Serino Falsely Claims Green Party Ballot Line In Letter To Constituents

The Green Party of New York State on Thursday sent a letter to Republican state Sen. Sue Serino after it came to light that a constituent letter sent out falsely claimed Serino had run on the Green Party ballot line.

Serino’s opponent, former state Sen. Terry Gipson, ran on the Green Party line. State Board of Elections records show Gipson received 1,640 votes under the Green Party ballot line. 

In the letter, Green Party officials said they would "vehemently object" to Serino's identification with the party as they do with any candidate seeking their endorsement who is not a member of the party.  

“When we say that "fusion leads to confusion", we're usually talking about the voters. But apparently even elected officials can have trouble keeping track of their cross-endorsements in our state's bizarre system,” Michael O’Neil, co-chair of the state’s Green Party, said in a statement to City & State. “This is the inevitable result of a political culture where parties are treated as interchangeable slots on a ballot, instead of the electoral expression of committed movements and deeply-held values. We hope that Senator Serino and her team take swift corrective action, and take measures to prevent repeating the mistake.”

Serino’s office said the header was made by an outside company and was an honest mistake due to a clerical error. Serino’s office provided to City & State a copy of a constituent letter sent out on Thursday that no longer lists the Green Party affiliation. After fixing the header, Serino’s office did not send out a letter informing constituents of the mistake.

“It was very simply an unfortunate clerical error that was corrected well before the email from the Green Party was received,” a spokesperson for the office said.

The Green Party line after last fall’s election will be the third ballot line from the top of the ballot in 2016.

Unsurprisingly, Senate Democrats seized on this development to attack Serino. 

“It is deeply disturbing that Sue Serino is willfully lying her constituents and claiming that she has been endorsed by the local Green Party,” Mike Murphy, spokesman for the state Senate Democratic Conference, said in a statement. “Senator Serino's views and record are an environmental disaster and she should be ashamed of herself.”

Here is the Green Party's full letter. 

Dear Senator Serino,

It has come to our attention that one of your web banners includes the Green Party identifier "G" along with "R", "C" and "IP", as seen in the attached screenshot. That is surely a mistake, as you are not a member of the Green Party of New York State, have never received an endorsement from GPNYS or an affiliated county, and the 2014 election results certified by the New York State Board of Elections show that your name did not appear on our ballot line.

Even if you, rather than your opponent Terry Gipson, had won the GPNYS ballot line in the Opportunity to Ballot (OTB) write-in primary, we would still vehemently object to your identification with GPNYS, as we do any candidate who utilizes OTB. 

The OTB process is a dishonest, undemocratic, and possibly unconstitutional method for co-opting the ballot lines of smaller parties and in no way means that a candidate is aligned with GPNYS or our values.

We are asking for your immediate action to remove the "G" party identifier from all communications, including remotely-hosted images linked from email newsletters such as in the attached screenshot. We also ask that you take action to ensure that your staff does not repeat the error.

Your constituents, especially registered Greens in the 41st District, will appreciate that your party affiliations are represented accurately.

Please let us know when you have received this email, and when corrective action has been taken.

 

Sincerely,

Michael O'Neil

Co-Chair, Green Party of New York State

 

Gloria Mattera

Co-Chair, Green Party of New York State

Below is Serino's constituent letter which reads, "(R, C, IP, G) 41st Senate District"

text