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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>When Party Lines Divide Newcomer and Native<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Published: December 22, 2009 New York Times<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>TAGHKANIC, N.Y. — For years, Republican officials here have
watched with growing alarm as newcomers from New York City arrived in
late-model cars, built second homes and started to vote in increasing numbers,
usually for Democrats.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Now Republicans, armed with private investigators, are pursuing a new
strategy to preserve their power: take away part-time residents’ right to
vote here.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Last month, after Democrats cast enough votes to threaten the
Republican Party’s generations-old dominance of the town, Republican
candidates filed a suit to review dozens of the Democrats’ absentee
ballots, claiming they were cast by occasional residents who had no business
voting here.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Republican leaders have dispatched lawyers who have asked a state judge
for permission to subpoena personal information including income tax returns,
E-ZPass records, bank statements, even newspaper subscriptions.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The Democrats claim harassment. Republicans say they are exercising
their legal rights.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>“I think this is a long time coming,” said Elizabeth L.
Young, a Republican who has served as Taghkanic’s town supervisor for 20
years, and believes that anyone voting here unlawfully should be worried.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>But the ramifications go far beyond the borders of tiny Taghkanic, a
town of about 1,100 people in <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Columbia</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType> about two and a half hours
north of <st1:City w:st="on">New York City</st1:City>, and the fallout from the
legal battle could influence Congressional and legislative races across <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">New York</st1:State></st1:place> next year.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>State courts have generally held that people can vote wherever they
have a home, even if it is not where they spend most of their time. Democratic
organizers have exploited those rulings, encouraging part-timers to switch
their registrations from downstate, where Democrats enjoy a huge numerical
advantage, to battleground districts upstate or on <st1:place w:st="on">Long
Island</st1:place>, where their votes can tip the balance. (“Vote where
your heart is,” urges one Web site, CountryVote.org, run by the New York
Democratic Lawyers Council.)<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>But Republicans have been challenging those votes in court, arguing
that those who claim a primary residence downstate for purposes like receiving
tax benefits or occupying a rent-regulated apartment must cast their votes
there, too. In Taghkanic they say that part-time residents were not entitled to
get absentee ballots because they did not meet the law’s residency
criteria.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Should Republicans prevail, Democrats fear they would have a powerful
legal weapon to deploy in close elections next year, when the Republican Party
is hoping to build on gains made this November to retake Congressional and
state legislative seats, and perhaps even reclaim control of the State Senate.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>“My big concern is the potential to have more and more big
recounts around the state, subpoenaing thousands of voters,” said
Kathleen O’Keefe, an election lawyer for Democrats in the State Assembly
who is also representing the Columbia County Democratic Committee in the
Taghkanic case. “That would be a major shift in public policy. They want
a tool to challenge targeted voters in close elections. We could see this all
over the state.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>In Taghkanic, some residents say, the feud between Republicans and
Democrats started as a dispute over motorcycles.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Two years ago, a wealthy newcomer, Alan Wilzig, asked the town zoning
board for permission to build a mile-long paved motorcycle racetrack on his
250-acre property. Concerned about noise, some of Mr. Wilzig’s neighbors,
most of them fellow part-time residents, protested. They started a civic
organization, the Granger Group, and started showing up at town board meetings.
When the board sided with Mr. Wilzig, his opponents filed a suit in state
court.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>“The people who are the ex-<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">New
York City</st1:City></st1:place> people, no one even knew each other until we
started to get politically active,” said Stephen Kling, a graphic
designer who estimates he spends about a third of his time in Taghkanic.
“You have a whole lot of Upper West Siders who are very comfortable
protesting and writing letters and calling officials. The locals would never do
anything like that. They consider it bad manners.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>At the same time, a political shift has been occurring in the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Hudson</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Valley</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
Last year, registered Democratic voters for the first time outnumbered
Republicans in <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Columbia</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType> and neighboring <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Dutchess</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
A Democrat, John Hall, who helped form the 1970s rock band <st1:City w:st="on">Orleans</st1:City>,
won an upset victory in the 19th Congressional District, a former Republican
stronghold stretching from Dutchess to <st1:place w:st="on">Westchester</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Another Democrat, Scott Murphy, triumphed this year in the fiercely
contested special election for the House seat that had been held by Senator
Kirsten E. Gillibrand.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>In a preview of the battle in Taghkanic, Republican lawyers challenged
— with mixed success — hundreds of Democratic ballots in that race,
including those of weekend residents as well as students enrolled at local
universities, including <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Bard</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">College</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> and Vassar. In
towns throughout <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Columbia</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, Democrats began
campaigning more aggressively for local offices.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>“In enrollment, we’re just about 50-50 now,” said
Gregory C. Fingar, the Republican chairman in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Columbia</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
“The races are much, much closer now.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>In Taghkanic this summer, the part-time residents helped take over the
town’s moribund Democratic Party, which had not run candidates against
many Republican incumbents. They backed a full slate of challengers for local
office, including Town Board seats, town justice and highway superintendent.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>On Election Day, several of the races were close enough that absentee
ballots — a large proportion of them cast by Democrats — could
swing the count to one candidate or the other.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Within days, Republicans filed challenges to ballots in Taghkanic and
five other towns in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Columbia</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, but later
narrowed the challenges solely to Taghkanic.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>In the lawsuit, the Republicans named Democratic candidates and the
Democrat on the county board of elections, instead of individual voters, as is
usually the case with voting challenges. Most of those who had cast challenged
ballots did not learn about the suit, which was filed in State Supreme Court in
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Columbia</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>, until they read about it in the
local news media.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>“I felt this kind of visceral outrage that someone was trying to
take away my right to vote,” said Nancy Miller, a book editor, who is
married to Mr. Kling. “I felt that my vote was much more important up
there. We planned to retire up there some day, we had a real stake there, and I
wanted to make a difference.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Local Republicans say they have nothing against their seasonal
neighbors and even welcome their arrival in Taghkanic, which has poured
millions of dollars into the local tax base. What they do not welcome, the
Republicans say, are the part-timers’ votes.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>“They pay more taxes than some of us here,” said Erik
Tyree, 42, who moved to the town a few years ago to manage Mr. Wilzig’s
property and in November ran for Town Board on the Republican ticket.
“They should have some rights. I’m not sure that voting should be
one of them.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Part-time residents said they were bewildered at having their votes
challenged and blamed Republicans for trying to divide this quiet town along
partisan lines. Many of them said they had been coming to Taghkanic for years
and resented being cast as interlopers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>“They can have my vote back,” said Stephen Fass, a food
importer who bought a house here in the 1980s. “But then I want my school
taxes back.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><i><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-style:italic'>_______________________</span></font></i> <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Maggie Moehringer</span></b><b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>, LWVNYS VP Voter Service</span></b><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>(518) 475-0969</span></b> <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>mmoehrin@nycap.rr.com</span></b> <br>
<st1:Street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><b><span style='font-weight:bold'>12
Coventry Rd.</span></b></st1:address></st1:Street> <br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on"><b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Glenmont</span></b></st1:City><b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>, <st1:State w:st="on">NY</st1:State> <st1:PostalCode
w:st="on">12077</st1:PostalCode></span></b></st1:place> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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