Katonah, NY - Kelly Won't Concede Defeat
Katonah, NY Congresswoman Sue Kelly is not giving up her fight to win re-election. In a tough campaign against John Hall that ended with Hall ahead by some 3,200 to 3,500 votes, she said that she will not rest until everyone who voted is counted.
There are some 10,000 absentee ballots that are out there and Kelly, a Republican, wants them all tallied. “Right now it would appear that John Hall has won, but there’s enough outstanding votes that I am going to insist that every vote get counted."
But none of that really mattered in Kiryas Joel, Hall got roughly 2,900 votes in Kiryas Joel, including those cast by a Democrat-leaning voting bloc, and KJ claims that their Mayor Abraham Wieder's eleventh-hour decision to move its votes from Kelly's column into Hall's had pushed Hall over the top. What, they asked themselves is, what had Kelly gotten for Kiryas Joel. They had asked for $5 million for sidewalks she rustled up only $600,000, she also failed to get them homeland security money and abandoned their $20 million grant for a water pipeline when neighboring communities kicked up a fuss.
Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin explained, it was the widening rift between Kiryas Joel's nominally Republican leaders and the Republican leadership of Orange County - largely as the result of the county's decision to sue Kiryas Joel over its proposed pipeline to the Catskill Aqueduct.
"Eddie Diana should not have gone to court against the pipeline, period," Szegedin said, referring to the Republican county executive. "If the Republicans don't want us, fine. We get the message loud and clear."
Hall brushed aside insinuations by the Kelly campaign that he promised to support the water project if Kiryas Joel leaders endorsed him.
But will his new constituents ask him to resurrect the pipeline grant if they succeed in court? "Absolutely," Szegedin said.
There are some 10,000 absentee ballots that are out there and Kelly, a Republican, wants them all tallied. “Right now it would appear that John Hall has won, but there’s enough outstanding votes that I am going to insist that every vote get counted."
But none of that really mattered in Kiryas Joel, Hall got roughly 2,900 votes in Kiryas Joel, including those cast by a Democrat-leaning voting bloc, and KJ claims that their Mayor Abraham Wieder's eleventh-hour decision to move its votes from Kelly's column into Hall's had pushed Hall over the top. What, they asked themselves is, what had Kelly gotten for Kiryas Joel. They had asked for $5 million for sidewalks she rustled up only $600,000, she also failed to get them homeland security money and abandoned their $20 million grant for a water pipeline when neighboring communities kicked up a fuss.
Kiryas Joel Administrator Gedalye Szegedin explained, it was the widening rift between Kiryas Joel's nominally Republican leaders and the Republican leadership of Orange County - largely as the result of the county's decision to sue Kiryas Joel over its proposed pipeline to the Catskill Aqueduct.
"Eddie Diana should not have gone to court against the pipeline, period," Szegedin said, referring to the Republican county executive. "If the Republicans don't want us, fine. We get the message loud and clear."
Hall brushed aside insinuations by the Kelly campaign that he promised to support the water project if Kiryas Joel leaders endorsed him.
But will his new constituents ask him to resurrect the pipeline grant if they succeed in court? "Absolutely," Szegedin said.
posted by VOS IZ NEIAS @ 11/09/2006 12:14:00 PM
5 Comments:
At 9:36 AM,
Anonymous said…
I just read this article on the front Headline page of the Times Herald Record and the message is loud and clear "Don't expect to get Bloc votes if you don't deliver your promises" as a KJ Bloc voter I feel very proud of the fact that my and my fellow Bloc voters votes were the deciding votes in this hotly contested race.
At 12:21 PM,
Anonymous said…
The village of Kiryas Joel is claiming credit for John Hall's victory in the 19th Congressional District over Sue Kelly .
From Ari Felberman, the government relations coordinator for the village:
"Numbers don't lie. The numbers are very clear, there was a chunk of votes taken out of one column and put into the other. It was basically a doubling of the votes, and John Hall won within that margin."
The Hall campaign doesn't disagree. As spokesman Tom Staudter told me, "Obviously it was an important block for us."
The reason for their endorsement of Hall, Felberman said, was a call from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
"Shelly Silver asked that we give him every consideration possible," Felberman said. "Democrats will be able to do more if they have a united ticket, this will be a clean sweep."
Then there was the little matter of water pipelines.
In March 2004, Kelly withdrew from a Congressional bill a $20 million federal funding authorization for the building of a water pipeline from New York City's reservoir to Kiryas Joel. The town had aggressively lobbied for the aqueduct to meet the needs of its fast growing Satmar community. At the time, Kelly said the authorization was contingent on the pipeline serving more than one municipality, and withdrew her support at the time because, according to a spokesperson, "it's becoming more and more clear that there's not a regional consensus for this project."
There was, in fact, sharp opposition to the project, including an anti-pipeline Web site - www.stopthekjpipeline.org. and an online petition protesting the aqueduct.
After Kiryas Joel shifted their support from Kelly to Hall right before this year's election -- they were initially considered to have been behind Kelly becuase TK -- voters began receiving robo-calls suggesting that John Hall must have agreed to a secret deal on the pipeline.
Hall's office denies it. "John made no deals, made no promises," Staudter said. "She courted their votes as avidly as John did."
Kelly's office didn't return calls for comment.
Felberman, for his part, said that the calls put out by the Kelly campaign bordered on anti-Semitism and played on the county's fear of a growing Jewish community.
Asked what the community expected, pipeline-wise, to get from Hall, he offered this somewhat vague response:
"Put it this way, just to be treated fairly, as equal citizens."
At 3:32 PM,
Anonymous said…
2:08pm You are an Idiot if Kelly would have gotten the 3,000 votes from KJ she would have been the CLEAR winner, did you learn math in school?
At 4:30 PM,
Anonymous said…
well you libs in kj will get what you asked for... HIGHER TAXES, LESS BOARDER SAFETY, MORE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, MORE SOCIAL SCURITY AND GOVT PROGRAMS TO THESE CRIMINALS.
I am glad to see there is a Republican going down with a fight. Had the dems lost like they have in just about every recent election they were always screaming about lawsuits etc. Guess (insert the animal symbol for a democrat here) cant take it like a man!?!?!
At 9:40 PM,
Anonymous said…
4:30pm KJ is not on the Mexican Border nor do they have a mexican population (Lakewood took away all the mexicans and KJ got stuck with the Polish..) So illegal aliens is not a concern here what does concern us is getting $30 Million dollars for much needed Water which Sue kelly promised us but back tracked so now since KJ was clearly the one who got the democrat in office they hope that he will work with them on Life-saving issues.
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