 While Elections officials are still too skittish to call it, Tea Party poster boy Anthony Melé has pulled off an improbable victory over the GOP blessed York Kleinhandler in their primary for the 17th Congressional District. A full 11 days after the Sept 14 primary, absentee and other miscellaneous uncounted ballots in Westchester were unsealed and Melé has emerged victorious by 84 votes.
Along with parts of Rockland and the Bronx, the 17th District includes thin slivers of several towns and villages in Westchester, and all of Mount Vernon.
Melé and Kleinhandler are both vying to lose to longtime Democratic incumbent Eliot Engel in November.
Kleinhandler remains on the Convservative Party line and said he plans to continue his congressional run on that line in a message to supporters. However, Kleinhandler has not conceded the primary, which is probably the decent thing to do at this point. Kleinhandler, not Melé, is currently listed as the GOP nominee on the State Party's "Republican Spotlights" page. |
| Melé might be in a tad of trouble with election officials soon, however. Not knowing the boundaries of the District he wishes to represent, the presumptive nominee allegedly entered into an 18th District station in Yonkers on Primary Day and found that the ballots did not contain his or Kleinhandler's names. Upset, and believing that their race had been forgotten, Melé took 21 ballots and wrote his and Kleinhandler's name on them. Yonkers Police were notified and they subsequently contacted the Westchester County Board of Elections. No criminal charges were filed against Melé and the BoE will look into the matter once a winner has been declared.
It will be interesting to see how Rockland County Republican Committee Chairman Vincent Reda responds to Melé appearance on the ballot and I wonder whether Rockland GOP Headquarters across from Clarkstown Town Hall will soon be festooned with Melé signs, as it is with Sparaco, Hayworth, and Vanderhoef signs. The State GOP has taken a great risk by hitching their wagon to the undoubtedly racist and sexist Gubernatorial Candidate Carl Paladino, so what will the County Committee do when Melé, a perpetual headache for Reda, ends up on the ballot? Members of Rally for America, the Tea Party group that Melé heads, have threatened Reda's long-held post. Melé is also considered to be somewhat of a protegé of Paladino's and is one of the few Congressional Candidates running with him on the New York Taxpayer's Party line.
This article is cross-posted at Left of the Hudson. |
