Stefanik calling for resignation
She accuses commissioner of St. Lawrence Board of Elections of illegal work on job
Republican U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik accused the Democratic commissioner of the St. Lawrence County Board of Elections of doing illegal political work on the job and called for her resignation.
According to a statement issued Friday by a senior Stefanik advisor, Alex degrasse, the Democratic elections commissioner sent out a rough draft of a political press release attacking Stefanik to the entire New York State Election Commissioners Association during work hours and from a government computer. While unnamed in the Stefanik press release, the St. Lawrence Democratic elections commissioner is Jennie Bacon.
According to Stefanik, after accidentally sending out the first draft press release, Bacon then sent a second email stating “DISREGARD!” to the original recipients at the Election Commissioners Association.
“The St Lawrence County Democrat election commissioner must resign immediately for breaking the law and an independent investigation should be launched so voters can have faith that the Democrats on the Board of Elections are following the law that makes clear it is illegal to do county party work using taxpayer-funded county government resources,” degrasse said in a statement. “The highlight of the draft press release is the last line where the St. Lawrence Democrat County Committee waves the political white flag: ‘The residents may choose that the representative may not be a Democrat.’”
An official at the St. Lawrence County Board of Elections told the Times Union that
Bacon had taken the day off on Friday, and likely would not be commenting on the matter.
But in a statement, Bacon told WWNY on Friday that the “email sent on behalf of the NYS Election Commissioners Association inadvertently had the wrong attachment from an email I had recently received.”
“The correct document was then sent immediately. Both documents had been emailed to me, in a rush to get the email to the Association I inadvertently attached the wrong document,” she told WWNY.
According to the St. Lawrence Democrats’ website, Bacon is a Democratic state committee member for St. Lawrence County, in addition to being the Democratic elections commissioner.
Currently at the top of the St. Lawrence Democratic Party’s website is a copy of a statement, issued Jan. 4, from state Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs, which called on Stefanik herself to resign.
The statement came after Stefanik indicated she would “support the effort to contest the legitimately certified electors in the 2020 Presidential race” for Joe Biden, Jacobs said. Three days later, Stefanik did object to certifying the results, even after the attack by Trump supporters on the U.S. Capitol hours earlier.
In that instance, Bacon also was involved, sending out Jacobs’ statement to North Country media outlets. On Jan. 6, a post on North Country Now clarified that Bacon had provided the statement in her capacity as corresponding secretary for the St. Lawrence Democrats, not as an elections commissioner.