Federal Election Practices Committee rules against Irondequoit Republicans
We mentioned this earlier. It took me a while to sort it out, since, as usual where New York State Republican shenanigans are involved, it’s strangely small-time while also being blatantly deceptive. Here’s the jist of it: the Irondequoit Republicans are pretending they’ve all been endorsed by the Independence party, when in fact they haven’t.  Here’s a snippet from the FEPC press release:
Monroe County, NY. September 15, 2007. The Fair Election Practices Committee (FEPC) handed out its second ruling of this year’s election season today in the primary race for the Independence Party line in the Irondequoit Town Council and Supervisor races. The candidates involved in the complaint are: John Perticone (candidate for Irondequoit Town Council), Jim Turner (candidate for Irondequoit Town Supervisor), Lydia Dzus (candidate for Irondequoit Town Council), and Mark Scuderi (candidate for Irondequoit Town Council). Mr. Perticone filed the complaint on September 11, 2007.
(snip)
With respect to the identified violation (See the official FEPC Decision Notification Form below this release.)Â - informally referred to as: “Elect Our Independence Party Team!” - the committee found the use of the term “Endorsed” combined with promotion of the candidates as a “Team” as well as other factors, including not clearly identifying who produced the piece, to be misleading in its overall message thereby creating an impression that would cause an average citizen to conclude ALL the members of the team had been designated by the Independence Party in that party’s primary election. Although Jim Turner (candidate for Irondequoit Town Supervisor) and Lydia Dzus (incumbent candidate for Irondequoit Town Council) were both officially designated by the Independence Party, Mark Scuderi (candidate for Irondequoit Town Council) has not been designated by the Independence Party.
It’s so silly, yet I’m sure it’s intentionally misleading. Remember those “Judge Doyle” signs from the last election?
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But it’s so much easier than indicating which candidates were actually endorsed by the Independence Party and which candidates are merely seeking the votes of IP members…
Frankly, I don’t think Republicans care at this point. For the past 15 years Steve Minarik and the MCRC have made it a point not to recognize the FEPC as having any jurisdiction in these instances. I’m not sure if anyone remembers but, the FEPC used to be a really big deal back in the day and a decision “for†or “against†the complainant carried significant weight in an election. Unfortunately, Republicans thrive on polarizing the electorate with false, misleading, and inaccurate information.