by Bello being done, he explained: "If the people walk away from him, he is not going to get re-elected."

And if he can't get things passed through the Legislature, Felder added, he isn't going to get anything done.

Contact reporter Brian Sharp at bdsharp@gannett.comor at 585-258-2275. Follow him onTwitter @sharproc.This coverage is only possible with support from our readers. Sign up today for a digital subscription.

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Trying to make sense of this week in Monroe County Democratic politics - Democrat & Chronicle