NEW WINDSOR – Colin Schmitt has denied having any involvement in New Windsor Republican voters being questioned by private investigators who, voters say, have lied to them about their visits. Mid-Hudson News first reported on incidents of Republicans in New Windsor who signed designating petitions for Stephen Bedetti, being questioned by private investigators. One of the investigators was caught on camera lying to a Bedetti supporter about who had hired him.
Stephen Bedetti says he collected the required number of signatures from registered Republicans to run for supervisor on the party line. A few days after filing the petitions, three town Republicans, Lawrence Swales, Jennifer Matos, and James Formato, filed general objections to Bedetti’s petitions, in an attempt to invalidate them and prevent him from running on the GOP line. Fellow Republican Colin Schmitt also filed petitions with signatures to challenge Bedetti in a primary. Schmitt denied being involved in the actions of Swales, Matos, and Formato.
Private investigators this week began visiting Republicans that had signed Bedetti’s petitions. When asked who he was, one investigator lied to Scott Hecht, providing his name (Raphael) and saying, “I’m from the Town of New Windsor elections – the Board of Elections.” That statement is false because there is no such entity. Hecht asked the man for ID and Raphael produced his private investigator ID and his “Retired NYPD” ID. Hecht noted that none of the identification had anything to do with New Windsor or Orange County. After Hecht confirmed his signature on the petition, he signed an affidavit for Raphael, who works for Pagones – O’Neill Investigations at which time the investigator said, “We got hired by the board just to confirm a couple signatures – normal stuff.” The entire exchange was captured on a Nest camera and the video is at the bottom of this story.
A Republican voter interrogated by an investigator told Mid-Hudson News the investigator visited his house on Monday and was unable to disclose who had hired the firm for which he works. “He said he didn’t know who hired his company but it seems obvious that they are working for Colin (Schmitt) and trying to intimidate my wife and me into not voting for Mr. Bedetti,” the voter said. Declining to give his name for fear of retribution, the man also said, “I won’t be intimidated but I am pretty sure that other voters may get scared out of voting because of this behavior. Whoever is responsible for sending investigators out should take ownership of it – publicly.”
The Pagones & O’Neill investigators were hired by Republican attorney John Ciampoli, who is known throughout the state as an election law specialist. On Wednesday, Hecht, a 42-year resident of New Windsor learned that the investigator lied and he was angered by the deceit. “I have no problem with verifying my signature on a petition,” he told Mid-Hudson News. “When I learned this morning that he lied to me about who he was representing, I felt like they were trying to intimidate voters that were supporting Steve.”
Ciampoli told Mid-Hudson News that he is not working for Colin Schmitt’s campaign but did not have permission to name his client. Citing attorney-client privilege, Ciampoli said he had been hired by one of the major political party committees to look into the validity of Bedetti’s petitions. Ciampoli said Bedetti’s petitions seem inaccurate, noting that he collected a large number of signatures in a short period of time.
The attorney blamed Bedetti for bringing the investigator story public, despite a notice from the Orange County Board of Elections issued on Tuesday that said the investigators were providing false information to the voters and the matter was being investigated. “This is a case of someone who is taking his fraudulent acts and turning it into a liability for his opponent.”
Mid-Hudson News received a demand from Schmitt on Wednesday morning calling for the original story to be retracted because of the statements made by voters. “To anonymously accuse me of instructing anyone to do anything that is nefarious reeks of political desperation,” he said, adding “As a point of fact, I did not.”
As a follow-up, several questions were sent to Schmitt Wednesday afternoon, seeking clarification. Shortly after the email was sent, the reporter received a call from Mr. Ciampoli, who, as noted above, was not representing Schmitt. When asked if his conversation was a surrogate response from Schmitt, Ciampoli implied that Schmitt was likely not going to be responding.
Bedetti on Wednesday filed challenges to Schmitt’s petitions with the Orange County Board of Elections. “I took ownership of my challenges to his petitions. I’m not afraid to put my name on the documents,” Bedetti said after filing the objections.
Hecht’s Nest doorbell footage of Raphael’s visit, including audio where he can be heard lying is below:
