Cortlandt Town Justice Race: Committee Hears Gordon's Complaints

Members of the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee met Thursday to hear complaints filed by Shari Gordon, Cortlandt town justice candidate running against Republican incumbent Gerry Klein.

Gordon, who has secured an endorsement from the Democrats, complained that two letters sent in support of Klein, "mischaracterized and misquoted" the committee's Sept. 4 findings, according to a press release. 

Officials ruled "no finding" but stated that the letters should be "publicly repudiated" by Klein.  

The panel sided with Klein then, who complained lawn signs for Gordon were misleading because the wording read "Shari Gordon – Cortlandt Town Justice," and that "could give the impression that she was the incumbent. The findings did not that "as soon as the matter was brought to the attention of the Gordon campaign, efforts were made to remedy it."

The term for town justice is four years. Klein has served as town justice since 1990. Gordon has 27 years legal experience. Both tout community involvement on their websites (Gordon's is here and Klein's here).

Unofficial tallies from the Sept. 10 primary elections show Gordon with the majority of votes for the Working Families party and Klein with the majority for the Independent line.

Here are the findings by the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee as provided in a statement:

COMPLAINT NUMBER 1: Ms. Gordon complained that two letters sent in support of Mr. Klein mischaracterized and misquoted the Committee's findings of September 4, 2013. In letters from Lawrence Chiulli and Peter Malaspina, the following statement was made: "Judge Klein's opponent was just found guilty of unfair campaign practices for running a deceptive campaign for Cortlandt Town Judge by the bi-partisan Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee."  The complaint went on: "If these letters were authorized by Mr. Klein, the statements made in the letters misstate the findings of September 4, 2013.

FINDING: No Finding

The letters from Mr. Chiulli and Mr. Malaspina did in fact mischaracterize and misquote the findings of September 4, 2013, which did not find Ms. Gordon ‘guilty’ of ‘running a deceptive campaign.’ This violates the Fair Campaign Practices Committee's guideline that "candidates or parties to the complaint wishing to quote from a finding must quote the finding in its entirety as it appears in the body of the news release." However, Mr. Klein denied authorizing the letters and there was no evidence presented of his authorizing them.

COMPLAINT NUMBER 2: The letters misquoted and did not include the entire finding of the Committee, such as the following: "The Committee noted that as soon as the matter was brought to the attention of the Gordon campaign, efforts were made to remedy it."

FINDING: No Finding

The letters did not include the entire finding of September 4, 2013, which violates the Fair Campaign Practices Committee's rule of "candidates or parties to the complaint wishing to quote from a finding must quote the finding in its entirety as it appears the body of the news release." However, Mr. Klein denied authorizing the letters and there is no evidence of his authorizing them.

ADDITIONAL FINDING BY THE COMMITTEE:  Beyond the complaint from Ms. Gordon, the Committee finds an unfair campaign practice by Mr. Klein, in that he did not comply with the Fair Campaign Practices Committee's guideline that a "candidate will publicly repudiate materials or actions from any individual or group that violates its Statement of Principles."  The letters from Mr. Chiulli and Mr. Malspina clearly fall into that category and should be publicly repudiated by Mr. Klein.

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According to the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee, its purpose is to "promote a climate in which candidates conduct honest and fair campaigns." The Committee encourages candidates to conduct campaigns openly and fairly, to discuss issues, to refrain from dishonest and defamatory attacks, and not to use campaign materials that distort the facts. Its task is to accept written complaints about alleged unfair campaign practices and to determine whether the action complained about is indeed unfair.