Letter to the Editor: Transparency is the Loser in New Castle GOP Petition Maneuver
Last week’s Examiner story about the petition maneuver of the New Castle Republican Committee and their candidates was a sad read with regard to transparency. Candidates and their political party should not print petitions and ask their registered voters to sign for candidates knowing that the names on that petition will not be the names on the ballot in November. This is deception, misrepresentation and it is wrong.
It has been 21 months since the last election. That is ample time to put a slate together. Perhaps many GOP voters would not have signed for what the real slate of candidates will eventually be. The silence and lack of transparency from candidate Greenstein and Gallagher is troubling.
I was an active member of the New Castle Republican Committee since 2010. However, upon learning about the placeholder scheme I made the decision to not carry petitions. I would not ask my fellow GOP voters to sign for a slate of candidates that I knew would not be the same as what would appear on the ballot and have since resigned from the committee.
Now that the signatures have been submitted to the Westchester County Board of Elections, a new name may be swapped for the “placeholder” candidate. I, like other registered Republicans in New Castle, will wait in the dark and see the candidate that was selected but withheld from the electorate during the petition process.
Gary Murphy
Chappaqua
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