Fair Campaign Practices of the Capital Region, Inc

Complaint of Angelo Santabarbara v. George Amedore dated 10-28-2010

Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital District, Inc  reviewed Mr. Santabarbara’s complaint dated 10-28-2010 and issued the following response:

Our standard for accepting emergency complaints for a hearing is:

The complaint must be so egregious that it requires an immediate response and the facts of the complaint could affect the outcome of an election.

In reviewing this complaint we found that the essential dispute in this case is the same as the dispute which we decided in Complaint 2010-1.  We do not find that the subsequent actions of the parties rise to the standard of egregiousness required to hear an emergency complaint. This issue has been thoroughly discussed in the Daily Gazette on several occasions, and the voters have been thoroughly informed about the facts, the charges and the counter charges.  Issued:  10-30-2010

Candidates who think their opponent has just committed an egregiously unfair campaign practice should contact our President, Reverend Maurice Drown, to see if there is still time to file a complaint and for FCP to reach a decision.

Generally speaking, the press will not publish a FCP finding issued after the Saturday before an election, so unfortunately, last minute dirty tricks are difficult to counter.

The hearing tentatively set for October 28th has been cancelled because no complaint has been received.

The FCP hearing tentatively scheduled for October 26th has been cancelled because we haven’t received any complaints.  We are in the emergency complaint period and those rules apply. The next possible hearing date is October 28th.

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.

-END-

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.

Fair Campaign Practices for the Capital Region, Inc. has scheduled a hearing on a complaint (2010-1) made by Angelo Santabarbara against his opponent George Amedore, Jr.  They are running for the 105th Assembly District.

The hearing will be held at 7pm, on Tuesday, October 19th at Calvary United Methodist Church, 15 Ridge Place, Latham, 12110.

The hearing tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, October 13th, has been cancelled because no candidates have complained to us about unfair campaign practices.