By Mike Pettinella
For Video News Service
With the Republican Party primary for the Town of Le Roy’s representative on the Genesee County Legislature only 15 days away, candidates for the District No. 5 seat – and now there are just two – are continuing their effort to win residents’ vote.
Incumbent Rochelle Stein and political newcomer Laurie Mancuso have gathered enough signatures to earn a spot on the Republican line for the primary, which is scheduled for June 24. Early voting begins on June 14.
Earlier this week, Dr. George Vito announced that he is dropping out of the race and indicated that he will be supporting Mancuso in her bid to unseat Stein, who has served as chair of the legislature since 2020.
Mancuso also has the Le Roy Conservative Party endorsement while Stein also is running under the Responsible Government Party banner, meaning that both candidates will be on the ballot for the November general election. One of them – whoever wins the June 24 primary – will be on the Republican line as well.
A Village of Le Roy resident, Mancuso is an Ohio native and Caledonia-Mumford High School graduate who went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Alfred University and Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Rochester.
In speaking to constituents, she said many have shared their concerns about “the lack of communication and knowing what’s going on in the county legislature.”
“There are just a lot of unknowns … so I see that as a good opportunity to fill some of that void with just better communication overall should I be successful here.”
Mancuso is retired after a long career in the manufacturing sector. She was employed for 30 years at Eastman Kodak, where she took on a variety of roles, concluding in 2012 as operations manager for corporate research and engineering.
After leaving Kodak, she worked for medical device companies and at Johnson & Johnson’s wound care facility in Georgia.
She said that this is her first foray into the political arena.
“One thing that is definitely needed – that came out during my walking around for signatures – is connection back to our community,” Mancuso said. “So, that’s one of my top priorities; to make sure that I’m connected to the town council, village board and the people.”
She said she would utilize social media and schedule face-to-face group meetings to keep the constituents informed.
Mancuso said her career experience in project management and capital investment would “bring a different perspective to these conversations.”
For her part, Stein said that she is looking forward to the primary.
“I have a strong record here in the community,” Stein said. “The people who’ve elected me to serve at both the town level prior to my county level, they understand that they don’t always see the work that gets done or the work that needs to be done and they recognize the amount of work and the hard work that I put in on behalf of the county legislature position.”
Stein has enriched her business and family with grants which no other farms knew about because of her office. She has had virtually no communication with this community and we have suffered from lack of transparency. Vote for Mancuso…someone who has integrity