HAIL, COLUMBIA—COUNTY THAT COUNTS
Don Moore
ccSCOOP News
04-11-09 2:45 p.m. - Columbia County took center stage on Thursday in the now national political drama that is the special congressional election when a Republican advisor to candidate James Tedisco declared that the county’s votes were “make or break.”
The quote, with credit to Jamie Larson of the Register-Star, was from David Nolan, special legal counsel to former President Ronald Reagan and part of the Tedisco legal team. Nolan said he considered that the Tedisco campaign had “weathered the storm” and credited the success to the team’s efforts to challenge and disqualify voters with multiple residences. Thus Columbia County grabbed the spotlight as the main battleground for the Tedisco forces. |
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The scene at the Columbia County Board of Elections—flanked by Tedisco lead attorney, Vincent Messina, Jr., at the left and Democratic Commissioner Virginia Martin at the right.
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A war of words broke out late in the day Thursday at the Columbia County Board of Elections. Thomas Garry, lead attorney in Columbia County for Democrat Scott Murphy, put his opponents on notice that he was not happy with the Republican strategy. Tempers flared as Garry filed an official objection with Republican Deputy Commissioner Michael Nabozny to what Garry described as the Republican tactic of taking “fifteen minutes to research every voter who has residency in New York City or New Jersey.”
Talking directly to Vincent Messina, Jr., Tedisco’s lead attorney, Garry said, "I understand you want to slow down the process.” Messina responded, “You don’t understand anything.” Garry was undeterred and said, “You really should stop this.” Messina shot back, “Don’t tell me what to do.” And this occurred during only the second day of a process that, at the present pace, could take another two weeks. Just under 15 percent of the absentee ballots received—141 out of 974—have been counted so far, from only 16 of Columbia County's 58 precincts.
Nolan’s blessing on the campaign, almost as if the contest were over, lit a fire under news of the Tedisco camp’s many challenges. In the first two days of counting, 83 of the 233 ballots considered—more than a third—have been challenged: 71 by the Tedisco attorneys, 11 by Murphy’s team, and one by the Commissioners.
The Tedisco campaign’s apprehension is understandable if for no other reason than the fact that Murphy took 56 percent of Columbia County’s total machine vote to Tedisco’s 44 percent (15,009 machine ballots were cast—8,449 for Murphy and 6,560 for Tedisco). The paper ballots tallied so far, exclusively non-military and non-federal absentee ballots at this point, are running at 70 percent for Murphy and 30 percent for Tedisco (141 paper ballots have so far been counted—99 for Murphy and 42 for Tedisco).
Columbia County has become the focus of attention because the Tedisco campaign understands full well that the preponderance of what have been termed by poll watchers “second residency challenges” are to voters who own second homes in Columbia County and who have chosen to vote here. The legality of this, according to the website countryvote, brought to our attention by political activist Sam Pratt, who has a long history of Democratic organizing in Columbia County, was established in 1983 by a New York Supreme Court decision in the case of Ferguson vs. McNab, which held that “a person having two residences ‘may choose one to which she has legitimate, significant and continuing attachments as her residence for purposes of the Election Law.’”
In the first two days of counting, the Tedisco team has challenged 31 percent of the absentee ballots. If they continue at this rate, a total of 300 voters, which the Tedisco team obviously believes to be potential Murphy voters, could be challenged. In a race where the margin has fluctuated between 0 and 97, removing over 300 voters from the equation is very significant.
As the Tedisco and Murphy teams dispersed from the Columbia County headquarters for a three-day holiday weekend, all assumptions were that counting would begin promptly at 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning. But late Friday, the Election Commissioners in all ten counties in the 20th Congressional District were notified by Tedisco attorney James Walsh that "Due to the confusion that has arisen with the Judge's [Appellate Judge James V. Brand] original court order, we would request that your office and both Republican and Democrat Commissioners, or their designees, be present" at the next scheduled hearing on Monday, April 13, in Poughkeepsie. "Confusion has arisen on both the issue of preservation of the objected to ballots, as well as the treatment of military ballots," added Walsh.
His request went to the county attorneys as well as Board of Elections commissioners. Among the attendees will be Columbia County’s Democratic Commissioner Virginia Martin and Republican Deputy Commissioner Michael Nabozny, as well as the Murphy campaign’s chief Columbia County attorney, Thomas Garry. It is fair to assume that a few more issues will be discussed than those specified in Walsh’s request.
Don Moore is a writer and communications specialist living and working in Hudson, New York. Among his career turning points are stints as an education journalist, congressional staffer, arts administrator and lobbyist, and higher education communications and development manager.
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