David Dunning doesn't want to do this interview at the mini conference table in the corner of his office, because the chairs aren't comfortable. If he's around long enough, he says, maybe he'll invest in some new furniture.

Hyperbole? No doubt. But not by much. It's been a rough week.

Hailed as proof that a Democrat can win - and win handily - in a historically Republican suburb, Chili Supervisor Dunning has been called a liar, an opportunist, a traitor, and worse since his stunning announcement on April 3 that he's changing parties.

"You can measure a man's character by the commitments he honors," said county Democratic chair Joe Morelle, after Dunning's announcement. "Sadly, today the community learned a lot about Dave Dunning's character."

But Dunning insists it's the party that's failed him, and not the other way around. He was left alone to run his campaign last fall, he says, with little or no support from a county party that never believed he could win to begin with. And though he refuses to provide details, Dunning paints a broad picture of a struggling and fractious town Democratic Party that has trouble putting petty differences aside.

He has also, he says, come to admire his Republican colleagues on the town board.

"No matter what people want to think, I do have some character, and I do have some integrity, and I have personal feelings," he says. "It would be very hard for me to campaign against people that I think should be doing the job."

Morelle says the county party was very supportive of Dunning's campaign and if Dunning felt that support was lacking in any way, he never said a thing. Morelle says that he suspects Dunning thought changing parties would be no big deal and the subsequent outrage has the supervisor inventing reasons to justify the unjustifiable.

"He's finding out that the people in Chili feel as betrayed as the local party does and he's inventing reasons why he left," Morelle says. "It's simply a fiction."

Dunning very much gives off a "regular guy" vibe, who'd talk about his love of motorcycles or his elaborate annual Christmas display over a Friday fish fry at the Village Pub. A political outsider, Dunning used his involvement with a neighborhood group that successfully defeated a proposed Paul Road shopping center as a springboard to public office.

In an interview last week, Dunning talked about his reasons for leaving the Democratic Party, the reaction to his decision, and what, if any, damage has been done to his young administration. The following is an edited version of that interview.

City: Why switch?

Dunning: I think the switch, it puts me more in line with some of my thoughts and views. I think it'll make it easier down the road to continue on the path of improving our local government. And though this decision probably makes people a little cautious of my true intentions, I think in the long run they'll see that all I really want to do is continue the reform of our town and local government.

How does switching parties better suit your thoughts and views, as you said?

I'm a political mutt. I am so far from a true alliance with anybody. I could even call myself an independent, I guess. My views and values are all over the place, which is what I think makes me a good fit for this particular office. It's more of a practical view than a narrow, one-sided view of how things should go.

When I look at the support I got for my campaign, the people who went door to door, the people who handed out literature, the people who gave me money, the people who supported me all along were all registered Republicans. It wasn't the Republican Party, but they were great residents in the town of Chili who were registered Republicans. When it came time for my fundraisers, my fundraisers were attended largely by Republicans. Again, the Republican community, not the structure. So the support, all in all, the support I got for my campaign, very little of it was from the Democratic side.

It was the Republicans who basically came out and wanted me to run, not so much the Democrats. Probably one of the biggest determining factors was: where is my help coming from?

If I'm going to be the savior of the Democrats in the town of Chili, who are they going to bring up to help me? There's nobody. Somebody who can legitimately run for town board who has a good shot of winning. Which means they'd have to be better than who's on the town board right now. I don't see it.

When explaining your decision, you seemed to be alluding to issues with the Democratic Party. Do you mean the local committee, the county party...?

Yes. But I don't want to get into a pissing match between the Democrats and the Republicans, which is what [answering] that will create. It's unproductive. It doesn't get any of us anywhere.

There was a conversation with some of the Democrats that kind of pushed me over the top and I said, "I've had enough." I need to work with a team of people who are willing to work together, regardless of their opinions. With the exception of a few people on the Chili committee, that doesn't happen.

What did you think of Morelle's reaction to your announcement?

I thought it really kind of showed his true character. But you know what? I understand. I think he had greater expectations for me and perhaps for the town of Chili. But if he did, he didn't share them with me. I think his comments were made purely out of frustration, not out of the way Joe reacts to things.

I like Joe. He is very charismatic. He could be very inspirational and could be very helpful, if he wanted to be.

The rumors: You're a covert operative for Chili Republican leader and influential developer Bernie Iacovangelo; you're a liar; you're a traitor; and worse, you're unstable. A posting on one of the blogs referred to your time in rehab.

That was a comment, I guess, from somebody who's known me for 30 years? I've got to tell you, I can't think of one single person that I've known for 30 years that I still associate with. Not one.

