Murphy Press Release Unfair: Campaign Practices Committee

The fight for the state senate seat in the 40th district, which includes parts of Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester counties, continues acrimonious. One focus continues to be the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee.

Earlier this spring, the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee ruled on complaints by incumbent Republican candidate Terrence Murphy against his Democratic challengers, Peter Harckham and Robert Kesten, in the race for New York State Senate, District 40. This week, the committee ruled on a related complaint, from Harckham against Murphy.

Because of the clarity of the complaint, the committee, following its own guidelines, issued a finding without holding a hearing.

The finding:

COMPLAINT: Candidate for NY State Senate, Peter Harckham, complained that State Senator Terrence Murphy misrepresented the finding of the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee by posting and distributing a press release alleging the Committee found that Pete Harckham "lied" about Terrence Murphy's role in the Republican nomination of Donald Trump, when in fact the finding simply stated, "The statement was inaccurate."

FINDING: UNFAIR

Senator Murphy’s press release is in violation of one of the Committee's principles "The Committee considers selective quotation or misrepresentation of its findings to be an unfair campaign practice” since the Committee did not say Mr. Harckham “lied”; the Committee said “The statement was inaccurate.” Senator Murphy’s Facebook page continues to include a link to the News 12 story quoting the original press release.

NOTE TO THE PUBLIC & THE MEDIA:

A core belief of the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee is that words matter. Because the Committee’s findings are often used by candidates in their campaigns, the Committee crafts them carefully to minimize the mischaracterization of its determinations. The Committee writes unfair rather than guilty because it is not a court of law and does not want to give the mistaken impression that a complainee has engaged in an illegal practice. It does not rule but rather finds candidates’ complaints to be fair, as in normal political discourse, or unfair if they are false or misleading. The Committee requires individual findings to be quoted in full, so that its conclusions are not used to mislead the voters.

Murphy campaign spokeswoman Martha Ruiz Jimenez was dismissive. "Webster’s Dictionary defines the noun 'lying' as 'the telling of lies, or false statements; untruthfulness', from the idiom, 'lie', 'to prove or imply the falsity of,'" she told Patch. "The Committee found Mr. Harkcham's statement was "inaccurate." Mr. Harckham apparently has a different definition of what lying is."

Harckham's campaign anticipated the response.

“Senator Murphy treats the Fair Campaigns process like a game to score political points and leverage a tactical campaign advantage," said Harckham campaign manager TJ Rogers. "Frankly it’s a tedious game, and the voters will quickly lose their patience for it, if they haven’t already. Let’s stop this nonsense, and focus on issues that matter to voters like passing the Child Victims Act or the Red Flag legislation to keep our schools and families safe. These other antics are just a distraction to prevent a real discussion about his record on the issues.”

The district includes the communities of Beekman and Pawling in Dutchess; Brewster, Carmel, Patterson and Southeast in Putnam; and Briarcliff Manor, Buchanan, Cortlandt, Croton-on-Hudson, Lewisboro, Mount Kisco, Mount Pleasant, New Castle, North Salem, Peekskill, Pleasantville, Pound Ridge, Sleepy Hollow, Somers and Yorktown in Westchester.

SEE: Kesten, Harckham Unfair To Murphy: Campaign Practices Committee