Phone conversations today with Aicha Bamba, Director of Community Affairs at City Councilman of the Bronx, Ritchie Torres' office indicated phone calls from their constituents complaining of issues with voting, poll fights, questions as to whether they were registered to vote, questions about poll sites, and many people not able to vote in the end. Bamba referred me to Scott M. Stringer, the New York City Comptroller, for additional information about the audit called for by his office.
Phoning Scott Stringer's office, Julio Perez revealed there is no information about the status of the audit and that no information is to be shared until the audit is done. It can take several months to a year according to how big the audit. If it's about funds, they can't be sloppy about it. Their audit department is conducting the audit. Perez stated that since I was taking notes he wanted to switch me to the press office for accuracy. He had me speak with Jocia Esprella, press officer. She informed me that nothing is public until it is final. They don't have any information until it is done. No one knows anything until the work is completed. She could not answer if the New York Primary would be redone. She did not know. When the audit is done, it will go out. She said mine was the first call she had taken about this matter. I asked to speak with the auditor's department and she advised me that the auditors are doing their job; they don't engage with the public.
A letter on line from Scott M. Stringer to Michael J. Ryan, Executive Director of the New York City Board of Elections, expresses deep concern over widespread reports of poll site problems and irregularities on Primary Day and that an audit is to be conducted.
Another phone call to the office of Eric T. Schneiderman, New York State Attorney General, at 3:48 PM Thursday May 26, 2016, directed me to the press office where a woman who would not give her name advised me that the press office has no information about the audit or redoing the New York Primary. She hung up the phone, and the next two times I redialed I got a recording.
Schneiderman endorsed Clinton but to date has not been on the campaign trail.
Hank Sheindopf, a Democratic consultant, suggests Schneiderman's staying under the radar makes it more difficult for Donald Trump to claim his office's lawsuit against the no longer existing Trump University is politically motivated.
Shortly on the heels of the New York Primary, the questions surrounding the sale of a dilapidated brownstone on the upper west side has raised eyebrows and serious questions as to whether the 6.5 million dollars in profit has anything to do with a clerk at the Board of Elections purging more than 126,000 Democratic voters in Brooklyn alone.
Netra Halperin, author of the article, and two New Yorkers turned their evidence, timeline, and flowchart in to the Attorney General in Albany, like the first phase of the petition, on May 2 as well. [The flowchart is in the above article]
Much of what I have read about your ethics and statements online, such as, "There is no prosecutors office in the state that takes more seriously the responsibility to root out public corruption in Albany and anywhere else that we might find it, and I think our record speaks for itself," offers hope to those working at the grassroots.
The hope is that Barack Obama having appointed you to office in 2009 upon recommendation of Senator Chuck Schumer, does not preclude your office from assisting us in resolving this challenge and it is encouraging that you initiated those efforts to conduct an inquiry into Governor Andrew Cuomo's decision to end work on the Moreland Commission, an anti-corruption panel. Of interest too is that of this day, Hillary Clinton has not committed to re-appointing you to office should she win.
Your opening remarks at a speaking engagement for financial traders where you chided, "I just want to apologize in advance that I don't have enough subpoenas for all of you," had the audience break out in laughter before you added, "I'm just kidding." Pause. "I do have enough." That's Saturday Night Live material at its best.
What else leads me to writing to you on concerns about the New York Primary? Comments like "Everyone should understand that our motivation is always to do the right thing, and we don't pull punches, and we don't care who you are" or "There are too many people who think that if you are rich then you get a bye, and you get treated with kid gloves. That's not true here and we work really hard to make sure people know that's not true."
As in 2000, the race is on. The characters in this 2016 travesty of justice are different but the plot is the same. The American people are being deprived of their rights on an enormous scale. The foundation upon which this country is built and prides itself is a sham if justice is not upheld. How can we continue sending our young men and women to war to fight for Democracy if this election cycle is not righted starting with the New York Primary being done over. We cannot wait for an audit that could take up to a year and possibly swept under the rug as one more tragedy or another flashes across our television screens as the latest crisis of the day.
Advocates will not sit on the sidelines waiting for political offices with conflicts of interest to bring about a do-over for the New York Primary. Citizens nationwide are being encouraged to contact their super delegates to re-evaluate their endorsement of candidates and to utilize information at either www.superdelegatelist.com or www.lobbydelegates.com to contact their super delegates directly.
Thank you for your reply. The nation is watching and all eyes are on New York. We have faith that you will do the right thing, let the press know as soon as your decision is made, and that we can move forward to a partial restoration of what is left of America's Democracy. Thank you for anything and everything you and your office can do to bring this about. America's Founding Fathers and the Framers of the Constitution and Bill of Rights would have it no other way. This is, indeed, our petition for a redress of grievances. Sincerely,
Alison Landes,
Former New Yorker
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