Rick Lazio’s campaign just announced that Herkimer County GOP Chairwoman Sylvia Rowan is “reaffirming” her personal support – and that of her county committee – for the former Long Island congressman’s gubernatorial bid.

In a statement released by Lazio’s campaign, Rowan said all of the committee’s delegate ballots would be cast for the gubernatorial hopeful when the party gathers in Manhattan next week and called him “the only candidate that can unite the Republican Party and the Conservative Party and is our best hope for defeating Andrew Cuomo in the fall.”

Why all this attention to Herkimer and its rather paltry .62 percent of the weighted convention vote?

Well, earlier this week, M. Myers Mermel announced Herkimer had flipped from Lazio’s column to his. Apparently, Lazio has succeeded in flipping it back.

Mermel had this to say:

“It has come to our attention, through individuals in Herkimer County, that GOP Chairman Sylvia Rowan has been inappropriately pressured by Lazio supporters in light of her issuing a personal endorsement of my candidacy for governor.”

“No one should be strong-armed into submission for expressing their own personal beliefs. The reason I’m running is to stop these things from happening. We will take the high ground and release Ms. Rowan of her support. We’ll pick the votes up elsewhere.”

I can only imagine that the phones of Schuyler County GOP Chairman Philip Barnes (previously with Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, now backing Mermel – according to Mermel), and Cortland County Chairwoman Elizabeth Larkin (another reported Lazio-to-Mermel flipper) are ringing quite frequently these days.

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