Carl Paladino, a former co-chair of Donald Trump’s campaign and the man New York Republicans elected as their gubernatorial nominee in 2010, told a local newspaper in Buffalo that he hopes President Obama catches mad cow disease and dies, and that Michelle Obama is a man and should be “let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.” The remarks came as answers to a questionnaire by Buffalo alt-weekly ArtVoice , which sent a harmless 4-question survey to local officials and city residents .