| If the race between Democratic candidate Kathy Konst and Republican incumbent Sen. Dale Volker wasn't on your radar before, you might want to keep an eye on it. It is quickly becoming the ugliest race in the state.
Yesterday, Konst held a press conference ahead of a Buffalo News story out today that claims she voted in New York and Florida in 1998. Obviously, that would be illegal and it is a very serious claim against Konst.
From the Buffalo News piece:
Kathy Konst, the Democratic county legislator from Lancaster challenging incumbent Republican Dale M. Volker for the State Senate, voted on Election Day in Florida and New York in 1998, according to documents obtained by the Republican Senate Campaign Committee.
...
Officials of the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Office confirmed for The Buffalo News that Konst voted at the polls in the Nov. 3, 1998, general election at polling place 407 in West Palm Beach.
Erie County records, meanwhile, also show her voting at the polls on the same day in Lancaster.
Records also show that Konst registered to vote in Palm Beach County on July 7, 1992, and then registered in Erie County on Oct. 5, 1992. In addition, she applied to renew a Florida driver's license in 1994, two years after she said she moved to Lancaster.
Konst, in a transcript of her press conference yesterday sent from her campaign, denied these claims and said that this would be a hard feat to accomplish due to her schedule at the time.
I've gone through my records from 10 years ago. In 1998, I was president of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and had TWO events in New York around that time - one event on Nov. 2 and another on Nov. 4. The election was on November 3. So, to accomplish this feat, I'd have to first vote in New York and then hop a plane to FLORIDA to vote there, and then immediately returned to New York for my event the next day. I have documents and many witnesses who can attest to these facts. I lived in Florida from 1989 to 1992, but I haven't lived or owned property in Florida since 1992, when I moved to Buffalo with my family.
There is a lot going on this race and little of it has to do with the issues affecting voters. In fact, Volker has done a great job at slinging mud in Konst's direction. It is worth noting, however, that Konst has only submitted one campaign finance filing - a 32 day pre-primary filing - to the New York State Board of Elections. She could easily put a halt to that by submitting those filings, although she has insisted that there is an electronic error preventing those filings from being sent.
Nevertheless, this has gotten ugly. I taken the time to read, learn and write about many state senate races statewide. This one is the nastiest. I don't see that changing anytime soon. Volker is going to go after Konst with all he has got and apparently the SRCC has taken the liberty of going after Konst too.
I would watch this race. It could get even more interesting especially if Volker keeps up these tactics. |
