POUGHKEEPSIE – Two Republican candidates for Pleasant Valley Town Board can stay on the ballot despite a court challenge by Democrats, Acting State Supreme Court Justice Edward McLoughlin ruled.
Democratic Councilman Frank Mazzella challenged the nominating petitions of GOP town board candidates Jennifer Adams and John Dunn arguing that they were defective since they did not differentiate between town board and town supervisor positions. The suit argued that the supervisor is a member of the town board, therefore the petition language was ambiguous.
But, Justice McLoughlin ruled in a May 1 decision that “each petition is sufficiently informative so as to preclude any reasonable possibility of confusing or deceiving the signers, voters, of the board (of elections) regarding whether each respondent sought the position of town supervisor or town councilperson.”
Republican Elections Commissioner Erik Haight, meanwhile, called the lawsuit by Democratic attorney Michael Treybich and Democratic Councilman Mazzella “a cynical stunt.” The commissioner said it is “a shame the court system must waste time on these low-grade lawsuits.”
Town GOP Chairman Michael Schroeder said, “common sense prevailed on this frivolous lawsuit.”
