The 2014 candidates for 23rd Congressional District of New York: Congressman Tom Reed (R-Corning) and challenger Martha Robertson (D-Ithaca).
CORNING – A Republican operative is being accused of circulating petitions in the 23rd Congressional district – which includes Chautauqua County – on behalf of candidates who have no desire to run.
The news outlet Mother Jones has released a story May 2 claiming that GOP operative Aaron Andrew Keister was behind the attempt to put Darin Robbins – a Corning resident and member of the Green Party – on the ballot. The report also says that Keister is a notary public who has worked as a video tracker for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) – the political committee dedicated to electing Republicans to the House. Congressman Tom Reed (NY-23, R-Corning) currently serves as the Northeast regional chairman of the NRCC.
Robbins had no plans to seek office and says he was shocked to learn that a petition had been filed in his name to run against Congressman Tom Reed, the districts current representative.
According to the report, Keister was successful in collecting 75 signatures to support Robbins and a second candidate. However, he filed the Robbins petition late and got a second Green Party member’s address wrong, so neither unwitting candidate will appear on the ballot for the June primary or the November general election.
Had Keister been successful, a third name would appear on the ballot in November under the Green Party Line and would have possibly resulted in votes being taken away from Democratic Challenger Martha Robertson of Tompkins County.
According to the MoJo report, Reed’s campaign said Keister has never been an official staffer for Reed. But a spokeswoman for the campaign would not say whether the campaign is aware of Keister’s effort to put a Green candidate on the ballot. An NRCC spokesman says that Keister was not paid by or affiliated with the NRCC when he was collecting signatures for the Green Party petitions.
Keister did not respond to Mother Jones requests for comment.
[…] Earlier this month, WRFA reported that a registered Republican Aaron Andrew Keister was behind an attempt to put Corning resident Darin Robbins, along with another individual, on the ballot as a Green Party candidate for Congress. […]