KINGSTON – The Ulster County Republican Party fielded only 12 candidates to run for 23 seats on the county legislature and now two of them have been disqualified in court over petition challenges.
Legislator Craig Lopez (District 14) and Jarad Keplinger, a candidate in District 8, were both tossed off the ballot. Lopez will be removed from the GOP and Conservative lines.
But, County Republican Chairman Ken Ronk is banking on Lopez remaining in contention. “We are circulating an independent line for Craig as we speak,” Ronk told Mid-Hudson News.
“That Ronk did not even bother to provide Legislator Lopez, his party’s endorsed candidate and a colleague in the legislature, with legal counsel for (Friday’s) hearing speaks volumes,” said County Democratic Chairwoman Kelleigh McKenzie.
“The Ulster County Republican Party is in such disarray that their own candidate for District Attorney, Mike Kavanagh, doesn’t even want voters to know that Republicans are backing him,” she said. “Meanwhile, Ulster County Democratic elected officials are delivering for people – working to make housing more affordable, growing the local economy with green jobs and workforce training, increasing support to those struggling with mental health and addiction, and keeping taxes down.”
Ronk fired back at McKenzie. “The Democrats are the self-proclaimed party of choice, yet in Ulster County, Chairwoman Kelleigh McKenzie chooses to boast about denying the voters a choice based on things like a person printing their name, signatures not matching what the voter may have filed on their 18th birthday along with countless other obvious clerical errors,” he said. “The Republican Party is rebuilding in Ulster County, and we will emerge stronger than ever.”