They made a reference to me going to rehab, which I never hid from anybody. I'm proud of that. I think that adds to my character and gives me more credibility as a person. I realized, and this was almost 21 years ago now, that I had a problem and I faced the problem and went and got help. I haven't had a drink since. I haven't touched a drink or a drug since that happened.

There's a perception in Chili that Bernie runs this town. Quite frankly, I have had conversations with Bernie. I would be remiss if I didn't at least let him have some idea that this is where I was leaning. He didn't influence the decision. I think that's the distrust that the town has had for their government for a long time. One of those things I'd like to see change.

If for any reason I have to compromise my values, the goals I set for myself, for this administration, I will get up and walk away. I love doing this, so far. I'm having a great time. But I can work. I can go do something else and probably take less criticism. I got into this to make changes; we're making those changes.

Are you surprised by some of the reaction?

No. I'm disappointed, as other people are. And I understand that people are going to be disappointed. I'm a little surprised at the extremes to which people are taking it. We have these new media to express this. We have this new form of expression through blogs and forums. You can share it with the whole world.

I'm OK with criticism; my skin is getting thicker by the day. My wife is just in shambles. She really is not taking this well at all. It's hard for her to be accepting of the criticism. It bothers me to the point that people have no idea who I am and they're passing judgments based on articles written in papers, opinions of other people. A good 90 to 95 percent of the people on the blogs and in these forums that are making these comments have no clue who I am. None.

Did you come into office intending to stay a Democrat? When did you start thinking about switching?

Somebody put it in my ear before I even started running. Friends of mine basically said to me, "You might want to consider this at some point." And I told them at that time that I wouldn't dismiss or entertain anything at that point in time.

I'd go door to door and people would say to me, "We're going to support you, but it would make it a lot easier if you were a Republican." So you listen to those things and you hear those things. When it came right down to it, it's always been in the thought process, but I really never gave it any serious consideration until more recently.

To encapsulate it, it's probably just frustration with the party and the team.

Some people are saying that you campaigned on the idea that one-party rule is bad for a town.

I don't recall doing that. I may have said that. I wouldn't say that I didn't. But I don't recall it. I did talk about government reform and leadership, but I didn't necessarily talk about a two-party system. Sometimes people hear what they want to hear, too.

Do you believe that both parties should be represented in government?

At the local level, I don't think it's that critical. At the national and state level, absolutely. At the local level, I don't see how where that part of it really changes a whole lot.

Has your administration been damaged by this? How do you overcome that?

I hope it's not. I guess I don't know. I don't have a good measure of that. The only way to overcome it is to sit back and watch. That's all I can say to people. If you're going to pass judgment on me, do it next election time. If I didn't do what I said I would do, then do what you've got to do at the polling booth. I can live with that. But if you think because I changed parties is the reason to get rid of me, I can't live with that. That I would have no respect for. Watch what I do, watch what happens, and then make your judgments.

Morelle's take

David Dunning is - at best - an opportunist, and - at worst - coldly calculating, says county Democratic chair Joe Morelle.

Morelle has not minced words since learning that Chili Supervisor Dunning is leaving the Democratic Party to become a Republican.

Dunning says that a lack of support from Democrats is one of the reasons for his defection. Morelle dismisses that as a fiction. It's more likely that Dunning saw the switch as a way to gain political advantage in a town dominated by Republicans and didn't think anyone would care, Morelle says. But he was wrong. Now Dunning is spinning fantasy to cover himself, Morelle says.

It could be, Morelle says, that Dunning's switch was planned all along. Maybe Dunning didn't want to run a primary against then Supervisor Tracy Logel and the Democratic line was the path of least resistance to the top job.

"A month ago he wanted my help in rebuilding Chili's Democratic Committee," Morelle says. "I don't know what's gotten into him."

Morelle clearly chafes at Dunning's charge that the Democratic Party wasn't supportive enough of Dunning's bid. Dunning was featured at Democratic events, Morelle says. The party created literature for him, Dunning attended a Democratic campaign workshop, and he made use of Democratic resources. Democrats even started using Dunning's employer, PC Innovations in Henrietta, for their technology needs because "we wanted to be supportive of him," Morelle says.

"I offered over and over again to meet with him. David wanted to run his own campaign his own way," Morelle says. "We don't impose ourselves. I'm not Steve Minarik."

Dunning's move calls into question everything he campaigned on, Morelle says.

"Why run to change everything and then, in three months, join the group that created everything that you say you're against?" he says. "He's joining a party where everything is dictated and you don't get choices. That's his business. He made his choice."