TOWN OF WAWAYANDA – The trial of six people charged with blocking the entrance to the CPV power plant in the Town of Wawayanda was supposed to start on Thursday but the night before, the defendants were notified it was postponed until at least December.
One of those who chained herself to the front gate of the construction site is Pramilla Malick, the Democratic candidate for state Senate, who is challenging long-time Republican incumbent John Bonacic. She alleged the delay was politically motivated by local and Orange County Republican Party and elected officials including Bonacic.
“My opponent has been calling voters and assassinating my character by asserting that I have been arrested and that I am a radical without any explanation or context for my actions, so I think the last thing they wanted at this moment was an opportunity for me to describe in detail my defense, my reasons for my actions and to be supported by prominent public health and climate change experts,” Malick said.
She also called on the judge, Timothy McElduff, Jr., to recuse himself since he ran on the same ticket as the Wawayanda town supervisor last year. All town board members as well as Bonacic have been supportive of the CPV project.
Bonacic’s spokesman, Conor Gillis, terms Malick’s comments “ludicrous for Ms. Malick to contend that her criminal trial was delayed by some vast Republican conspiracy. This demonstrates how out of touch with reality she is.”
