ATTENTION READERS: BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE ALL-IMPORTANT CALL TO ACTION INCLUDED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE.
On Monday, Cara Castronuova, an investigative journalist for Newsmax and author for The Gateway Pundit who’s at present operating as a Republican for the Senate in New York, filed a lawsuit in New York State Federal Court docket that seeks to alter New York’s notoriously draconian and anti-democratic poll eligibility legal guidelines. Underneath present legislation, candidates operating for public workplace who usually are not chosen by the Ed Cox-led state social gathering equipment, like Cara Castronuova, who hopes to safe the Republican Social gathering nomination for Senate, should gather 15,000 pen ink authentic signatures over 37 calendar days with a purpose to qualify.
As recounted at size previously here, State Social gathering Chairman, Ed Cox, has operated as efficient gatekeeper for a trenchant New York State Republican Social gathering that refuses to alter with the occasions, notably with regard to deciding on candidates who’re stridently and unapologetically pro-Trump and pro-America First, very similar to Cara Castronuova. As proof: the State Social gathering’s final two candidates for main electoral places of work – Mike Sapraicone, whom the Social gathering handpicked in a closed door conference in February for Senate, is a widely known Trump hater who has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democrats over the years. As lately as 2022, Sapraicone made contributions to Trump-hating District Attorney Letitia James, who’s spearheading the continued political prosecution in opposition to President Trump in New York State, together with overseeing his legal trial set to start in Manhattan, later this month.
Their earlier, hand-selected candidate, Mazi Pilip, who the Social gathering selected to run for former Congressman George Santos’ vacated seat in New York’s 3rd Congressional District additionally was Ed Cox’s best candidate. She was nonetheless, reportedly, a registered Democrat at the time she ran in the special election against Democrat Tom Suozzi, who simply defeated her and reclaimed his seat, decreasing the Republican Home Majority to a precariously skinny 218 to 213 margin. The Santos expulsion effort was led by Ed Cox-lackeys, as a part of the RINO State Delegation: Nick Lalota (who held out on endorsing President Trump till Jan. 20 of this 12 months) Mike Lawler (who nonetheless has not endorsed Trump), Andrew Garbarino (who additionally nonetheless has not endorsed Trump) and Anthony D’Esposito (who waited till Feb. 26 of this 12 months to lastly endorse the presidential frontrunner), all of whom – at greatest –solely lately issued eleventh hour endorsements of Donald Trump, according to 538’s endorsement tracker, showcasing their true loyalties to Ed Cox and his Uniparty agenda. (For reference, Trump loyalist Elise Stefanik (NY-21) endorsed President Trump means again in November of 2022). Because the saying goes, with buddies like these, who wants enemies?
This anti-Trump coalition ousted George Santos, as a part of a deliberate sabotage masterminded by Ed Cox and his Uniparty cronies to not solely expel probably the most conservative and Trump-supporting Congressperson from the Republican delegation, however, even worse, scale back the Republican Majority’s already razor skinny majority within the Home additional nonetheless – probably setting the stage for Democrats to retake management outright earlier than November’s presidential election. This might put Democrats able to ram-through eleventh hour legislation to remove President Trump from the presidential ballot on groundless Insurrection charges, beneath sections 3 and 5 of the Fourteenth Modification.
Thus, if the Home of Representatives ought to fall to Democratic arms earlier than November’s election – Republicans in New York State, all of whom reply to Ed Cox, are on to blame.
For this reason Castronuova’s lawsuit, which comes throughout a very powerful election 12 months on this nation’s historical past, is totally pivotal in the direction of transferring the needle of the State Social gathering within the MAGA course.
Castronuova isn’t submitting a frivolous lawsuit, both. She abided by all the foundations as somebody who didn’t make the poll because the Social gathering’s handpicked candidate on the Conference, and amassed over 15,000 petitions — exceeding the onerous requirement per New York’s guidelines. On the time of this text’s launch, she – and her co-plaintiff listed within the lawsuit, John Tabacco, an aggrieved Staten Island Republican voter, who’s being disadvantaged of his proper, like hundreds of thousands of different New Yorkers, from casting their vote for his or her chosen candidate — are on their means up now to Albany to ship their signatures to the Board of Elections.
There’s a third candidate within the race as nicely: Josh Eisen – who’s backed by the New York Younger Republican Membership, and completed in third place (with over 6% of the Conference vote) behind Castronuova (over 8% of the vote) and Sapraicone on the closed-door conference in Binghamton again in February. Eisen, very similar to Castronuova, additionally faces an uphill battle in amassing petitions based mostly on New York State’s anti-democratic and notoriously draconian poll entry legal guidelines.
Castronuova raises a number of essential factors in her Criticism, which was filed with the District Court docket for the Japanese District, which might be price highlighting.
