Nov 21
2025
Lawyer puts up $800k to deny party boss a Senate seat
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Attorney Peter Reese, a relentless pot-stirrer in Western New York politics for decades, is hell-bent on preventing Erie County Democratic Chair Jeremy Zellner from becoming a state senator.
On Tuesday Reese filed paperwork with the state elections board to create an independent expenditure committee dedicated to derailing Zellner’s efforts to succeed Sean Ryan, Buffalo’s mayor-elect, in representing the 61st State Senate District.
He’s seeding the committee’s bank account with $800,000 of his own money.
“I figured a million would be too gaudy,” Reese told Investigative Post.
The committee is called ATAT, short for “Ainsi toujours aux tyrans,” Reese said. That’s French for “Thus always to tyrants,” a name that reflects Reese’s dim view of Zellner’s stewardship of the county party.
“This man has been a train wreck for the Democratic Party,” Reese said. “He has no business being a state legislator.”
Donate to support our nonprofit newsroomAmong other criticisms, he accused Zellner of using his day job as a county elections commissioner to “weaponize the board of elections against ballot access,” shutting out and undermining candidates who try to run for office without his support or blessing.
Asked to comment on Reese’s effort, Zellner was dismissive.
“The people of the 61st District will choose their next state senator, not a rich apologist for convicted felon Steve Pigeon,” Zellner wrote in an email to Investigative Post. “I look forward to making my case directly to voters and earning their vote.”
Pigeon was the Erie County Democratic Committee chair from 1996 to 2002. Pigeon in 2018 pleaded guilty to campaign finance fraud and bribing a judge, then in 2023 to child sexual abuse.
Zellner officially declared his candidacy for the Senate seat on Nov. 5, the day after the general election, but his ambition to succeed Ryan was an open secret for a year. Assembly Member Jonathan Rivera declared his intention to run for the seat in October, well before Ryan — a close ally — had won the mayor’s race, a preemptive strike that Zellner called “selfish” at the time.
Erie County Democratic Chair Jeremy Zellner and Assembly Member Jonathan Rivera.
In truth, both candidates had been jockeying for position for months, with Rivera winning labor union endorsements and Zellner racking up support from party leaders in the northern suburbs that make up 80 percent of the district.
The seat will be filled in a special election, most likely in February. In that contest, the candidates on the ballot will be chosen by party leaders rather than primary voters. Zellner has said he will recuse himself from his party’s deliberations on who to designate, but those cards are stacked in the chairman’s favor.
Candidates for a full, two-year term then will square off in next year’s regularly scheduled primary and general elections. That’s where Rivera will focus his efforts.
Reese has been active in local politics for more than 50 years, primarily on the Democratic side of the ledger, motivated by issues of policy, personal pique, and electoral pragmatism. In 2012, he supported Cheektowaga Democrat Frank Max for county chair. Zellner prevailed in that party election but never won over Reese.
“It’s a miracle Democrats win any races at all,” Reese said.
Reese and his wife, Ellen, are frequent political donors. According to state election board records, they’ve given more than $200,000 to local and state candidates over the past decade. They committed more than $500,000 to Reese’s 2019 candidacy for Erie County executive, though Reese’s committee — Better With Reese — spent only about $25,000 of that, largely because Reese failed to qualify for the Democratic primary ballot.
Most of their donations are in their own names. Some flow through Buffalo Niagara No Kill PAC, a political action committee that parallels the couple’s financial support for shelters that don’t euthanize animals.
“I could spay and neuter a hell of a lot of cats and dogs with this money,” Reese said. “That’s how strongly I feel about this guy winning public office.”
Reese has done legal work for numerous local campaigns, dating back to the 1970s. He most recently served as an advisor to the campaign of Dean Lilac, a party-endorsed Democrat who this month won his race for Tonawanda City Court judge.
Reese currently serves on Buffalo’s charter revision commission, to which he was appointed by University District Council Member Rasheed Wyatt.
Rivera, Zellner’s rival for the 61st District seat, declined to comment on Reese’s independent expenditure committee.
Rivera cannot pursue the Senate seat and run to retain his Assembly seat at the same time. Two candidates have declared their intention to run for Rivera’s seat. First into the fray was Kevin Deese, a U.S. Navy reservist who works for M&T bank. Next was housing attorney Adam Bojak. Both live in the city, as does Alex Burgos, a party activist who has not entered the race yet but has been making calls to gauge support for his candidacy.
Two potential candidates from Hamburg, in the 149th District’s suburban reaches, are also in the mix. One is Karen Hoak, who works for Erie County and is a former Hamburg town council member. The other is Holly Park, a clerk for a state appellate court judge who also serves as a Hamburg village trustee.
