Appellate Court tosses lawsuit against elections commissioner

POUGHKEEPSIE – The Appellate Division
of State Supreme Court has ended a long legal battle between Republican
Dutchess County Elections Commissioner Erik Haight and former Democratic
Commissioner Fran Knapp, who initially filled a Supreme Court lawsuit
against him.
Knapp, who was removed from office, maintained that during her tenure, Haight made a unilateral decision. Knapp sought to have Haight held in civil and criminal contempt.
In an appellate decision on Wednesday, the case has been resolved in Haight’s favor.
“Since at the board of elections everything has to be done in a bipartisan manner, both the Democrat and Republican commissioner have to act in concert in order to move ahead and she accused me of filing papers in a unilateral fashion, which simply wasn’t true,” Haight said. “I was simply cooperating with a law enforcement investigation which happened to involve her.”  
As a result of that investigation, Knapp was removed from office.
Her husband, Fred Knapp, just days ago was sentenced to state prison for steal large sums of money from the Town of Beekman when he served as its comptroller.