ATTENTION BENNINGTON RESIDENTS

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Most of you have probably heard about a lawsuit involving our election ballot on November 3rd. Now that it's over, I can share the full story.

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As far back as July I was made aware that the Bennington Republican Committee consisting of Chairman Jim Schlick, Treasurer June Spencer, Secretary Ellen Grant, Bernard Frounick, Kenneth Rechlin and Jeff Burger were planning to find candidates for the vacant seats in the fall election. That's OK, that's what committees are supposed to do. I immediately inquired to the chairman by text message and asked when these interviews would take place as I had numerous residents that would be interested in this process. Mr. Schlick immediately stopped answering my texts when I questioned if ALL qualified registered voters in the town would have access to this process..........that's not OK.

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A few days of silence passed, and I got word that 3 Certificates of Acceptance for our 3 town council positions were filed at the Wyoming County Board of Elections. This was very alarming to me as the latest resignation (Mr. Frounick) days before had not even been announced to the public. How could someone be chosen by a committee to run for a seat when no one in town was even aware it was open?

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I went to the Board of Elections and asked to see the documents and to my dismay it appeared many of the proper procedures according to NYS election law were not being followed. There were no Certificates of Vacancy filed for the seats and there were no Certificates of Nomination......Just the 3 Certificates of Acceptance. The Judge would later describe this as "accepting a job you weren't offered". Anyone who has ever run for office knows the process is VERY detailed, full of rules and deadlines, so I was shocked to see so many of those rules/laws were not being followed.

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I asked the Board of Elections to clarify, and I pointed out EVERY single issue and even showed them the election laws. I was met with a mixture of being ignored or told "We don't know". Alarming to say the least. I inquired to the Republican Commissioner of the Board of Elections numerous times but didn't expect an answer because the Commissioner and our town party chairman are the same person, Jim Schlick. This is a MASSIVE conflict of interests in my opinion as the commissioner of the board of elections is tasked with overseeing/policing these types of issues so when those positions are held by the same person it's easy to understand the public skepticism they will be able to remain objective if their own actions are being questioned.

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As time went on it became clear that despite nearly every door I opened, I was met with the same response. It was generally acknowledged that what was being done to the people of Bennington was wrong but if the Board of Elections refused to correct the situation there was "Nothing we can do about it".

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That answer was unacceptable to me.......not when we are talking about our towns access to free, fair, and open elections.

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About that time, I was given over 200 signatures from Bennington residents collected in one single weekend expressing their displeasure with this situation and their concerns it violated the public trust in the objectivity of our Board of Elections.

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Bennington residents have had hundreds of their signatures ignored in the past and told they didn't matter. Well, they matter to me. I told every resident of this town I would fight FOR them when I started this journey so that's exactly what I did.

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I tried EVERYTHING to resolve this issue through the proper channels for months. I contacted not only our Republican committee but those from other towns and counties as well. I contacted the Wyoming County Republican Party. I went to the Board of Elections. I met with County Administrator and the County Attorney. I expressed my concerns to the entire Board of Supervisors. I even presented them with a clear legal opinion from an attorney experienced in election law and was met with the same basic answer......"If the Board of Elections refuses to correct and change course there is nothing anyone can do". That is a shocking reality that needs to be addressed separately in my opinion as no department in the county, especially one as important as the Board of Elections should be "untouchable" and immune from oversight.

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Patience for my persistence in fighting for the residents of Bennington apparently wore thin and the situation culminated with me being screamed at "IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT WE ARE DOING THEN SUE US"..........So, I did.

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I had the pleasure of being seated in the NY Supreme Court and listening to the judge validate my months (years) long fight for the residents of our town. Every defense and motion by the county was defeated. My attorney was brilliant and the outcome was a RESOUNDING victory for the residents of Bennington, and I could not be prouder to be the one who fought and won this battle for you. Bennington will now forever be part of New York Election Law history that others will look to in the future and realize they don't have to accept being told "There's nothing we can do".

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The judges' final comments were stirring on a level well above anything I expected. To paraphrase, he stated that We live in a Democracy. It's messy, complicated and cumbersome but it's the best system in the world. That system has rules and when we begin to ignore those rules or make stuff up as we go along the whole system starts to fall apart.

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Truer words have never been spoken.

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What does this mean for Bennington residents???

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Because of the delays and endless nonsense this dragged into a timeframe when absentee ballots had already been sent out. The judge's order was that 3 candidates failed to comply with election law statutes and the process from committee to board of elections operated contrary to statute and case law. These candidates were ordered to be removed, and new ballots would be printed and sent out as soon as possible. This is an unfortunate situation that could have been avoided all the way back in July had the Board of Elections just acknowledged and corrected the situation. They chose not to do that.

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The candidates that were placed on the ballot improperly and thus ordered to be removed are Todd M. Gadd, Michael G. George, and Michael J. Fontaine.

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The town ballot (which I will provide for you) will now have 4 open seats with no candidates on the ballot due to the timing of the seats becoming vacant. Those seats will be TOWN CLERK, TOWN HIGHWAY SUPERINTENDENT, and 2 separate 1 year TOWN COUNCIL seats. Mark Prior will be the only candidate for TOWN SUPERVISOR on the REPUBLICAN and CONSERVATIVE lines and Deborah Anstett will be the ONLY candidate on the ballot for the open 2 year TOWN COUNCIL seat. She is a registered REPUBLICAN who properly filed her petition for an independent line on the ballot as the time for REPUBLICAN petitions had passed by the time her seat became vacant.

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I am not here to pass judgement, but I will give you my opinion as I promised full transparency so here it is.

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This is not about the 3 candidates who were removed, it's about free, fair and open elections for EVERY Bennington resident. When these seats became vacant, I put them on Facebook for the entire town to see and those posts got over 40,000 views combined. None of these 3 gentlemen expressed any interest in the open seats. The last time a board seat was resigned years ago no one in town was even told about it and we all walked into a new board member at the next meeting. We did everything possible to change that and these seats available to ANY resident who was interested. Sadly, this situation was an attempt to drag us back to the ways of the past.

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Access to the ballot or any spot in town hall should be open to ALL residents at ALL times. I don't know why this process was so secretive or how/why these 3 gentlemen were invited to a party and given information that none of you were. You'd have to ask the people involved.

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Resident access to town hall or free, fair and open elections are sacred foundational freedoms of our country, not just our town and should NEVER be based on who you know. Contrary to what is being said by some, I did not remove these 3 men from the ballot. A NYS Supreme Court Judge did, and it was FAR from a technicality. It was due to statutory prerequisites for proper filing for a position on the ballot were wholly unmet.

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If you have any questions about this issue, please feel free to reach out to me directly or any of these resources.

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Wyoming County Board of Elections 585-786-8931

Wyoming County Administrator 585-786-8817

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Thank you all for your patience and understanding in this matter and please familiarize yourself with the ballot before Nov 3rd as many of you may have questions how the write in process works for the empty ballot spots. You will be able to vote for the candidates on the ballot as always.

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Supervisor Prior