http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2005/09/09/monroe09.htm
Monroe group gets ballot boot
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com
Monroe – They made her life hell at Town Board meetings, stoked opposition in past elections and launched its fiercest effort yet to boot her and two allies from office in November.
But Monroe Supervisor Sandy Leonard has exacted a measure of revenge on Save Monroe by stripping the activist group of a ballot line that would have helped its candidates in a Nov. 8 election for three board seats.
Ruling on a blizzard of objections that Leonard filed, Orange County election officials this week invalidated a petition that would have allowed the Save Monroe candidates to appear on the ballot next to their group's highly recognizable name.
The decision doesn't knock Bob Purdy, Theresa Budich and Kathy Parrella off the ballot in November, but gives them one less ballot position and robs them of the "Save Monroe" label that voters might remember.
Budich, one of six people vying for two council seats, complained yesterday that the decision "disenfranchised" the 766 unaffiliated Monroe voters who signed the voided petition.
"It kind of indicates to me how frightened they are," Budich said, meaning Leonard and her two running mates, Councilmen Don Weeks and Peter Martin.
Leonard shot back that the petition flaws betrayed the inexperience of her opponents.
"Maybe the 766 people should focus on the fact that they didn't do this right," she said. "And if they didn't do this right, what else won't they do right?"
Election officials dismissed the Save Monroe petition mainly because some people who carried it door-to-door had signed other election petitions for the same board seats this year – a mistake that invalidated 607 signatures.
Save Monroe is staging a long-shot bid in primaries Tuesday to wrest the Republican and Democratic ballot lines from three candidates – including Weeks and Martin – endorsed by the local parties.
Even if they lose, Save Monroe's three candidates will still appear on the November ballot on the Conservative Party line, which they snatched away this year from the Republicans.
Monroe group gets ballot boot
By Chris McKenna
Times Herald-Record
cmckenna@th-record.com
Monroe – They made her life hell at Town Board meetings, stoked opposition in past elections and launched its fiercest effort yet to boot her and two allies from office in November.
But Monroe Supervisor Sandy Leonard has exacted a measure of revenge on Save Monroe by stripping the activist group of a ballot line that would have helped its candidates in a Nov. 8 election for three board seats.
Ruling on a blizzard of objections that Leonard filed, Orange County election officials this week invalidated a petition that would have allowed the Save Monroe candidates to appear on the ballot next to their group's highly recognizable name.
The decision doesn't knock Bob Purdy, Theresa Budich and Kathy Parrella off the ballot in November, but gives them one less ballot position and robs them of the "Save Monroe" label that voters might remember.
Budich, one of six people vying for two council seats, complained yesterday that the decision "disenfranchised" the 766 unaffiliated Monroe voters who signed the voided petition.
"It kind of indicates to me how frightened they are," Budich said, meaning Leonard and her two running mates, Councilmen Don Weeks and Peter Martin.
Leonard shot back that the petition flaws betrayed the inexperience of her opponents.
"Maybe the 766 people should focus on the fact that they didn't do this right," she said. "And if they didn't do this right, what else won't they do right?"
Election officials dismissed the Save Monroe petition mainly because some people who carried it door-to-door had signed other election petitions for the same board seats this year – a mistake that invalidated 607 signatures.
Save Monroe is staging a long-shot bid in primaries Tuesday to wrest the Republican and Democratic ballot lines from three candidates – including Weeks and Martin – endorsed by the local parties.
Even if they lose, Save Monroe's three candidates will still appear on the November ballot on the Conservative Party line, which they snatched away this year from the Republicans.