I'd like to give everyone an update on this petitioning situation for my State Committee race in the 28th A.D.  We're starting to see some coverage of these shenanigans from the Main Stream Media and reform groups.  The Daily News' Blog posted this piece... 

The Free and Equal Elections Foundation, a nonpartisan Chicago-based organization that advocates for ballot access reform, chastised Mayor Bloomberg's campaign for petition challenges filed by one of his GOP operatives, John Haggerty Jr.

Haggerty did file general objections to Hornak's petitions, but says he didn't pursue them, and in fact withdrew. He filed objections to several district leader candidates, including one who is running against his brother, Bart.

To be fair, I'm not sure how much this whole mess actually has to do with the mayor.

John Haggerty Jr. worked on Bloomberg's 2005 re-election bid and showed up a lot with the mayor back when he was wooing GOP county chairs for their ballot line. He is not paid by the campaign, but his brother, Bart Haggerty, is on the payroll as co-director of the Bloomberg campaign's Queens office.

The Haggertys have a long-standing war with the Queens GOP and its chairman, Phil Ragusa, that I'm not even going to try to explain here.

Suffice to say that it's on again, and the 38th 28th AD is apparently also at issue.

...these reporters need to start to look at the facts or pieces like this will end up making them look bad.  In any event, let me give a more specific update of the pointless and un-democratic effort being made by the Mayor's underlings against the Queens GOP and my candidacy for the 28th A.D. leadership position...

Out of the 1008 signatures I filed to get on the ballot for this office, John Haggerty Jr. claimed that 680 of them are invalid - a whopping 67%!!  The specific objections range from claims that the signing individuals are not registered Republicans to claims of fraud to claims of "alterations."  The largest number of specific objections he made are what are called "saps" - where both my opponent in the race, his brother Bart Haggerty, and myself got the signature of the same person, but they claim to have been able to get the signature before I got it.  In those cases, I "lose" those signatures, even though the people who signed for me wanted to see me on the ballot.  This is where Mayor Bloomberg's money came into play.  If not for the fact Bart Haggerty, my opponent, is Bloomberg's petition coordinator where he leveraged all of the billionaire's resources against me, I would be on the ballot easily, as he could never have beaten my team to those signatures first if not for his reallocation of the Mayor's largess against me.

I and a few volunteers spent the last few nights "rehabilitating" those challenged signatures and I'm confident that after our extensive review, the challenge made by the Haggerty's was frivolous and even they can't believe that most of the signatures I received should be considered unacceptable.  As I need 500 "valid" signatures to get on the ballot, I will need to formally "rehab" at least 172 of the signatures.  The Board of Elections hearing on this matter will take place on Tuesday at the City's BOE office in Manhattan.  I'll have more information at that time.

Of course this not the only place the Haggerty's are bringing their forces to bear.  I will also now have to appear in Court next week to defend my candidacy.  The Mayor's people are now trying to legally "invalidate" my petitions for this office - petitions that conservative Republicans signed to have me represent them in the Party.  I can't discuss these matters in too much detail at this point, but will give updates when possible.

Democracy is under attack, Urban Elephants.  Let your voices be heard.  Tell the Mayor it's time to call off his hired dogs against the Queens Republican Party. 

Rank-and-File Republicans should make clear that just because the Queens GOP fought "the good fight" against the Mayor's attempts to get the Republican line all the way to the end, that doesn't give this Liberal Mayor the right to attack the County Party's leadership.  Dissention and deep reflection before endorsements should be welcomed.  Bloomberg is funding a petty fight against people who dared not to fall quickly in line with his wishes - childish and pathetic behavior!

The Media's ability to look the other way is coming to an end.  The facts, especially related to who carried what petitions for whom, are starting to come into full light...

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