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Special to the OBSERVER
At the urging of GOP leaders from across New York, a Chautauqua County native is exploring whether to seek the office of state attorney general.
"Often when prospective candidates say they were asked to run, that's not entirely true, because they planted the question they were asked. But this time, it really is entirely true," said West Ellicott resident Randy Elf.
He has discussed issues with Republicans and Conservatives across New York and told them there will be no primary that he causes. He'll become a candidate if both parties nominate him at their conventions and Republicans from across the state will help raise the necessary resources.
The public announcement came at a gathering of local community leaders Thursday evening.
Delegates to the state Republican and Conservative parties' conventions will select their nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller in late May.
Born in Jamestown, he attended Jamestown Public Schools and Southwestern Central School.
After graduating as valedictorian from Southwestern, he graduated with honors from Duke University and for two years taught school in Germany and at Southwestern.
Thereafter, he worked with authors and lecturers Russell and Annette Kirk, and covered education and federal and state affairs for The Post-Journal, where his reporting was instrumental in completing Interstate 86 in Chautauqua County.
He graduated as president of his law-school class at Syracuse University, where he co-founded a chapter of the Federalist Society, in which he remains active and clerked for a federal-district judge and a federal-appellate judge.
Having been involved in political campaigns beginning with the first campaign of U.S. Rep. Amo Houghton, he twice ran for the New York state Assembly against a long-term incumbent in Chautauqua County.
He has practiced law, both at the Federal Election Commission and privately. Since 2010, no one in the country has had more experience briefing and conducting hearings on the constitutionality of political-speech law. Much of his experience is reflected in his 2016 law-review article.
He has been active in several community organizations and is an occasional columnist for The Post-Journal and the OBSERVER.
His immediate family lives in the Jamestown area. He and his fiancee are planning their wedding. The mother of the groom, on behalf of the father of the groom and the parents of the bride, will announce wedding plans when they're available.