"I am doing it for Jesus." Alleged Working Families Party usurper Anthony Frascone "explains" his candidacy to party members. [Updated: Appeal of judge's decision still possible, attorney says]
Leaders and supporters of the WFP explained their strategy to block Frascone from serving a spoiler role at a press conference this morning in Tarrytown.
On Friday evening, as first reported by the Chronicle, Westchester Supreme Court Justice Janet C. Malone ruled that Anthony Frascone—whom the Working Families Party (WFP) has accused of being a plant of Republicans and Mike Lawler in the 17th Congressional District race—could stay on the ballot, despite attempts to remove him as a fraudulent candidate.
At 8 am this morning, several members and supporters of the WFP went to visit Frascone at his house in Congers, a hamlet in Rockland County. Frascone has not campaigned or raised any money in what is now a three-way race between him, Democratic Party candidate Mondaire Jones, and Republican Party candidate Mike Lawler. To the surprise of the visitors, Frascone came to the door. When asked why he was running and what his political positions were, Frascone simply replied, “I am doing it for Jesus.”
This anecdote was related later this morning at a press conference held by WFP leaders and their allies. The speakers included party co-director Ana Maria Archila, the Westchester-Putnam chapter chair Jennifer Cabrera, Theo Oshiro of Make the Road Action (and Croton-Harmon school district trustee), and Assemblymember Dana Levenberg.
Archila stated the theme echoed by all the other speakers, branding Frascone a “MAGA plant” by Mike Lawler and the Republican Party, whose sole role is allegedly to confuse voters and draw votes away from Mondaire Jones, whom the party has endorsed.
“We are determined to insure that people in the district know what is going on,” Archila said. She added that while “we have had a very public fracture with Mondaire”—which occurred when Jones endorsed George Latimer in the 16th District race rather than Jamaal Bowman, who was outspokenly critical of Israel’s war in Gaza and U.S. support for it—”what matters to us is who is willing to stand up for our democracy.”
Cabrera stated that Frascone’s candidacy amounted to “voter disenfranchisement.” She added that “we do not want our line to be used to spoil elections…. We are asking you to vote straight across Row A this year.”
Oshiro, who was one of the group that visited Frascone’s home this morning, pointed out that when Lawler won the district two year ago it was only by about 1000 votes, whereas around 8000 people had voted for the WFP line. In a close election, Frascone could indeed serve as a spoiler for Lawler, which Oshiro and the others argued was his only reason for being on the ballot.
The mainstream media has only slowly woken up to the importance of Judge Malone’s decision last Friday, with Politico publishing a story this morning. (Politico also linked to a statement by the Working Families Party which provides further details on their perspective.)
If the election is indeed as close as polls are predicting, Frascone could end up being a spoiler candidate—even though the evidence seems clear that he never had any intention of seriously running for office, let alone serving as a Congressmember.
This is an ongoing story which we will stay on top of.
Update October 21: A comment from From Keith Corbett of Harris Beach PLLC, attorneys for the petitioners in the court case:
“We appreciate Judge Malone’s thorough and thoughtful determination, however we are still perplexed by the Local Boards’ desire to advocate on behalf of a convict in contravention of the election law. My clients are weighing their appellate options.”
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Thank you for reporting this story. The average citizen has to rely on information like this to ensure they vote with an opened mind. I am not sure when statemen disappeared and politicians appeared probably longer than I remember. So it is hard for the truth to rise about the falsehoods. What a shame for America.
Thank you for reporting on all this. People should know what is going on.