Results tagged “NY 20th CD Race” from Sundwall for Congress - Special Election 2009

Despite what I knew would become the catcalls of betrayal to the third party cause and libertarian principles, I posted an endorsement of Scott Murphy to push back a bit against the horribly rigged system (and the opponent claiming innocence) that brought us down. It is interesting to note that the effort to spread that particular message went no further than our own website, but was picked up by many newspapers, radio stations and TV, even the Village Voice. Who says they're not paying attention to us ?

Of course anyone bound to inextricable principle or calling would not vote for one of the corporatist party candidates that have bankrupted the nation and engaged us in two occupations in Asia. The message was never intended for them. Instead it was a final shot across the bow of the camp that sunk us. Some call it spite, I'm not sure that I have the mental or emotional reserves to bother with such sentimental and shallow accusations. Those incensed enough to write us in or unconcerned about bothering in the event that we weren't an option, did what they felt they should. I've been writing in 'no confidence' for almost my entire adult voting life and know where those votes end up, no where. This last Tuesday I just didn't feel like getting the sympathetic poll watcher looks as I pretended to take part in the charade we consider our democracy. I didn't vote.

The delicious irony from all this is a tie vote total, two candidates in court and an absentee ballot out there that matters with our name on it. I couldn't have asked for a better ending.

Capital News 9 interviewed Eric last night.

The decision of the Board of Election to remove my name from the ballot proves once again that the political system in New York is rigged by professionals to make sure that average citizens are excluded from the process. While the two major parties could choose their candidates in a smoke-filled room, they made us go out and attempt the impossible: obtain 3500 valid signatures in just 12 days. We came very close but ultimately, the technicalities they built into the law to disenfranchise the people proved too strong to overcome.

In addition, I faced baseless allegations of wrongdoing and threats of criminal prosecution in a lawsuit brought by Tedisco supporters. While I wanted to file a lawsuit in Albany County to overturn the Board's decision, we got stuck down in Dutchess County where the machine felt they would have a friendly bench. While the court there should have dismissed that lawsuit as moot, the judge instead was prepared to keep us down there litigating silly issues concerning the Libertarian Party emblem and whether witnessing signatures from outside the district constitutes fraud. There was no end in sight and we might have been down there for days facing the inevitable loss with no time to appeal and no time to campaign either. The Tedisco supporters who brought the case sought and received an order requiring me to be present in Court, thereby preventing me from campaigning.

I was also concerned that continued litigation would jeopardize the ballots of military personnel and disabled voters who use special machines that need to be programmed several days before the election.

Faced with the prospect of spending much of the rest of campaign on the witness stand being harassed by the machine's hired gun, I chose not to play that game. Since I could not file suit in the county of my choosing, I decided to end my candidacy and not subject myself and my family to any further abuse, threats or harassment from the political machine.

Thus, the Stalinist New York Election Law forced us to spend the first half of the campaign getting signatures and the second half fighting a lost cause in court.

The voters will be deprived of any choice but the two parties that have destroyed the nation's economy in recent years and have us bogged down in two land wars in Asia.

Mr. Tedisco denies any involvement with the concerted effort by his supporters to knock me off the ballot. I don't believe him. The ruthless effort by his supporters to knock me off the ballot without a word of protest by him proves his unfitness for any office let alone Congress in these critical times.

I will be voting for Scott Murphy on Tuesday. While we disagree on some important issues, I find him to be a man of honor, a good family man and successful businessman. Unlike Tedisco, he actually lives in the District. And, unlike Mr. Tedisco, I view Scott's business success as a virtue, not a vice.

I urge my supporters and all those who believe in open and free elections to show their disgust at the tactics of the Republican political machine to win at all costs. Please join me in voting for Scott Murphy on Tuesday.

I want to thank all those who worked tirelessly on my behalf and who donated their precious funds to help this effort. And I wish to thank the media for all their courtesies during this Sysiphean struggle.

We live to fight another day.

Eric Sundwall

Hi all. Jim Ostrowski got in from Buffalo about an hour ago and we're off to Poughkeepsie in the morning. We appreciate all the support coming in and continue to fight.

I do consider myself somewhat a political prisoner at the moment because of my requirement to be in court tomorrow. We can't update the contributions at the moment, but thank you to all digging deep right now. Every penny and minute counts.

Anybody watch the bickerfest on WNYT tonight ? Sorry I missed it . . . lol

Steve Fellano had to sit in for Dr. Chartock for Eric's spot on the Congressional corner.

Here's the first of three segments.

We're still alive folks ! Don't give up.

Due to a lack of expected fundraising in this special and unique opportunity, I'm 'loaning' the campaign an additional four grand in order to pay necessary bills and upcoming legal expenses this week.

I hope this doesn't reflect a lack of confidence in the campaign. In order to keep my word to vendors and support the real legal bargains Jim Ostrowski and Warren Redlich are providing, this is necessary.

This campaign can still accomplish a lot with some generous support, unfortunately our backs are up against a wall and the two indomitable machines that run our lives. Eventually I get to go back to work and be normal again. Please help if you can.

In Liberty,

Eric Sundwall

I was invited into the RPI radio station this morning to discuss LBGT issues. It was a great time. I felt these guys listened politely and gave me an opportunity to express and poise issues unlike anything you can get on commercial couterparts. Here's the interview in three parts, thanks to Jeff Russell again.

Part I

Part II

Part III

This post is so we don't forget to highlight this video somewhere. Thanks again to Tom Caruso & Mark Femenella for producing this. Mark supplied the guitar rifts.

