A Rockland County judge has rejected Republican Rep. Mike Lawler’s bid to disqualify a Democratic candidate for his seat based on claims of extensive fraud on her ballot petition.
In a 24-page decision on Wednesday, April 29, acting state Supreme Court Justice David Fried ruled that Effie Phillips-Staley’s petition had enough signatures to be valid, discounting the idea that it was “permeated with fraud” and should be quashed. Lawler’s campaign had given the court sworn statements from 30 voters whose names were on the petition but denied signing it.
The ruling keeps the Democratic field at five for a June 23 primary that will decide who challenges the second-term incumbent for a coveted swing seat in this year’s midterm elections. Lawler represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, a Hudson Valley area that takes in all of Rockland and Putnam counties and parts of Westchester and Dutchess counties.
The other Democrats in the race are Cait Conley, Beth Davidson, Mike Sacks and John Cappello.
What to know about judge’s ruling in NY-17 petition challenge
The judge, who presided over a three-day trial, concluded that Phillips-Staley’s petition had 2,058 valid, undisputed signatures, even with the removal of all 829 that were collected by paid canvassers responsible for the questioned names. That was above the threshold of 1,250 needed to run for a House seat.
Fried did dismiss as fraudulent all 501 signatures submitted by one “rogue” worker employed by a contractor, and suggested the campaign should have scrutinized more closely the pages submitted by that worker, Dion McBean, records show. But the judge found no deliberate role by the campaign that could disqualify the entire petition.
He wrote: “Although fraud has been established, the Petitioners have not introduced a single piece of evidence to indicate that Candidate Phillips-Staley, her campaign, or the Democratic Party in whose primary she aspires to participate, personally engaged, knew, or should be chargeable with knowing in any fraudulent activity.”
What was being questioned in Phillips-Staley petition?
Lawler’s campaign collected affidavits from 30 voters listed on Phillips-Staley’s petition who denied signing it, raising the prospect their signatures had been forged. All of those names had been collected by an outside firm hired by the Phillips-Staley campaign to supplement its dozens of volunteers in collecting signatures. Some 108 people in all helped carry her petition.
Phillips-Staley’s campaign denied the fraud claims, but agreed in court to set aside all 829 signatures gathered by six workers from Bartholomew Communications who were responsible for the 30 disputed names. That was an attempt to end the case, since Phillips-Staley would still have had more than 2,000 other signatures on her petition, well above the minimum.
But Lawler’s campaign cast the move as an admission the petition was replete with fraud and argued it should be invalidated. It faulted the Phillips-Staley campaign for not questioning McBean’s purportedly rounding up 127 signatures in a single day — a suspiciously large haul.
“Candidates cannot simply turn a blind eye to fraud or profess ignorance,” James Curran, attorney for the Lawler campaign, wrote in a closing court filing.
Phillips-Staley’s campaign rebuffed the fraud claims as weak, saying only three people testified in court that the signatures attributed to them were not theirs. And it countered that in return for setting aside the 829 signatures, Lawler’s campaign had agreed in court to drop its case if it found no proof Phillips-Staley’s campaign directed acts of petition fraud.
“Why didn’t that happen?” wrote Arthur Schwartz, lawyer for the Phillips-Staley campaign. “Because Petitioner/Congressman Michael Lawler, and his $8 million war chest, decided to use this case to bash our client.”
Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA TODAY Network. Reach him at CMcKenna@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Judge rejects Lawler bid to disqualify Dem rival for petition fraud
Reporting by Chris McKenna, New York State Team / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