First, because the legislation at present stands, the signature requirement is a flagrant Equal Safety violation, and the courtroom ought to grant injunctive reduction on that foundation alone. The onerous, arbitrary, and downright arcane poll requirement guidelines are unhealthy sufficient. However the truth that each Republicans and Democrats alike are held to the identical 15,000 signature requirement commonplace – in a State the place Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1 — is an egregious affront to the Equal Safety Clause of the 14th Modification (to say nothing of myriad different due course of, privileges and immunities, and constitutional breaches the present legislation exploits).
Castronuova bases her Criticism in well-founded precedent. In 2000, when John McCain was operating in his first bid for President within the Republican Main, he too challenged New York State on the idea of its arbitrary and unduly burdensome signature requirement legal guidelines. A choose on the time discovered McCain, a significant presidential candidate with nationwide identify recognition and large assets behind him, to have a legitimate constitutional declare in opposition to New York State’s onerous so-called “petition gathering scheme.” Steve Forbes too, one other billionaire candidate with important monetary assets to expend on paid “volunteer walkers,” was additionally discovered by New York courts to have a legitimate authorized declare due to the undue burden imposed by New York’s onerous election guidelines – Forbes and McCain’s instances (on the books as Molinari v. Powers) had been cited as controlling authorities by Castronuova in her lawsuit.
If courts discovered that New York’s poll scheme imposed undue burdens on nationwide candidates of McCain and Forbes’ caliber, then a trustworthy courtroom ought to simply discover a important undue burden in Castronuova’s case. Not like McCain and Forbes, Castruonova’s marketing campaign is being waged on a shoestring finances. Not solely does she not have the monetary backing of Republican State leaders, she has been completely foreclosed of the chance to make use of State Social gathering assets – which needs to be made accessible to all potential candidates, no matter whether or not or not they’re the popular candidate of the State Social gathering – similar to names of registered Republicans and lists of volunteers, which the Social gathering equipment has entry to. All these elements solely improve the undue burden on Castronuova, thus enhancing her constitutional declare.
The undue burden extends not simply to the arbitrary and onerous 15,000 signature requirement – a nasty sufficient determine in and of itself. Nevertheless, in precise follow, the determine is definitely a lot nearer to 30,000 signatures, double the acknowledged requirement, with a purpose to qualify a candidate for the poll. It’s because the State Social gathering equipment actively works to strike “invalid” signatures, by making use of the legislation to an unduly exacting commonplace, all for the only real goal of disqualifying would-be challengers to the chosen Social gathering nominee — even these uncommon few, like Steve Forbes, rich sufficient to amass 30,000 signatures on their very own.
One notably egregious a part of the signature requirement, which is written into New York State legislation, is the infamous city/metropolis “trap for the unwary” stipulation, a obligatory requirement for each signature to be legitimate. In New York, many cities are literally divided into discrete villages – that residents extra familiarly establish with and conflate as being their township. So, for example, a Montauk resident would possibly designate his City as Montauk – however that signature can be stricken, beneath present New York guidelines, as a result of, technically talking, the right city would actually be East Hampton, which incorporates the village of Montauk, which is technically not a “town” for the needs of New York State election legislation. Sound complicated?
The city/metropolis lure is one such instance of why the signature requirement is unduly burdensome: notably on condition that signers are already required to record their handle in full – and so the aim of itemizing one’s township is a mere redundancy, serving no goal in any way aside from to disqualify in any other case legitimate signatures!
The lawsuit outlines myriad different issues with present election guidelines that solely additional assist Castronuova’s arguments concerning the basic unfairness of the present course of.
In her affidavit, submitted with the lawsuit, Castronuova detailed the way it was bodily not possible to gather the mandatory signatures throughout the acknowledged 37-day timeframe, which, in actuality, attributable to non secular holidays and record-breaking inclement weather, was extra like 30 days, or much less.
However maybe Castronuova’s most legitimate level of all, as acknowledged in each her lawsuit and affidavit, was that each one these arbitrary and onerous guidelines – which State Social gathering leaders admitted, behind closed doorways, had been in place to forestall a aggressive, honest, and open Main from happening, which might culminate on June 25, 2024 – had completely no bearing on “a candidate’s viability and ability to serve effectively in office.”
Nor ought to the quantity of donations a candidate receives – and notably wasted funds used to recruit volunteers to amass arbitrarily excessive signature thresholds, which make no sense aside from to exclude in any other case viable candidates – like Castronuova and Eisen – from the poll.
What ought to qualify a candidate are the sacrifices and rules they uphold, particularly in periods of nice adversity. Castronuova, as viscerally recounted in her affidavit, has gone by way of untold hardship only for difficult New York State legislation. She has been vilified by the Republican State Social gathering equipment. She has misplaced buddies and onetime supporters, who’re afraid to hitch Castronuova in worry of being ostracized by Social gathering leaders from jobs and different alternatives. As a religious Catholic, Castronuova spent Holy Week, a very powerful week within the liturgical calendar for many Christians, writing a 16-page affidavit, slightly than attending non secular providers and spending time with household – as a result of she believes this trigger is price “dying on a hill for.”