Sunday

Eric will in the WRPI radio studio at 11 AM for the show "Homo Radio". Neither Mr. Murphy or Mr. Tedisco have returned calls to WRPI.

The Times Union will have a piece in the Sunday edition about Eric by Leigh Hornbeck. We'll post the link the minute it comes available online.

Channel 6 WRGB did a sit down interview with Eric that will air sometime on Sunday also.

Watch New York Now again with Eric on it at 11:30 PM

Monday

10 AM - Warren Redlich will be representing the campaign at the Board of Elections for a review of the specific objections.

Eric will be in Glens Falls for an editorial review board meeting the The Glens Falls Post Star. This is kind of cool. They usually don't do this for third party candidates.

1PM - Eric will be in studio at WAMC and will be taping a segment with Dr. Alan Chartock.

2:30 - Eric will be sitting down with the editorial review board of the Times Union. Again, this is a big deal for the little campaign from nowhere.

Eric's getting significant media and will also be dragged to court on Wed. Please go to our donate page and help if you can.

Brian Mann of North Country Public Radio made this interesting observation a day or two ago on his news blog.

Mr. Tedisco was quoted as saying, "Next year, I will, when I'm the congressman. My wife will be able to vote in the district because we own a home there."

Thanks to Jeff Russell again.

Here's the debate from last night.

Jeff Russell did some over the shoulder video of Eric being interviewed after the debate.

Libertarian candidate Eric Sundwall and Democrat Scott Murphy will participate in the debate 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at WMHT sponsored by the PBS station and the Times Union. Jim Tedisco will not be there. Instead, he's hosting a "people's town hall" at his campaign HQ in Halfmoon. He will speak to voters in person and respond to questions on Facebook and on the phone.

Barry Stoner, the senior vice-president and chief content officer at WMHT and Times Union editor Rex Smith decided yesterday to invite Sundwall to the debate after they decided the third party candidate met what Smith said was "the spirit" of the participation criteria. He is campaigning earnestly, he is talking about the issues, and most notably, he won a spot on the ballot - something he couldn't do when he last ran for the office in 2006. Also, Sundwall surfaced on the latest Siena poll with 1 percent of those polled saying they will vote for him - 2 percent of independents. An internal Democratic poll found 4 percent of the 400 people polled would vote for Sundwall. Considering all these factors, Smith said, it wouldn't be right to exclude him.

If you would like to see Eric in the WMHT/TU 'debate' this Thursday, March 19th email both Rex Smith& Robert Altman.

As it stands now, only Scott Murphy will be appearing. Mr. Tedisco has declined an invitation to participate.

It is heartening to see the release of debate criteria for the WMHT March 19th debate. Here is the Sundwall campaign response to what seems a reasonable outline.

Objective Criteria:

1. We agree that all candidates should meet the legal requirements as specified by NY Election Law and the provisions of the State Board of Elections.

a. To date, we meet that requirement - In a letter dated on March 9, 2009 we received notice from the Board of Elections that the name Eric Sundwall currently appears on the ballot. Until a ruling from a court or the BOE itself is rendered otherwise, all general and specific objections bear the burden of proving that the campaign has not complied with the law in this regard.

Subjective Criteria:

We respect the right of private, non-publicly funded entities to reserve the right to proceed with debates and forums of their choosing and with participants of their choice. We do feel that a separate standard for publicly funded organizations ought to include all candidates for office that will legally appear on the ballot.

The US Supreme Court said in 1997 (Arkansas Educational TV v Forbes, 523 US 666) that even public TV can host a debate and invite only the Democrats and Republicans. But, they did say it would be unconstitutional for a public TV station to exclude someone with a genuine campaign.

Eric and I both attended SUNY Albany in the late eighties and were a part of the political science department at the time. During a trip to a model European Community forum at SUNY Brockport we coined the term Occidental Hedonism in between the seminar format and the mandatory pub crawls.

When I went over to represent Eric for the WROW-League of Women Voters debate to be held on March 26th, the Murphy folks thought it was quaint that we had such a long time connection. Of course they were bringing in hired guns from all over the country for their boy.

Check out these interviews Eric did about two weeks ago at our HQ for the Albany Student Press. Thanks again for Chad Polenz for going into the un-chartered waters of Eric's brain. The big time MSM has so much trouble just engaging normally with us like Chad so aptly demonstrates here.

With all the recent hubbub about the WNYT debate next week, let's not forget that WMHT and the Times Union have one this Thursday night, March 19th. Now we haven't been given a 'no' for sure on this one, so keep that in mind. That being said here's their standard (it should be noted that the document we were sent was created by Barry Stoner at WMHT on March 11th);

A candidate must be legally qualified and must be certified by the New York Department of State to appear on the ballot for the office being contested in the debate. The other criteria are designed to subjectively determine who constitutes a newsworthy candidate for the office being sought. The overriding selection is based on the judgment of the professional journalists on staff.

All legally qualified campaigns will be given the opportunity prior to a planned debate to provide evidence of their status as a newsworthy candidate. Among the questions that may be asked of the candidate:

Eric discusses various education issues with Chad Polenz of The Albany Student Press.

NY Assembly minority leader James Tedisco and recently anointed GOP candidate for New York's 20th Congressional seat Twitters ! That's right, the popular social networking tool that puts the power of a 'feed' into to children's hands, is something that the minority leader 'gets'. Good for you Jim.

We're hoping that our Facebook Group starts to catch his, but will Jim will concede the necessity to debate all candidates who may be on the ballot ? Even if Steve Greenberg doesn't include us in his polls, please drop him a note and ask him about his criteria about third party candidates in his polls.

I couldn't resist at least one acerbic post before things launch. . . .