Tendy Remains on Ballot After Levy’s Court Challenge
In his past two runs for the Putnam County District Attorney’s office, Republican Adam Levy has been the only name on the ballot and if he had it his way, that would be the case for a third straight time. But the Putnam Supreme Courts ruled Monday Republican challenger Bob Tendy would remain on the ballot for the Sep. 10 primary.
Levy, who has been DA for two terms, took Tendy, Putnam Valley supervisor, to court alleging that Tendy and his supporters committed forgery and fraud regarding petition signatures needed to get his name on the ballot. After being in court last week, Justice Lewis Lubell decided not enough signatures had been thrown out to remove Tendy’s name, according to the Putnam County Board of Elections.
“Tendy’s staying on the ballot,” Republican Commissioner of the Board of Elections Tony Scannapieco confirmed.
In an interview following the court ruling, Tendy said he was “very pleased Levy’s frivolous case went no where.” Tendy pointed out that Judge Lubell said there was absolutely no indication of any fraud or forgery whatsoever.
“He tried very hard to stop people from voting, voting for me,” Tendy said. “He wanted to run unopposed again.”
On Monday afternoon, Levy’s campaign confirmed that they would appeal to the appellate division, to again examine if Tendy secured enough valid signatures to stay on the ballot. Putnam Supreme Court ruled 52 signatures would be removed, on top of the 163 that the Board of Elections deemed invalid last month.
Tendy currently has 1,189 valid signatures. A countywide candidate needs 1,054.
“The evidence that Tendy and his adult son participated in the collection of over 200 fraudulently filed signatures was clear, convincing, and uncontroverted — as neither Tendy nor his son testified to offer an explanation to the illegally obtained signatures,” Levy’s campaign stated.
Tendy posted on his campaign website the accusations by Levy were a “total, fabricated lie.”
Tendy hit back, calling workers allegedly employed by a company hired by Levy in an effort to get Tendy off the ballot “thugs” and “goons.” He went on to state that workers for Levy are going to houses falsely identifying themselves as Board of Elections workers and telling residents that signed Tendy’s petition that forgery–a crime–may have been committed.
“One of these jacka—- just visited my home, and wanted to speak to my son (who carried petitions for Tendy) about his petition sheets,” Tendy said. “I told him to get off my property–and I told him a few other things.”
Overall, Tendy collected and submitted 1,404 signatures to the Board of Elections. According to Tendy, some of those petitions were tossed because Republican voters signed twice, or they signed for Levy first, among other technicalities not uncommon when objections are filed.
Tendy, the previous week, had publicly challenged Levy to three debates before primary day, arguing in a press release that Levy is trying to “buy the election by flooding the media with ads touting dubious statistics, so-called accomplishments and false ‘initiatives.’”
Tendy said Levy’s campaign has spent an “unprecedented” amount of money on television advertisements and mailers, while voters are more interested in hearing from the candidates directly.
“Right now we have a very expensive marketing strategy paid for by a source with which no Putnam County candidate can ever hope to compete,” Tendy stated. “This election should be about which candidate has the best background and experience, not the most money.”
Tendy said as of Monday, he has not heard back from Levy’s campaign about any debates, though the League of Women Voters did contact Tendy about scheduling a debate at some point.
In a statement from the Levy campaign, it stated Levy “enthusiastically” welcomes squaring off with Tendy, stating, “Any and all opportunities to debate will only enhance DA Levy’s already strong case for reelection.”
The Levy campaign also argued Tendy has turned the DA’s race into one surrounded by misinformation, “demonstrating an unbelievable degree of dishonesty and disrespect toward voters.”
