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Board of Elections validates petitions
By John J. Hopkins Times
Candidates for the Depew Action Party will remain on the ballot for the March 20 village election after the Erie County Board of Elections determined Wednesday that the group's nominating petitions were completed in a satisfactory manner.
However, the Action Party remains tardy concerning delivery of a financial statement to the village clerk's office.
The People's Voice of Depew Party alleged that witness identification information was not completed on the nominating forms. Former Village Clerk Joan Priebe filed the challenge on behalf of the People's Voice Party.
Village Administrator/Clerk Robert M. Kucewicz said that the elections board notified him that they found the forms filed by the Action Board to be satisfactory.
Priebe told the Times that the forms provided by the village clerk's office to the People's Voice Party required more information than the forms filed by the Action Party.
"If (the additional information) wasn't required, why did he give it to me?" Priebe asked.
Kucewicz told the Times that he provided Priebe with a generic form that is displayed on the Web site of the New York State Board of Elections.
"The Depew Action Party used the actual format required by village law," Kucewicz explained. "The other party used the generic form. Both forms are acceptable. The People's Voice was challenging on a technicality."
Kucewicz also said that he is not required to provide the forms, stating that the New York Conference of Mayors advises clerks not to provide the forms.
Erie County Board of Elections Commissioner Dennis Ward said that the decision to validate the petitions was unanimous.
"Article 15 of election law deals with village elections, and within that section there is a specimen petition that does not include those two pieces of information," Ward explained. "Although the normal rules of the rest of election law generally apply to village election ... because the section that deals just with villages contains a sample petition, and the sample does not have those two pieces of information, we determined it was valid."
Ward added that this particular portion of the law is "odd," noting that Article 15 is silent on other matters.
For example, a petition for general elections requires a cover sheet.
"If you fail to have a cover sheet, it can be fatal to your petition," Ward said. "When you look through Article 15, it says nothing about a cover sheet."
While one matter has been resolved, the Action Party remains delinquent in filing its financial statements. New York State village election law required the first statements of campaign receipts and expenditures from political parties to be filed 32 days prior to the election; in this case, February 16.
"We handed ours in and as of (Tuesday) afternoon they still have not filed one," Priebe said. "Did (Kucewicz) ask for them? Is he going to get them?"
Kucewicz confirmed that the Action Party missed the February 16 deadline. He said that Action Party officials were not notified until Tuesday because Monday was a holiday.
"They were notified that they need to get it in and they said they will be doing so shortly," Kucewicz said, although he added the Action Party did not indicate to him when the financial forms will be filed.
Ward told the Times that the Board of Elections has little involvement in general with village elections and does not get involved with village election financial statements.
"They don't file their campaign finance reports with us," Ward said, "and we don't have any jurisdiction or sanction power. The village clerk handles all of that. It's a strange anomaly."
The next financial statement deadline is March 9, or 11 days prior to the election.
Running on the Action Party's line are Mayor Joseph G. McIntosh, and Trustees Sandra Pieczynski and Eugene Molinaro. Jeff Davis and Donald Jakubowski are also running for trustee positions on the Action Party line.
The People's Voice offers Barbara Alberti, a recently retired village employee, as its candidate for mayor. Running for four trustee positions are Lancaster attorney Joe Keefe; Linda Hammer, a merchandiser for Hallmark cards; labor relations specialist Carol Monti and Trustee William Maryniewski.
Davis and Pieczynski are former members of the village's dormant Progressive Party. Pieczynski was elected as a trustee while running on the Progressive Party's ballot in 2003. Village political observers say she switched affiliations in 2006.
Maryniewski is a former Action Party member, winning election to his position in 2003 after his 2002 appointment.
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