Fair Campaign Practices of the Capital Region, Inc

COMPLAINT 2010-1   Angelo Santabarbara v. George Amedore, Jr.

Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region, Inc. (FCP) held a hearing on October 19, 2010, to consider a complaint made by Angelo Santabarbara against George Amedore, Jr. Both are candidates for the Assembly seat in the 105^th District. Present were hearing panel members Michael Foster, Beverly LaBarge, Stephen Muller, Faith Weldon, panel Chair Katherine Henrikson, and Coordinator Barbara Thomas. Mr. Santabarbara was represented by his attorney, Michael Godlewski. Mr. Amedore appeared with his attorney, Michael Cuevas.

Mr.  Santabarbara complained that Mr. Amedore had misrepresented Mr. Santabarbara’s actions in circulating petitions for the “Change Albany Now” line on the ballot in violation of Principle 2, “the candidate will not engage in, permit, or condone unfair or misleading attacks upon the character of an opponent”, and of Principle 4, “The candidate will not use…any campaign material … that misrepresents, distorts, or otherwise falsifies…the facts regarding either the candidate or an opponent”.

FINDING 1: UNFAIR CAMPAIGN PRACTICE

Mr. Amedore accused Mr. Santabarbara of breaking the law in collecting signatures on a petition to gain a ballot line for the Change Albany Now party for the election on their Assembly district. Mr.  Amedore went to court to have Mr. Santabarbara’s petitions thrown out on the basis of fraud in collecting the signatures.  The Supreme Court in Albany found that there was no or insufficient evidence of fraud, and the petition was dismissed in a ruling by Judge McDonough on September 21^st. Despite the court’s dismissal of the case, on September 23^rd Mr. Amedore posted a press release on his website that repeated the allegations in the court case and included the following quotation: “There are enough dishonest politicians in Albany and the taxpayers do not need another who is willing to bend the rules to further their careers.” Violation of Principle 2, “The candidate will not engage in..unfair or misleading attacks on the character of an opponent.”

FINDING 2: NO UNFAIR CAMPAIGN PRACTICE.

Mr. Santabarbara complained that the same press release quoted a dissenting opinion of an earlier court case as a “decision of the court”  in violation of Principle 4: “The candidate will not use…any campaign material that misrepresents, distorts, or otherwise falsifies a fact… regarding either the candidate or an opponent.” The press release does not misrepresent Mr. Santabarbara and so there is no violation of Principle #4. However, the panel does find that the press release is misleading, since it uses a wrong standard of law by citing a dissenting opinion as a “decision of the court”.

Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region, Inc. was established to promote a climate of fair, open, and honest campaigns; encourage candidates to discuss the issues; encourage candidates to refrain from defamatory attacks on opponents; discourage use of campaign materials that distort facts; and expand the political debate by more fully informing the electorate about the use of unfair campaign practices.

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Note: If a candidate or campaign wishes to quote from this finding, it must do so accurately, particularly if it uses partial quates. Otherwise the use is an unfair campaign practice.