A Long Island village government advertised a voting event that turned out to be a rally to elect a Democratic candidate in a congressional battleground district, the Post reported.
The Village of Hempstead hyped the promotion on social media. “Let’s go vote” rally It featured Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in support of Democratic candidate Laura Gillen at Kennedy Memorial Park on Oct. 17.
The event was a Democratic ticket rally, rather than a civil, nonpartisan registration drive, and featured a video show. A “New York State Democratic Party” banner was held up as some supporters held signs for Mr. Guillen, who is seeking to unseat the first-term Republican. Congressman Anthony D'Esposito.
Democratic Mayor Waylin Hobbs and the village used Hempstead's government site. facebook and instagram account To promote a partisan rally by using Jeffries' photo on event flyers.
“Are you ready to elect a Democrat at your vote?” Jeffries said at the beginning of his 20-minute speech. “Are you ready to elect Laura Guillen to Congress! Are you ready to help us take control of the House of Representatives!”
State Election Commission officials said the use of government resources “certainly should be investigated.”
“Is it a rally to vote for a political party?” the insider said.
Long Island Republicans sought to accuse Gillen's campaign of abusing taxpayer funds in an event that was clearly pro-Democratic.
“Laura Guillen was wrong to try to defraud the public by misusing a government building funded by taxpayers for her campaign,” said Joseph Cairo, chairman of the Nassau County Republican Party. “It is unbecoming of a candidate for Congress to deceptively promote the event as a voter registration drive and hold a campaign rally filled with posters from Guillen’s campaign rally.
“She apparently fooled even village officials who advertised the event as a voter registration drive on the government's official social media pages,” Cairo added. “Voters deserve better.”
Chris Boyle, a spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, told Gillen that the county elections board provided village taxpayers and staff for “an event for the purpose of voter registration efforts.” asked for a refund.
“Laura Guillen's recent actions misused taxpayer-funded government funds for political action rallies,” Blakeman said.
The state Civil Service Act defines advertising as “publicly funded advertising by elected government officials and candidates.” [is] Prohibited.
“No one shall knowingly use the funds of the state or its political wing.” [any county, city, town, village or district] or a public authority is authorized to pay for or produce, in whole or in part, any prohibited advertising or promotion,” the law states.
Violators are subject to civil fines of at least $1,000 and up to $5,000, subject to prosecution that may be initiated by the state attorney general's office.
The Town of Hempstead's Code of Ethics, which the village also participates in, states that “Town officials and employees shall not use Town resources for…the production or distribution of campaign materials or literature.” .
This prohibition states that “Town officers and employees shall not use their position, official power, or duty to benefit any private entity with an interest, financial or otherwise, in… It also says, “You must not do this.” ”
When asked about Hempstead's use of government resources to promote the event, Hobbs, who is also bishop and senior pastor of Brooklyn's Coney Island Cathedral, initially responded, “That's not true.” He said the rally was paid for with “private funds.”
But when informed that the Guillen-Democrat rally was being advertised across the village's website, he declined to comment and hung up.
Guillen's camp declined to comment.
However, Nassau County Democratic Party leader and state party chairman Jay Jacobs claimed that advertising for the rally was jointly spent by the Guillen campaign and the county party.
“I’m glad the Nassau Republican Party, after years of misusing county and town resources for political purposes, has finally decided to focus on a party that is doing things the right way,” Jacobs said. Ta.
Hempstead is one of Nassau's most Democratic hamlets and has a large black population. Guillen will need to do a great job there in order to defeat D'Esposito.
