Press release:
The Democratic Committee Chairs of the eight counties that make up NY-27 conferred together last night by conference call as their GOP counterparts met and failed to concoct a way to get Chris Collins off the November ballot.
After their conversation, the Democrats of the district reaffirmed that there was no legitimate way to change candidates now. Any attempt to do so would be a fraud against the voters of this district.
"Just like Chris Collins believed that rules against insider trading did not apply to him, local Republican bosses seem to think that election law doesn't apply to them when it suddenly becomes inconvenient," said Cindy Appleton, the Democratic chair of Wyoming County. "They don't get to do a do-over months after the deadline for changing the congressional ballot has passed, even if the man they insisted on being their candidate inconveniently got arrested and faces up to 150 years in jail."
The Ontario County Democratic Committee Chair John Hurley pointed out that the GOP bosses were all in for Chris Collins until a week ago, despite the fact that Collins was already under a congressional ethics investigation because of his questionable financial dealings. They ignored pointed critiques of his conduct, such as those launched by the late Rep. Louise Slaughter (NY 25), and did everything possible to smooth the path for Collins' reelection campaign.
"There were all sorts of red flags being raised about Collins, but GOP bosses didn't care," Hurley said. "They had a choice, remember. Frank Smierciak II submitted petition signatures to run in a Republican primary, and they succeeded in getting him thrown off the primary ballot to benefit Collins. They also tried to run an obvious fake Green Party candidate to split the anti-Collins vote, a move they didn't get away with."
Hurley added, "they won't get away with this move, either. They don't just get to change the ballot that was set under the rules because it now suits them. It's blatantly clear that they only care about Chris Collins' ethical issues this week because he got caught last week."
Jeremy Zellner, the Erie County Democratic chair, said that there were good reasons that the GOP hadn't yet been able to announce any way of removing Collins from the ballot.
"They're flailing," Zellner said. "There isn't a legitimate path to do what they want to do, so they keep telling us they're going to get him taken off, but they haven't been able to tell us how yet."
Zellner went on to say that there is case law that states that candidates can't simply move out of state and get off the ballot.
"It didn't work for Tom DeLay after he was indicted in 2006, and it won't work for Chris Collins when he was indicted in 2018," Zellner said.
He also noted that the town of Clarence where Collins resides has no local offices up for election this year, so that Republican bosses would have to force a current town officeholder to retire just to create a vacancy for an accused criminal -- who would be unlikely to have any real interest in serving in that smaller office -- to run for.
"And they can't just put him up for some office somewhere else," Zellner said. "He's under multiple indictments He has no interest in these other positions. It's dishonest and disgraceful."
Judith Hunter, the Livingston County chair, declared, "Nate McMurray played by the rules and will be our candidate in November. The Republicans are trying all kinds of backroom maneuvers to ditch a suddenly vulnerable candidate who has become embarrassing for them. That doesn't change the fact that he is the candidate they chose and cleared the way for.
"And it doesn't change the fact that election law is clear that the deadline for changing the federal ballot has passed. They can parade people they might desperately prefer to accused criminal Chris Collins in front of the press, but they can't ignore the law."
