Independence line appeal from Barclay coming Monday
WATERTOWN, N.Y. -- Will Barclay said Oswego County chose him and the more heavily weighted county gets the nod.
Darrel Aubertine said Jefferson County, the only Independence Committee that existed in the district before this election, chose him.
New York State said the confusion will leave the Independence Party without a candidate on the ballot.
"We think the courts have got the decision wrong,” Barclay said. "We're concerned that people will be disenfranchised if the Independence line is not on the ballot."
"I hope all those voters aren't disenchanted and do come out and support me either on the Working Families or the Democrat line," Aubertine added.
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Aubertine said he's fine with the court ruling. As is Jefferson County Independent Chairman John Rice even though he said his party chose Aubertine and had it pulled out from underneath them after Oswego County started their committee.
He's now asking Barclay to drop the lawsuit.
"Very disappointing. We've been in the party for a number of years. We've had a constituted committee for seven years. We were very disappointed when they did what they did," Rice said.
Barclay plans to appeal to state court again Monday for the third time.
So the question begs, with the election scheduled for Tuesday, how much longer does Barclay have? Or will Barclay's appeal actually hold up the election?
Barclay's camp said no and it won't seek further action if the appeal is denied again. But Aubertine's people said that's exactly what Barclay was trying to to. They point to a quote from a press conference News 10 Now attended.
The problem is, after reviewing the tape, it's hard to hear what Barclay said.
"I don't think we can," he said.
Then either he said "You know" or "even if,” and followed it up with "We had the intention, but I don't think we can."
Aubertine's people said Barclay used the words "You know" before saying "we had the intention", and proves to them he did plan on it.
Barclay's people said he never said "you know", but instead said "even if," meaning they never actually did plan on it.
Either way, both candidates said Tuesday will indeed be the day.
Another interesting sidebar to all this is: whoever wins will have to run for the seat again in November's election as Jim Wright's term is coming to and end.
It'll be interesting to see if there's a rematch.