Updated: Westchester Campaign Committee Finds County Legislator Mailings Unfair

Updated: Friday, 7 p.m.

 Editor's note: We reported earlier today on Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee findings regarding a complaint filed by Peter Michaelis, candidate for District 2. We have since received the committee's findings on a complaint filed by the incumbent, Peter Harckham, and have updated the story to reflect the new information.

 Campaign mailings recently sent by both candidates running for county legislator, District 2, were found to violate fair campaign practices by the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee.

Peter Michaelis filed a complaint regarding a campaign mailing, paid for by Friends of Peter Harckham, claiming it made incorrect and misleading statements under headings stating “What Peter Michaelis would have done to seniors as County Legislator..." and “What Peter Michaelis would have done to families as County Legislator…"

"Mr. Harckham has no way of knowing or proving these assertions about what Mr. Michaelis would do if he were elected a County Legislator," the committee stating in their findings.

Harckham had his own complaint about campaign literature sent by the Michaelis camp and the New York State Republican Committee, saying it was false and misleading by stating that "Pete Harckham crushed Northern Westchester taxpayers with his deciding vote to accept a HUD housing settlement which could cost taxpayers over $100 million.”

"The use of the term 'crushed' without any qualifier implied that it was a certainty that the housing settlement would cost taxpayers over $100 million, when there was significant doubt whether that would occur," the committee said in its findings.

Harckham also filed a second complaint regarding the same mailer regarding the statement "Harckham's vote threatens to: * cost you more than $100 million or more, and * dismantle local zoning laws."

Here the committee found that "sufficient backup existed that, while unlikely, under certain circumstances there was a possibility that those two claims could be validated."

The committee met Wednesday to review the complaints with Michaelis, who was joined by Don Scott, chairman of the Bedford Republican Committee.  Harckham was joined by his attorney, Alex Eisemann.

District 2 includes North Salem, Lewisboro, Bedford, Pound Ridge, Mount Kisco and part of Somers. On Nov. 8, Harckham is running on the Democratic, Working Families, and Independence party lines and Michaelis will appear on the Republican and Conservative party lines.