Detailed objections filed by attorney Mary Conway Calabrese Monday with the Livingston County Board of Elections allege serious problems with the Conservative Party designating petitions filed by the Geneseo incumbents recently. According to affidavits filed with the objections, some of the signatures were not actually witnessed by Jane Dulmage, even though she signed a sworn statement at the bottom of the petition that she had.
According to two of the signers, their signatures were gathered by councilman Hop Manapol acting alone and Jane Dulmage was not present. In a third case a registered Conservative denied that it was his signature on the petition, even though his address was listed next to the signature. Dulmage also certified that she had witnessed that signature.
Dulmage is a membered of the Conservative Party which is required to pass the petition and she is also employed by the Town of Geneseo as a clerk in the Water Department. The petitions were submitted to the Board of Election by Supervisor Wes Kennison who signed the cover sheet.
Falsely swearing to a written document or filing a false document with the government are both serious crimes under the New York State Penal Code. It is likely that a police investigation of this matter will be triggered by the filing of these objections.
Calabrese also objected to the fact that 7 of the 8 signatures on the petition had the dates altered in violation of the Election Law. The two Commissioners of the Board of Elections, Republican Jerry Smith and Democrat Susan Guenther, must now rule on the validity of the objections.
The Clarion News Blog 