O’Brien’s ‘Upstate Tax Relief’ ballot line in doubt
ALBANY – A Rochester-area state senators effort to create an Upstate Tax Relief ballot line for his re-election campaign this fall appears to have fallen through.
An attorney for the re-election campaign of Sen. Ted OBrien, D-Irondequoit, sent a pair of letters Monday to state Supreme Court Justice Fredrick Reed, dropping the campaigns efforts to fight Senate Republicans attempt to have him thrown off both the Upstate Tax Relief and Womens Equality Party ballot lines.
Please be advised that I hereby withdraw my opposition to the relief in the above-referenced matters, attorney Christopher Thomas wrote in a letter to the Ontario County judge.
OBriens campaign in August said it filed 5,000 petition signatures with the state Board of Elections last month in an attempt to create the Upstate Tax Relief line, which would have allowed his name to show up beneath the party name on the November ballot in addition to the Democratic and Working Families lines.
Petitions were also filed to get OBriens name on the Womens Equality Party line, a newly created statewide ballot line that was spearheaded by Gov. Andrew Cuomos campaign. State election law requires Senate candidates to file 3,000 valid petition signatures from registered voters within their district to create a new line.
But allies of OBriens Republican opponent, former television anchor Rich Funke, challenged the validity of the petition signatures, ultimately taking the matter to Supreme Court in Ontario County. Campaign allies often challenge petition signatures of rival campaigns on the grounds of whether they come from within the district and comply with state election law.
With OBriens attorney dropping its defense of that challenge Monday, it clears the way for the state Board of Elections to remove his name from the ballot lines.
Spokespeople for Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans traded barbs over the news, with the GOP accusing OBriens campaign of trying to pull a fast one over on the voters.
This confirms what we have been saying all along–that the independent nominating petitions submitted by Ted OBrien and other Senate Democrats were done with little or no regard for state election law, and had absolutely nothing to with Upstate tax relief or womens equality, Senate Republican spokesman Scott Reif said in a statement.
Gary Ginsburg, a spokesman for Senate Democrats, accused Funke of suppressing voters who support tax relief and womens rights.
It is shameful that Richard Funke is so opposed to the Womens Equality Act and meaningful tax relief that he has resorted to hiring a high-priced downstate attorney to suppress the voices of thousands of Monroe and Ontario residents who support these vital initiatives, Ginsburg said in a statement.
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