FAIR CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE HEARS VIVIAN MCKENZIE VS JOHN TESTA

The Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee met on September 3, 2015, to hear the complaint of Vivian McKenzie, candidate for Peekskill Common Council, against John Testa, candidate for Westchester County Legislature, District 1. Ms. McKenzie was accompanied by Ken Martin, Ron Stokes and Allyson Curtis. Mr. Testa was accompanied by John Mattis and T. J. McCormack.

COMPLAINT:
Ms. McKenzie complained that Mr. Testa, in a press release and press conference on August 4, 2015, made several demonstrably false claims and that his inflammatory rhetoric was irresponsible.

FINDING: Unfair
The heading of Mr. Testa’s press release of August 4, 2015 stated that, “…dozens of Democratic officials [were] caught in scam to submit illegal election documents.” In the release, Mr. Testa claimed that 25 petition carriers, “in league with The Peekskill Democratic Party, formed a corrupt syndicate in an attempt to…defraud the voters…” Mr. Testa named a number of Democratic individuals, including Ms. McKenzie, who, he claimed, engaged in fraudulent conduct.

The Committee found that Mr. Testa’s use of such terms as “fraud,” “fraudulent,” and “corrupt syndicate” was unsupported by any evidence presented, nor was any evidence presented that any of the named individuals had engaged in fraudulent or otherwise illegal conduct.

ABOUT THE WESTCHESTER COUNTY FAIR CAMPAIGN PRACTICES COMMITTEE

Committee Members: Victor J. Goldberg, [Chair], Miriam Cohen [Coordinator], Paul C. Atkinson, Elizabeth Bermel, Gisele Castro, Daniel S. Franklin, Jr., LaRuth Gray, Susan Guma, Lee Kinnally, Robert C. Kirkwood, Polly Kuhn, Philip M. Maley, Harry Phillips III, Joy Rosenzweig, Susan Schwarz, Evelyn M. Stock
Party representatives (ex officio): Republican Party, Democratic Party, Conservative Party, Working Families Party, Independence Party, Green Party, Reform Party

The purpose of the Westchester Fair Campaign Committee is to promote a climate in which candidates conduct honest and fair campaigns. The Committee encourages candidates to conduct campaigns openly and fairly, to discuss issues, to refrain from dishonest and defamatory attacks, and not to use campaign materials that distort the facts.

The Committee does not sit as a censor of political discussion nor as a body to enforce election law or make legal decisions. Its task is to accept written complaints about alleged unfair campaign practices and to determine whether the action complained about is indeed unfair. Among other things, the Committee will consider to be unfair any campaign practice that is a misstatement of a material fact or that misleads the public.

The Committee has no power to compel anyone to stop doing what it has found to be unfair. If the Committee acts on a complaint, it will release its findings to inform the public. The Committee may choose not to consider a complaint; in that case, a hearing is not held and the parties to the complaint are notified.

Statement of Principles of the Committee, as stated in its Manual, is available at www.faircampaignpractices.org. The Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee believes that candidates should conduct their campaigns in accordance with the following principles:

• The candidate will conduct a campaign for public office openly and fairly. The candidate will discuss the issues and participate in fair debate with respect to her/his views and qualifications.
• The candidate will neither engage in nor be involved with unfair or misleading attacks upon the character of an opponent, nor will the candidate engage in invasions of personal privacy unrelated to fitness for office.
• The candidate will not participate in or condone an appeal to prejudice.
• The candidate will neither use nor be involved with the use of any campaign material or advertisements that misrepresent or distorts the facts.
• The candidate will clearly identify by name the source of all advertisements and campaign literature published and distributed.
• The candidate will not abuse the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee process in order to obtain political advantage.

The candidate will publicly repudiate materials or actions from any individual or group that would violate the Statement of Principles.