Democrats Expect To Have Choice For D.A. Soon

There is no shortage of Democrats who are looking to succeed Frank Clark as District Attorney.

As far as the Republicans though, well the best way to put it is they're still looking.

For years, Frank Sedita, who has prosecuted both Altemio Sanchez and Dennis Donohue, has been considered the heir apparent to Frank Clark.

And now, following Clark's stunning announcement on Monday that he's dropping out of the race for health reasons, Sedita says he's ready to run.

Sedita, who is the grandson of a mayor and son of a judge, met with Democratic Chairman Len Lenihan on Tuesday.

"I'm going to talk to him about things like integrity, I hope I've developed a reputation over the years for competence," says Sedita.

"I've been chief of the Homicide Bureau since 2000 and I haven't just been an administrator behind a desk. I've been in the courtroom, day after day after day."

A former colleague of Sedita's, Ken Case has already been running for the office for past three months.

Case has strong support from the law enforcement community.

In addition to Case and Sedita, other potential candidates are Town of Tonawanda Judge John Flynn, Lancaster Judge Mark Montour and former Assistant D.A. Diane Lavalle.

Lenihan says, "This is an embarrassment of riches. These are all good people and we're happy that we're in a position to interview all of them and I'll be convening the Executive Committee probably in the next week or so to try to resolve this."

As far as the Republicans, the party's Executive Director Nick Longworthy says, "I think we'll probably have some attorneys -- we have some talented attorneys in our party -- that will probably over the next 24, 48, 72 hours be taking a good hard look at it (the race), doing some soul searching and seeing if this is something they'd like to step forward and do."

The Republican party endorsed Frank Clark, a Democrat in both 2000 and 2004.

The last time the Republicans ran a candidate of their own for D.A. was 1996.

To see Scott Brown's story, click on the link above.