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Too Much Puff: Pirate’s Booty Founder Attempts a Coastal Coup
The Founder of Pirate’s Booty Says He’s the Mayor — But the Town Says Otherwise
Isabel Ravenna
March 21, 2025
The founder of beloved cheddar popcorn snack, Pirate’s Booty, rode into Sea Cliff’s town hall — a Long Island village of a few thousand residents — all with the panache of Jar Jar Binks.
Perhaps the most self-assured man on the island, Robert Ehrlich, 66, falsely asserted his authority as mayor, announcing the termination of the entire local government and citing a New York state law that permits local residents “to dissolve their town or reformulate it.”
The actual Sea Cliff mayor — Elena Villafane — defeated Robert Ehrlich by 1,002 votes (earning a whopping 62 votes himself) while running unopposed for her third two-year term before the snack mogul entered the race about two weeks before its finale.
Robert Ehrlich, who’s nicknamed himself “Captain Bootyhole,” on Election Day.
Credit: Johnny Milano for The New York Times
Despite the results, he’s simultaneously claiming that it was rigged and that he’s prepared to take office. Accusing poll workers of negligent counting, his supporting evidence regarded his supporters repeatedly casting his name. And of course, when village employees told Ehrlich that his declaration was “invalid and unsupported by law,” he was asked to leave — which upset him further. The village said in a Facebook post that he and his entourage became “increasingly confrontational and refused.”
“So one of my supporters voted three times,” Ehrlich told NBC News. “Another one voted four times, and they didn’t even realize that he was coming in that many times.”
He also claims that he’s collected 1,900 votes at his local coffee shop over the last four years, boasting that the ballot sets divine precedent.
Unofficial write-in ballots for Ehrlich’s mayoral campaign.
Credit: Johnny Milano for The New York Times
“The longest election in history was from 1268 to 1271, when they couldn’t find a pope” he told NBC News. “So actually, I have the longest election in history.
The founder invented Pirate’s Booty in the 1980s before it was purchased by B&G Foods Inc. for $195 million.
When NBC asked if Ehrlich would run again, perhaps with more conventional methods that might win him the election, he replied, “No, I’m mayor now. Why do I have to wait two years? I am mayor at this moment. I can write an executive order.”
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