Bello fundraiser nets large haul 

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The chief fundraiser for Monroe County Executive Adam Bello’s re-election committee has said that the campaign’s first event Thursday raised $400,000 — almost as much as Bello spent on his entire bid for his first term.

Mark Siwiec, who chairs the finance committee for the county executive’s re-election campaign, noted the amount at the event, according to people who attended, and in a Facebook post on Friday.

The fundraiser was held over about three hours at the Rochester Riverside Convention Center. The invitation required individual guests to pay a minimum of $500. A package of 12 VIP tickets went for $10,000.

“Last night we hosted our first event and hauled in an extraordinary $400,000,” Siwiec wrote on Facebook.

The figure cannot be confirmed until Bello files mandatory financial disclosure reports with the state Board of Elections in the coming months.

But the amount suggests that Bello is preparing a deep war chest for his run for a second term.

Bello became the first Democrat elected to the county executive seat in 32 years when he unseated Republican incumbent Cheryl Dinolfo in 2019 — an effort that state campaign finance records show he spent $485,000 waging.

He is expected to face a challenge from Mark Assini, a popular former Republican supervisor of Gates who nearly ousted the late Rep. Louise Slaughter in a fiercely contested congressional race in 2014.

Assini announced his candidacy for county executive in January. He said in a brief phone interview that his campaign had yet to begin raising money.

"We'll be doing active fundraising very soon," Assini said. "I'm just pulling things together now."

Assini last filed a campaign finance report with the state Board of Elections in 2018, the year he resigned as Gates supervisor. He had less than $1,000 on hand at the time.

Board records show that as of Jan. 17, the deadline for the last required filing period, Bello had roughly $226,000 on hand in his campaign account.

David Andreatta is CITY's editor. He can be reached at [email protected].
Jeremy Moule is CITY's deputy editor. He can be reached at [email protected].