WESTCHESTER COUNTY FAIR CAMPAIGN PRACTICES COMMITTEE FINDS CORTLANDT TOWN JUDGE, GERRY KLEIN, COMMITS UNFAIR CAMPAIGN PRACTICE AGAINST CHALLENGER, SHARI GORDON

It is very sad that Cortlandt votes are witnessing a dirty political trick in this election by Cortlandt Town Justice, Gerry Klein, against his opponent, Shari Gordon, in Judge Klein’s re-election effort.  On September 13, 2013, the nonpartisan Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee (“Committee”) determined that Cortlandt Town Justice, Gerry Klein, committed an “unfair campaign practice” against Town Justice candidate, Shari Gordon, when he failed to “publicly repudiate” letters containing false statements about Shari Gordon that were written on his behalf to Independence Party voters by Lawrence Chiulli and Peter Malaspina (“Klein Letters”).  See link: http://www.faircampaignpractices.org/fcpcfindings.html.  Also, on September 13th, the Committee found that the Klein Letters, which falsely stated that the Committee found Shari “guilty” of “running a deceptive campaign”, were themselves violations of the Committee’s rules.  In fact, the Committee never found Shari Gordon “guilty” of anything, let alone “running a deceptive campaign.”  The starting point here was Shari Gordon’s road signs, and Mr. Klein’s insincere position that the signs were “misleading”, because the signs did not have the words “Elect” or “For”.  In fact, the Committee was unimpressed with Mr. Klein’s complaint, and found that “efforts were made to remedy” the problem (by Shari’s campaign putting a sticker, “Elect”, on the sign) “as soon as the matter was brought to the attention of the Gordon campaign”.  

As to the Klein Letters’ statements of “guilty” or “deceptive campaign”, those statements are obviously false, but what is true is that the Klein Letters were a classic dirty trick as these misleading letters were sent to Independence party voters literally on the eve of their primary, affording the Gordon campaign no opportunity to respond and likely securing the Independence Party nomination to Mr. Klein.

Through a letter that appeared in the Croton Gazette on September 19th, Mr. Klein purported to “disavow” the Klein Letters, but he continued to deny knowledge of the Klein Letters.  We consider Mr. Klein’s continued denial of knowledge of the Klein Letters quite disingenuous, since he is endorsed for reelection by the Conservative and Republican parties, and the letters, which were sent to all Independence Party voters in Cortlandt, were written by (a) Mr. Chiulli, a Conservative Party official, and (b) Mr. Malaspina, who is a client of Dan Pagano, in a divorce action with Mr. Malaspina’s wife (who was represented by Shari Gordon in that divorce action).  It is worth noting that Mr. Pagano Chairs the Cortlandt Republican Party, and is Mr. Klein’s campaign lawyer, representing Mr. Klein in a completely frivolous and failed court proceeding to try to remove Shari Gordon’s name from the ballot.

I believe that, despite having been on the bench for over two decades, Mr. Klein has demeaned himself and Cortlandt residents through such misleading political attacks, using obvious political allies, such as the likes of Mr. Chiulli and Mr. Malaspina.  In contrast, Shari Gordon is a respected member of our community and has run a campaign of integrity and honesty. Cortlandt residents deserve better.  On election day, we urge voters to cast their ballots for Shari Gordon and make history by electing the first woman judge in Cortlandt’s 225 year history.   

Frank Streng, Cortlandt Manor (Campaign Manager, Shari Gordon for Cortlandt Town Justice)