SaveMonroe candidates file complaint over election tactics

Monroe - The SaveMonroe candidates who lost in their bids for town office have filed a complaint with the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, claiming “instances of unethical, and possibly illegal, electioneering that occurred immediately before and during the General Election” on Nov. 8. Copies of the complaint, signed by SaveMonroe president Robert W. Purdy, were sent to the state and Orange County boards of election and the state Attorney General’s Office in Poughkeepsie. Purdy, who ran for supervisor on the Conservative line, finished third in the voting behind incumbent Republican Sandy Leonard and Democrat Alicia Vaccaro. According to Purdy’s letter, there were two problems: The first “arose on Monday, November 7th, when we became aware that telephone calls were being placed to registered voters and a pre-recorded message of a woman’s voice was being played which misrepresented the caller as SaveMonroe. The message was unauthorized and worse, inflammatory. The message then ended with a statement by a man’s voice stating, ‘paid for by the Friends of SaveMonroe.’ “We became aware of further activities on the morning of Election Day, when one of our candidates was contacted by the Village of Monroe Police and made aware that men were handing out fliers within 100 feet of polling places. This, again, was not authorized by SaveMonroe, nor the fliers a product of our campaign. Once again, these fliers used the SaveMonroe name and contained an inflammatory message, all of which was unauthorized by our organization.” On Nov. 8, Village of Monroe Police charged Abu Camara, 55, of Camp LaGuardia, Chester, with electioneering within 100 feet of polls, a violation. He was released to appear in Town Court on Nov. 29. Theresa Budich, one of the two SaveMonroe candidates for town board, said in an interview that the complaint was not intended to challenge the outcome of the vote. “We accept that,” Budich said. “But this is about the attempts to subvert the election process and mislead voters.” She also said that the telephone solicitation as well as the leaflet distribution happened so late in campaign that she, Purdy, Kathy Parrella and other SaveMonroe supporters could do little to combat the tactics. Meanwhile, in a letter to the editor appearing in this week’s Photo News, Vaccaro and her Democratic running mates sought to distance themselves from both the Republicans and SaveMonroe candidates. They wrote: “Both the present administration and SaveMonroe joined together and used hate and anger as chief bargaining points, destroying any chance for the Democrats, as moderates, to remove the long entrenched old-boy network and to bring together rational and fair-minded people who want to preserve and protect the best of Monroe.” What, if anything, happens as a result of SaveMonroe’s complaint remains to be seen. What is does indicate, as does the Democrats’ letter, is that the strife and rancor that marked part of the Monroe town races did not end when the polls closed Nov. 8.