Yonkers Dems Outraged at Cavallo-Vazquez For Aiding Castro-Blanco Behind Lesnick’s Back

  Dr. Giulio Cavallo-did he two time Lesnick?

 

Yonkers Democrats are up in arms over the working of the Yonkers Independence Party, led by county chairman Dr. Guilio Cavallo and Yonkers Ind Chair Dhyalma Vazquez, and their handling of their line in the City Council Presidents race.

Democrat Chuck Lesnick and Republican Jim Castro-Blanco are the two CCP candidates. Last month, Lesnick was given the Ind party’s endorsement.

Petitions were collected for Lesnick, but not enough to get him on the ballot. Lesnick had to go out and collect signatures, and had a few Ind members help him.

This caused the wrath of Vazquez, who then began to help Castro-Blanco. Castro-Blanco was recently given a Wilson-Pakula to run on the Ind line.

But sources who have reviewed the Ind petitions tell us that even before CB got the Wilson Pakula, Ind party leaders were out collecting petitions for CB

This puts Lensick’s petitions in possible jeopardy as being invalid. So all along, many allege, Cavallo and Vazquez were working behind Lesnick’s back.

Nick Spano’s Interesting Financial Filings

 

  Nick Spano contributing heavy to Democrats

Former State Senator Nick Spano’s recent campaign financial disclosure report shows the Republican making thousands of dollars in contributions to prominent Democrats.

Although retired from politics (for the moment?) and currently working as a lobbyist in Albany, Spano still maintains an active political account called “Friends of Nick Spano”. In his latest filing (July 15th) Spano lists the following contributions

I-State Senator Jeff Klein-D-$1,000

II-State Senator and former Majority Leader Malcolm Smith-D-$1,000

III-State Senator Carl Kruger-D-$3,000

IV-State Senator and Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr.-D-$500

V-State Senator Hiram Monserrate-D-$500

VI-Tom Dunne-D-$500

VII-Richard Brodsky-D-$500

VIII-Adam Bradley-D-$500

IX-Westchester County Democratic Committee-$300

Nick also made a $2,000 contibution to his brother, Assemblyman Mike Spano’s campaign fund. Mike switched parties 2 years ago from Rep to Dem

In fairness, Nick did also make significant contributions to Republican causes, including

I-Senator Tom Libus-R-$1,500

II-Tony Colavita-R-$250

III-Senate Republican campaign committee-$1,000

IV-Westchester GOP-$4,500

V-Westchester Conservative PAC-$5,000

VI-Yonkers Republican Committee-$1050

There are mixed reviews on Nick’s latest contributions, with some seeing it as a move by him to win new lobbying clients on the other side of the aisle.

Other’s see it as a way for Nick to help brother Mike, in his future run for Mayor in 2011, by spreading out some campaign cash to prominent Dems.

But some see it as another example of Nick and Mike turning their backs on the Republican party. “Nick got all of this money from Republicans, who contributed to his Senate re-election bid, 3 years ago. For him to turn around and give it to Republicans, is a travesty,” said one Yonkers Republican.

One final theory has Nick preparing to switch to the Democratic party soon, with a future run for office (county executive) in the future

Real Conservatives Allege Forgeries In Selection of Andy Spano

 

  Rob Astorino-Illegally Denied the Conservative Line?

A lawsuit was filed in New York State Supreme Court, County of Westchester today, requesting that Westchester County Executive Andy Spano (D-WFP) be removed from November’s ballot as a Conservative Party candidate for the office of Westchester County Executive because, among other things, the proxy ballots used to nominate him were “permeated by fraud,” the suit alleges.

The suit was filed before State Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Colabella by enrolled members and elected leaders of the Westchester County Conservative Party. In all, more than 80 signatures may have been forged to fraudulently put Mr. Spano on the ballot, according the suit.

“Upon information and belief, proxies utilized …at the July 20, 2009 meeting of the County of Westchester Conservative Committee were permeated with fraud,” the legal petition reads. “Specifically, the signatures on the subject proxies do not match those on file at the Westchester County Board of Elections.” County Executive candidate Rob Astorino (R-I) ran on the Republican and Conservative Party lines in 2005-he garnered 42% of the vote in the general election that year-and his candidacy this year is again being supported by an overwhelming majority of Westchester Conservative Party leaders.

At a June meeting of the Conservative Party, Mr. Astorino won the backing of 93% (42 of 45) of the Party leaders present. But Conservative Party chairwoman Gail Burns, for reasons unknown, forced through Mr. Spano’s nomination using proxy ballots and questionable procedural tactics now being challenged in court. Conservative Party members bringing today’s suit are insisting that Mr. Spano be removed from the Conservative Party line.

The papers submitted in court state: “As a result of the aforesaid, the purported designating petitions and certificate of authorization as aforesaid should be declared invalid, and the respondent Board of Elections should be prohibited from setting forth the name of respondent Spano for the public office of Westchester County Executive for the Conservative Party at the primary election to be held on September 15, 2009.” Several town, village and city conservative leaders held a press conference today alleging that Dozens of forged signatures were used to fraudulently hand liberal County Executive Andy Spano the Conservative Party line. Blown up examples of forged signatures, and affidavits from Conservative party members, swearing that their signatures were forged, were presented at the press conference.

After the press conference, Rob Schorr, Republican candidate for District Attorney, called on DA Janet DiFiore to appoint a special prosecutor to conduct a criminal investigation into the allegations.

The allegations center on one person, County Conservative Chair Gail Burns. Burns has orchestrated the endorsement of Andy Spano by her party, over the opposition of 90% of the rank and file Westchester Conservatives.

If the allegations of forgery are true they would center on two pieces of the puzzle which gave Andy Spano the Conservative line:

I-Petitions submitted were forged with Conservatives who didn’t sign. The person who witnessed these signatures is accused of election fraud, and our sources say that Burns signature is on more than one of these petitions.

II-Proxies were forged—This would again center on Burns, who held the majority of proxies at the second conservative convention held last week. These proxies gave Burns the right to vote for Andy Spano, but several Conservatives have come forward to say they never signed their proxies over to Burns.

Despite being in the middle of this firestorm, Burns remains defiant, stating “ This is a desperate attempt by Republican candidate Rob Astorino to steal the Conservative Party line for his own election bid. The Conservative Party held not one, but two nominating conventions. Neither was a close vote. In both instances, the votes were cast overwhelmingly in favor of County Executive Andy Spano. For candidate Astorino to now make these baseless charges is a waste of the court’s time and the taxpayer’s dollar. This is a pathetic, political move that should be recognized for what it is.”