The supposedly “non-political” Erie County Executive Chris Collins is proving to be one of our most political county executives in history. In fact, multiple sources are telling us that he will be personally targetting virtually all county Democrats running for office next year, expecially Comptroller Mark Poloncarz and Legislature Chairperson Lynn Marinelli.

“Collins is an egomaniac,” declares one of our sources. “He wants to control everything in Erie County and simply will not tolerate anyone disagreeing with him. Accordingly, he is going to do everything he can to get rid of Mark Poloncarz in 2009. I have been told that he is planning to run candidates against him in both the Democratic Primary and general election. In the past, Poloncarz has cast doubts on rumours that Collins is after him. Now he had better realize that it is all too true. Collins has a very political staff and all they think about is politics, politics, politics.”

Our sources say the same fate is likely to greet Chairwoman Marinelli.

“Collins started out trying to work with and control Marinelli,” says a prominent figure we know. “But, now he wants to defeat her for re-election too because she wouldn’t go along with  him on  everything. He’s looking for good candidates to run against her and all the Democrats.”