Regardless of paying main private, skilled, and certainly, even bodily, prices for going in opposition to New York State’s obstinate institution, Castronuova stays unwavering in her conviction to see this trigger all the way in which to the top.
She isn’t merely a disgruntled candidate, needlessly complaining a few course of as a result of she was unwilling to do the important legwork to get on the poll. That she has executed, and in spades — even with all of the elements going in opposition to her. She put her profession on maintain, as each a reporter and investigative journalist, and went into the trenches, summoning volunteers, who devoted valuable time, most often freed from cost, to assist Castronuova in her efforts.
Castronuova amassed the 15,000 signatures and is on her strategy to Albany proper now to drop them off to the Board of Elections.
The aim of her lawsuit is to proper a severe incorrect, an injustice that deprives not solely Republican candidates, however candidates of all political stripes, their constitutional proper to deliver their message to New York voters, who’re denied in flip – by these similar guidelines – the elemental proper to decide on higher high quality candidates by way of a very free, honest, and democratic course of.
Castronuova, unquestionably, is the America First candidate on this race. She has supported President Trump, in contrast to Sapraicone, because the day he made that fateful escalator journey at Trump Tower in 2015.
She has stood by him each step of the way in which – even when fair-weather supporters jumped ship when it grew to become politically expedient to take action. When New York State was beneath the draconian Cuomo lockdowns on the top of covid, she advocated boldly and publicly for medical freedom. She has raised hundreds of thousands of {dollars} for January 6th demonstrators, and – whereas Sapraicone and Cox had been remaining silent – entered the firestorm and lined the egregious political persecutions, in her capability as an investigative journalist in opposition to the political hostages of the Biden Regime, consoling the households of J6 victims, who’ve confronted unfathomable hardships for merely exercising their God-given pure rights.
Castronuova is pro-life, pro-gun, pro-borders, and pro-God. She deserves to deliver her message to New Yorkers, who’re completely struggling — and leaving the state by the 1000’s each month — by the neglectful and incompetent political management of each Republicans and Democrats. This State Uniparty has practically run the as soon as nice Empire State to wreck — a wreck that will likely be inevitable as long as the Republican Social gathering stays a “controlled opposition,” presided over by leaders like Ed Cox and do-nothing, feckless lapdog candidates like Mike Sapraicone.
***ALL IMPORTANT CALL TO ACTION***
READERS: If you’re OUTRAGED by what Ed Cox and the New York State Uniparty is doing by denying high quality candidates, like Cara Castronuova and Josh Eisen, from their constitutional proper to poll entry – whereas stripping common New Yorkers of their rights in flip, CALL Ed Cox’s workplace and TELL him to permit an OPEN PRIMARY by PUTTING CASTRONUOVA and EISEN on the BALLOT.
PHONE: (518) 462-2601. FAX: (518) 449-7443.
ALSO, PLEASE COPY & PASTE THE FOLLOWING EMAIL, AND SEND IT TO ED COX AND THE NY STATE GOP APPARATUS, DEMANDING THAT THEY ALLOW OTHER CANDIDATES, LIKE CASTRONUOVA AND EISEN, TO BE INCLUDED IN THE PRIMARY IN A HEAD-TO-HEAD MATCHUP AGAINST THEIR HANDPICKED, ANTI-TRUMP RINO CANDIDATE IN MIKE SAPRAICONE:
EMAIL: [email protected]
SUBJECT: ALLOW CASTRONUOVA AND EISEN BALLOT ACCESS
HELLO,
I AM AN OUTRAGED, AMERICAN PATRIOT, TRUMP SUPPORTER, AND NEW YORK VOTER WHO DEMANDS THAT YOU INCLUDE CARA CASTRONUOVA AND JOSH EISEN ON THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARY BALLOT – AND NOT CONTINUE TO DENY NEW YORKERS THEIR FUNDAMENTAL CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO CHOOSE THEIR DESIRED CANDIDATE.
IN ADDITION, PLEASE GET RID OF THE COMPLETELY ARBITRARY AND ONEROUS “PETITION GATHERING SCHEME,” WHICH UNCONSTITUTIONALLY EXCLUDES OTHERWISE BETTER QUALITY AND ELIGIBLE CANDIDATES FROM BALLOT ACCESS BASED ON THE ARCANE RULES SET BY PARTY LEADERS THAT STRIP THE RIGHT TO VOTE FOR TRUE AMERICA FIRST CANDIDATES FROM WE THE PEOPLE!
SINCERELY,
OUTRAGED NEW YORK RESIDENT/AMERICAN CITIZEN
