Chairwoman defends picks, says attack related to past grudge
A Rotterdam Republican Committee member is alleging his party’s recent candidate endorsements aren’t valid, but his colleagues maintain the vote was handled properly.
Former Rotterdam Town Board member Gerard Parisi filed a lawsuit Friday, April 22, with the Schenectady County Clerk challenging the legality of the April 14 endorsements made by the Rotterdam Republican Committee, of which he is a member. Parisi’s two main claims are that proper notice of the meeting wasn’t provided and there weren’t enough committee members present to hold a legal vote on endorsements. In addition he claims the proxy votes counted in the meeting have not been supplied to him as requested.
It was really done improperly. I am just looking to have it done the right way, said Parisi. `I don’t know if they didn’t realize it, or if they did it on purpose nobody has responded to any of my questions to give me an answer.`
Tracy Donovan, chairwoman of the town’s GOP committee, said the endorsements were valid according to the by-laws of the committee. She said the list of committee members Parisi is using is also not accurate.
`We did have enough according to our bylaws, we did have enough for the vote,` said Donovan. `He has an old list of committee people I don’t know where he is getting all this information.`
Donovan said she believes there is a connection between past events and Parisi’s current claim against the party.
`I think he is upset he didn’t win the [September 2010] primary against Assemblyman George Amedore, and at the time when Rotterdam endorsed him they [county Republicans] claimed it was an illegal vote,` said Donovan. `There is only speculation, but it seems awful coincidental that when he made the challenge to George’s seat, it was an illegal vote back then.`
Donovan said while that claim was made on a county level, no legal action was taken, and Parisi was able to take part in the primary. Donovan also said Parisi appeared to have a grudge against the No New Tax Party, which was formed by the Republican’s endorsement for town supervisor, Brian McGarry.
Parisi said he doesn’t understand how his race against Amedore has anything to do with the lawsuit he has filed, and he has nothing against the No New Tax Party.
`If there is a legitimate endorsement then I have no problem. If it is not done the proper way, it is not a legitimate endorsement,` said Parisi. `If a judge says they do [have legal endorsements], then I have no problem with it but based on the information I have, it doesn’t appear to be the case.`
Besides McGarry for supervisor, the town Republicans endorsed Chris Tomaselli and Aurelia Lazzari for the Town Board, incumbent Highway Superintendent James Longo and incumbent Town Justice Kevin Mercoglan.
Donovan said there are fewer than 48 members active in the committee, and there were 17 current members present voting with nine proxy votes, equaling 26 votes, which would be enough votes if all were valid.
Parisi said there are 48 members in the committee, according to his list, and of the 19 individuals in attendance, five of the members signing the resolution were not committee members. Also, of the nine proxy votes, Parisi claims at least one submitted was not a member of the committee. Parisi said he wasn’t at the meeting because he was out of town.
The mailed notice Parisi received was postmarked five days before the April 14 meeting, but he said he did not get it until April 11. Parisi said notice must be received, not postmarked, five days before a meeting.
Donovan said the majority of people that are active participants in the committee had known about the upcoming meeting through verbal discussions at recent events and through emails.“