GOP: No Yorktown Resources for Political Campaigns

The Republicans on the Yorktown town board are calling a second vote on a resolution to forbid all political candidates from using any town resources in political campaigns.

The move comes after Councilman Vishnu Patel sent an email blast to residents opposing the GOP’s plan to build a new highway garage. He used the town’s list of resident email addresses, which he requested and obtained under New York state’s Freedom of Information law.[NOCIRC]

The Republican Town Committee issued this statement:

For the past week Yorktown residents have been calling foul on Democratic Supervisor Candidate Vishnu Patel’s improper use of town resources for his campaign. It became apparent that the sitting councilman used email lists, which were obtained through two separate FOIL requests, of emails which were submitted through the town’s website to receive specific information from the town of Yorktown.

On Friday, during a special meeting Town Board meeting that was called to address the issue, Councilman Patel and his colleague, Councilwoman Susan Siegel, voted against a town resolution which would preclude candidates from using town resources to advance political campaigns.

”It is bad enough Councilman Patel lacked the ethical gumption to refrain from crossing the line of government and politics, but his no vote on Friday should prove to Yorktown residents his inability to differentiate between right and wrong,” Yorktown Republican Chairman Matt Slater said. “Tomorrow’s town board meeting should yield a unanimous vote on an important resolution that Yorktown residents are clamoring for and gives Councilman Patel and Councilwoman Siegel a second opportunity to acknowledge their recent wrong doing.”

At Friday’s special town board meeting it became apparent that neither democratic official saw any fault in using town resources to advance their campaigns. During the meeting, which lasted more than an hour for a single vote, Councilwoman Siegel even conceded that they took the email addresses because they did not want to spend the money on buying them.

“It is abundantly clear that residents of our town submitted their emails through yorktownny.orgfor a specific reason or to get specific communications,” Slater continued. “Councilman Patel’s campaign violated the public’s trust by using that information, which some can argue is privileged, for unsolicited campaign communications. He should change his no vote in an effort to regain the trust of his constituents who believe he invaded their privacy.”

The policy put forth by Supervisor Grace, which was supported by Councilmen Bernard and Diana would mirror the rules put into place by Congress, the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. These legislative bodies have internal rules prohibiting the use of government resources to advance political campaigns.

Both Patel and Siegel voted no when this was proposed at the special meeting on Friday. Tuesday’s meeting is scheduled for 7:00pm at Yorktown Town Hall where they will be afforded an opportunity to change their vote.

The Democrats have said that obtaining the email address list, or any other address list maintained by the town, is not only legal but common in political campaigns.

They cite the New York State Committee on Open Government’s advisory opinion from 2008.

SEE:

• Letter to the Editor: No on Yorktown Highway Garage
• Yorktown GOP, Dems Disagree Over Campaign Email
• Letter to the Editor: GOP Email Ire is Smokescreen

In November’s election, Patel is challenging Grace for the Town Supervisor post.