Election Reflection: Caught in the Crossfire

Reporting on the Scarsdale election this week placed me in the middle of a struggle between the designated slate and challengers seeking write-in votes. Because I have been accused of taking sides in this contretemps I feel it is necessary to set the record straight. As I was posting comments on the site from both sides, and in effect mediating a dialogue between the factions, I became the target of accusations of bias. At the same time I witnessed the kind of tactics some use to get their way.

Here’s a timeline of events:

On Friday March 11, five days before the election, a friend called to tell me of a grass roots campaign to elect two write-in candidates in the March 15 election. Sharon Lindsay was the candidate for Mayor but my friend was not able to remember the name of the candidate who would challenge Robert Harrison for Trustee.

I called Sharon Lindsay and was able to verify that she was running and she informed me that Robert Selvaggio was a write-in candidate for Trustee. Since Ms. Lindsay is a former Trustee and Deputy Mayor and was speaking about herself, she was obviously a credible source. I also asked her for the names of those who had initiated the write-in effort and she told me that though there were a sizable number of supporters they were not comfortable going public with their names.

I posted a simple announcement of the write-in campaign and included instructions that I found online on how to cast a write-in vote in the booth. The announcement received enormous response – to date the original post has 1,499 page views. Many commented and their posts make for good reading.

However, one comment I received from Andy Bass disturbed me and proved to be an auger of what was to come. Here is what he wrote:

“Like much of her reporting on Scarsdale 10583.com, this article by Joanne Wallenstein fails to provide the key facts and ask the critical questions that are incumbent upon any journalist."

"Ms. Wallenstein writes, "...a well-organized group of residents has selected two people to challenge the Non-Partisan Committee candidates." The next most obvious question is, who comprises this "well-organized group?" … Why is she not informing her readers who these stealth organizers are?”

“Why did the stealth group choose to initiate their effort on only the Friday night before the election, less than 90 hours before the polls open? Why did the stealth organizers only contact Ms. Wallenstein with the news of their campaign and not other media outlets such as The Scarsdale Inquirer, Scarsdale Patch, The Journal News, News12, etc.”

In response to Mr. Bass’s questions I did ask for the names of the backers of these candidates and they did not wish to publish their names at that time. The candidates did not contact me; I contacted them. In speaking to the two candidates I noted no “stealth” tactics.

On Monday the day before the election, I realized that many residents did not know anything about the two write-in candidates or even how to spell their names. I contacted Robert Selvaggio, the candidate for Trustee, to learn more about him. Using the bios I already had of the CNC candidates and information about Lindsay and Selvaggio I posted a voters guide presenting the facts about each of the candidates. Given that the election was being held on Tuesday, and in response to several requests, I sent out an email blast to let people know where and when to vote.

And what popped up in my inbox on Monday evening? An email from Bob Harrison himself, which accused Jeff Blatt and Scarsdale10583 of sponsoring the write-in campaign.

In his words, “Many Scarsdale voters are unaware of the fact that the Scarsdale Citizens' Non-Partisan Party is in a CONTESTED ELECTION for MAYOR and VILLAGE TRUSTEES vs a write-in campaign sponsored by Jeff Blatt with the help of the www.scarsdale10583.com web site. They are pushing write-in votes for Sharon Lindsay for Mayor and Bob Selvaggio for trustee.”

Wow – that was news to me! Jeff Blatt is a former member of the School Board who has written for and commented on the site. I contacted Mr. Blatt about his role in the election and he was as flabbergasted by this email as I was. Mr. Blatt told me he had known nothing about the write-in effort before it was published on Scarsdale10583. He certainly never approached me about sponsoring a campaign. I was surprised to receive this email from Mr. Harrison who was hoping to be elected to the post of Village TRUSTEE the following day. I later learned that this message, filled with false claims, was widely circulated.

Tuesday was election day and early in the day I received an email from someone who had gone to vote and asked for instructions on how to cast a write-in vote. They told me that there were poll watchers on hand who had prevented the election workers from providing instruction. Poll watchers in Scarsdale?

That afternoon I went to vote myself and was heartened to see a line of voters snaking out of Village Hall. I was voter number 287 and it was only 1 pm. I knew that 287 was more than the total number of votes cast in most recent elections and was impressed that so many had come out. A policeman was on duty --something I had never seen before in a Scarsdale election as well as three poll watchers – another first. The poll watchers were closely monitoring the process and shouting objections to the election workers.

To see if the process was working fairly I asked for instructions on writing-in a vote and was given help and I also noticed instructions on write-in votes inside the booth.

After voting, I stepped over to the three poll watchers to say hello and was quickly shooed away by poll watcher Janet Bell who advised me in a stern tone that I had no business there. Was she serious or kidding? It was hard to tell and I backed away in surprise.

Later that night I attended the reception at the Scarsdale Women’s Club where the Citizen’s Non-Partisan Party was hosting an election night reception. There I learned that the Citizen’s Non-Partisan Party had hired an election attorney – another first --to monitor the voting process. But what was even more disturbing to me was a rumor floating around that the website Scarsdale10583 was actually owned by Jeff Blatt and that I was his puppet reporter.

To set the record straight, Jeff Blatt does not own the site, I do.

As everyone now knows, all the hoopla around the election including the coverage on the site only served to involve more people in the process. Even the Chair of the Citizen’s Nominating Committee thanked me for helping to get the word out about the write-in campaign, rally voters and increase awareness of Village government. No one had ever imagined that over 1,000 people would vote.

So why the mistrust of Village officials to run and tally votes in a Village election? Why the attempts to discredit the website and the personal attacks against me?

Where did all of this begin? There must be more to the story. If you have clues please post them here. Everything I find out you will read on Scarsdale10583.