Saturday, November 20, 2010

More Electoral Litigation...This Time from the Winner

In another example of the over-lawyering of elections, Senator-elect Patricia Ritchie sued the boards of elections in the three counties in the Senate district even though election night results placed her well ahead of incumbent Darrel Aubertine.
Aubertine's decision to delay a formal concession until the counting of absentee ballots apparently led to a spate of paranoia in the GOP ranks and the suit was filed on a Sunday in the Oswego County clerk's office.
All of this shows you cannot even win an election without having the resources to go to court over your win. God help anyone who wants to run for office without sufficient funds for lawyers.
The Valley News Online

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

It could have been avoided if Darrel had manned up and conceded. If it was Hoffman that waited for the final count, we would have a hundred stories about what an a$$hole he is.

Anonymous said...

Why concede anything. The vote indicated what he could have said. My belief is that if he had conceded and then gone ahead and won he would still have been Senator.. Now Ritchie/Skelos is at the helm

rick aldrich said...

If politicians are really sincere about changes , how about starting with the cleaning up of these election messes? We, including those running for office, are fed up with the foolishness, that materializes, with every election.Why can NYS not seem to get it right? Must be the lust for power, and the greed that accompanies it.

Anonymous said...

Rick- what mess? Allowing people to vote absentee? That's what's happening- they have to wait for all the ballots to be delivered by the USPS, and then count them.

Guess maybe grandma shouldn't get to vote if she goes to Florida before election day? If they didn't allow absentee voting, you'd be complaining about the crooked pols disenfranchising the public!

Take a breath.

Anonymous said...

Taking a breath is not a problem but three freaken' weeks to count them is a lot of freaken' breaths.

Don't some places require the absentees to be sent in a little earlier? besides...I could(n't) care less about grandma if she can't stick around for voting day. The only ones that deserve it are the ones serving in the military and a few other rare exceptions.

Anonymous said...

There she is .... already needlessly wasting money!

It's only the start.

Anonymous said...

Yeah if she gains a 150lbs she'll like AJR.

Anonymous said...

Dave Renzi never conceded. Darrel Aubertine didn't file a lawsuit.

All three counties have already had to pay to defend her lawsuit. Nothing like sticking it to the taxpayers.

Anonymous said...

Goes to point that she is a puppet. Of course, the point was ignored so live with it.. She is no better or worse than Aubertine. At least he had some power she dont and she wont...

Dan Francis said...

"Pattie Plate" gives way to "Pattie Paranoia." What a deal, I guess?

Anonymous said...

If she has a shred of decency she will pay the counties back for what she has cost them so far.
This is beyond paranoia.... it's insane

Anonymous said...

Lawsuits are generally filed by lawyers. It would be a good guess that a lawyer ADVISED her to file this suit. I know all of you are smarter than election lawyers and know more about this stuff. And of course you would never seek the advice of a lawyer because that would make you a puppet. And naturally the democrats are way above trying to steal an election.
So patty bad...very bad.

Anonymous said...

Shame on you Patty, show some faith!
Oops...the dems just found another machine in buffalo...coming to a city near you.

Anonymous said...

I hardly think the lawyer filed the lawsuit without Ritchie's knowledge and using an Albany lawyer that's really helping the local economy. Must be there's no good lawyers in the 48th????

Anonymous said...

Just the start of a bobble head senate era.

Anonymous said...

Strike One Patty !! You're losing credibility already Thought you were going to CUT spending ?/ Oh yeah uh huh! More political nonsense from the career politicians - talk about frivolous lawsuits.

Anonymous said...

This has nothing to do with spending, 3:31. Its just what politics has evolved into.

Its funny. An earlier poster was right when he said the only absentee votes that should matter are military votes. We've been able to exclude them the last two elections. As things stand, soldiers are beginning to have a tradition of not being able to vote in NYS elections. And we like to view ourselves as progressives? We should be so proud. Military folks tend to be level headed. We certainly don't want them involved with government.

Sheldon Silver

rick aldrich said...

9:05, Sorry, I'll clarify. With every election, there is string of foolishness that goes on with the election process.With all this technology available, why do we have counts, recounts, delays in counting the absentee ballots, and god knows what else can be thrown into the mix. If we cannot fix our election process ,in this state, how can we fix anything else ? Why can we not make it simple, easy to read , and easy to understand? That's all I'm asking.

Middle-Class Mike said...

Patty we're behind you:

I'm just to darn worn down to root against anyone that can do this district some good. Go Patty and do a great job, we're behind you as anyone is who hopes we can turn NNY around, and get people to work is at this point. And thanks for saying Jobs are a key focus for you this term.

MCM

Anonymous said...

It's egregious that she would put this expense on the taxpayers. How self inflated of an ego does she have.

I voted for her. Never again.

Anonymous said...

Get a grip. This is a routine political move and had Darrel been close he would have done the same. It has not cost the counties anything.

Anonymous said...

Routine that is evidence THAT NOTHING's has changed ---same old crap from politicians who talk about change then do something as frivolous as this "lawsuit" . Welcome to the same old same old -- what's next from Lawnguyland

Anonymous said...

Close? Hardly. No cost? Bull.
The counties all had to have a lawyer prepare a response to her lawsuit and then pay to file it.

Middle-Class Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Middle-Class Mike said...

I just don't get the concern with a few lawyers making a fee, so that Mrs Ritchie can cover all her bases on this. It just seems smart to me. She can pay the lawyers on this out of petty cash.
Millions were spent on this election, whats the beef about a few more bucks?

Anonymous said...

Amazing...after ten bajillion comments, Middle-Class Mike is finally right about something.

Anonymous said...

Don't feed the trolls.

Anonymous said...

Kill the moles

Middle-Class Mike said...

Anon 8:05am

Yeah like you were so right about Matt Doheny being the next Congressman from NY 23.