Two judges get Working Families bid



NEW SCOTLAND – The names of two candidates running for town judge — David Wukitsch and Brendan O’Shea — will appear on the Working Families Party line in Tuesday’s election, though the party did not endorse them and it took just one signature to get them on the ballot.
"We are not supporting anyone in the race," said Karen Scharff, a party representative, who said the process had been subverted.

Wukitsch and O’Shea, who are both running on the Democratic line, circulated a petition with the help of Thomas Dolin, also a Democrat, a former town judge, and a current candidate for town supervisor.

Dolin did not seek the party’s endorsement in his campaign because he would have needed the permission of the party, and his understanding, he said, is that it does not endorse local candidates.

Under New York State Election Law, judicial candidates have the right to petition to get on the ballot; the candidates don’t need the permission of the party.

Neither Wukitsch nor O’Shea contacted the party, Scharff said. Their names will appear on the ballot even though the party did not endorse them, she said.
"It really confuses voters, because voters don’t know that the candidates got on the ballot without the support of the party," Scharff said. "Neither candidate has been interviewed or considered by party members," she said.
"It’s not their choice," Dolin said of party officials, citing the state’s Election Law.
"We’re not happy that these candidates chose to subvert our process," said Scharff.

Wukitsch and O’Shea could not be reached for comment. They arerunning a four-way race against Republicans Margaret Adkins, an incumbent judge, and John Keenan, for two judgeships. The two highest vote-getters will be elected.

Because New Scotland only has 11 voters who are enrolled in the Working Families Party, in order to satisfy the requirement of 5 percent of enrolled voters signing the petition, the candidates needed only one signature.

Wukitsch and O’Shea expressed their interest in the party’s endorsement to Dolin, he said.
"Since I’m a notary, I can witness a designating petition," said Dolin. Dolin approached Ernest Sacco, a Voorheesville resident whom Dolin knew was an enrolled member of the Working Families Party.
Dolin said that he explained to Sacco that Wukitsch and O’Shea are "fine candidates." Sacco signed the petition, which Dolin notarized, on July 12.
"It really surprised me that the Republican candidates did not do the same thing," Dolin said.

Adkins, the Republican incumbent, contacted the Working Families Party in the spring, seeking its endorsement, she said.
The Working Families Party, she said, goes through its selection process very early. "I was past the deadline," she said. She was told that she could fill out some information on-line, as some other candidates had also done, and the party would decide if it would consider any late applications, said Adkins.
The party informed her that it would not endorse any candidates, she said. Although the law allows it, Adkins was asked by the party not to circulate petitions. "And I didn’t," she said.
"I did what they asked, which is, I think, the honorable thing," Adkins told The Enterprise Wednesday.
"She did not need their permission" so that was her choice," Dolin said of Adkins’s decision not to circulate a petition.

The judicial nomination process allows party members in a township to select a candidate as opposed to being selected by a party leader who doesn’t reside in town, Dolin said.
"The process which judicial candidates pursue is probably more democratic," he said. "It puts the decision at a local level.
"There could have been a primary" for the Working Families Party line, Dolin said. "It was uncontested because no one else sought the line," he said.
"We really think that candidates who want to be on our line should go through our process," Scharff said. "We think the party should have the option to not support any candidates.
"We want to be sure that people who run on our line support our agenda" and that’s why we find it very problematic when candidates subvert that process," Scharff concluded.