Greenfield blasts egregious DNC attempt to block NY State BOE from approving his candidacy for congress

New Paltz, NY – Steve Greenfield, Green Party of New York candidate for Congress in New York's 19th District, was served with legal papers this afternoon by the Democratic National Committee (DNC), by way of its official counsel Perkins, Coie LLC, headquartered in Washington, DC, that name The New York State Board of Elections (BOE), along with Mr. Greenfield, as respondents in an unprecedented attempt by the DNC to have a court prohibit the BOE from continuing with its lawful function of examining the Democratic Party's challenges to signatures on Mr. Greenfield's nominating petition The court filing seeks an injunction prohibiting the BOE from fulfilling its obligation to examine and rule upon the challenge, and to pre-emptively bar Mr. Greenfield from the ballot.

Steve Greenfield for Congress
stevegreenfieldforcongress.com

For Immediate Release
April 3, 2020

Contact:
Steve Greenfield, [email protected], 845-532-0280

"When I was first notified by the BOE that my petition had been challenged, something to which I have been subjected, without success, upon the filing of every single petition for every race in which I have run since my first campaign in 2002, and which I have come to expect as routine, examination of the specific, line-by-line challenges quickly showed there was no question that the overwhelming majority of the claims were without merit, and the balloting process would go forward," Greenfield said. "But today I received, by UPS delivery, something different, something that appears to be without precedent -- a court filing from DNC general counsel in Washington, naming me as a respondent, in an attempt on their part not specifically against me, but against the New York State Board of Elections, seeking a court injunction barring the BOE from performing the review at all. It's an attempt to stop state law on the ballot access process from going forward. In their desperation to prevent a strong public health advocate from being available to voters at this time of unprecedented crisis, they have gone beyond me, personally, to assault democracy itself. The Democratic Party's action has grave, national implications."

Making the DNC court action even more repugnant is that it specifically names the COVID-19 crisis, and the restrictions Governor Cuomo has placed upon the lives of New Yorkers in the effort to save millions of lives, on top of the thousands already lost, as the reason it is “just” for the court to prohibit the BOE from performing its lawful function. They are exploiting a devastating public emergency to abrogate democracy for their own political gain -- an emergency to which Mr. Greenfield, as a volunteer firefighter, has no choice but to face elevated risk while protecting others.

So patently without merit are the overwhelming majority of the challenges to specific signatures on the petition, along with the attempt to bend a major public health calamity, in which all Americans are suffering unprecedented human and financial losses, towards political advantage, that the action borders upon the filing of a false instrument, and is well beyond the boundaries of abuse of process -- as well as basic human decency. Greenfield is currently examining all legal options in determining his response.

Greenfield is calling upon the incumbent, Rep. Antonio Delgado, to disavow and denounce the DNC's egregious action, and call upon them to rescind it immediately. Should Mr. Delgado fail to do so, the Greenfield For Congress campaign will have no choice but to consider him supportive of this affront to both democracy and conscience.

For further information, you may contact Steve Greenfield directly at [email protected], or by phone or text at 845-532-0280.