Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Pro-Trump Congressman's Arrest Creates Local Chaos
Congressman Chris Collins (R-NY) was the first member of Congress to endorse Donald Trump in his campaign for the White House. Last week, the FBI arrested the congressman for insider trading and related crimes. Even in a gerrymandered district like New York's 27th, it is difficult for a candidate under indictment to prevail in a general election. So, he has suspended his campaign, the local Republicans are looking for a candidate, and no one seems to understand how to get Mr. Collins' name removed from November's ballot in a way that is not damaging to the party's reputation.
Mr. Collins was worth about $60 million up until a company called Innate Immunotherapeutics, based in Australia, tanked after a drug it was developing failed a clinical trial. The Australian Financial Review stated, "The main charge is that Collins gave his son Cameron insider information about a confidential drug trial so that his son and others could dump their stocks before the bad results were announced. The FBI alleges this saved those in the scheme some $US768,000."
Michael Caputo, a GOP bigwig in New York State, stated for Rollcall.com, "If Chris Collins had stayed on the ballot and run to November, he would have lost New York 27," said Caputo, who noted that Democrats could move to impeach President Donald Trump if they win back the House. (Trump carried the 27th District by 24 points in 2016.) "So much was at stake that Chris Collins had no choice."
There are several viable Republican candidates in the district, and the county party chairman are meeting on Tuesday to figure out whom to back. Rollcall suggests contenders include, "Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw; state Assemblymen David DiPietro, Stephen Hawley and Ray Walter; state Sen. Pat Gallivan, a former Erie County sheriff; and David Bellavia, an Iraq War veteran and local radio host."
Mr. Caputo rightly observed, "If [Republicans] pick the right candidate who has high name identification and the record of integrity that transcends politics, the Republicans will keep this seat. If they pick a career politician known only in one county without such a record of integrity, they still might lose this seat." For the record, he ran Mr. Bellavia's primary campaign against Mr. Collins in 2012, in which Mr. Bellavia won six of the district's eight counties.
The problem for the Republicans is that the State of New York holds its primaries for federal office in the spring, so Mr. Collins is the official nominee. State office primaries are held in September. Getting his name removed from the ballot is not easy. In some jurisdictions, a candidate could just ask to have his or her name taken off the ballot.
New York State is not one of those jurisdictions. Mr. Collins has only three ways off the ballot. He could die, clearly not an option. He could fail to meet the requirements for office such as age or residency in the state, which are less implausible but not by much. The only other way is for him to win the nomination for another office, and after that, decline the nomination for the Congressional seat.
The deadlines for many state and local offices have passed. He could win a nomination for a local office by way of party caucus, or he could petition as an independent if he could file his signed petitions by August 21.
One is familiar with ballot access shenanigans in New York State from firsthand experience. If the powers that be want a name on or off, that name likely will be on or off. At this stage, though, getting Mr. Collins's name removed from the November ballot will make it obvious to everyone that the decision is more of the smoke-filled rooms that voters have come to hate.
© Copyright 2018 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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