Conservative Party drops comptroller candidate
KINGSTON, N.Y. » The Ulster County Conservative Party has withdrawn its endorsement of county comptroller candidate Michael Wendel of Wawarsing, who was convicted in March of violating a court order to stay away from Comptroller Elliott Auerbach.
“We can’t stop the man from running, but it means he doesn’t need to have our support,” said county Conservative Party Chairman Ed Gaddy. “We are relinquishing any support.”
Wendel isn’t taking the action lightly.
“The committee, especially Ed Gaddy, betrayed and sabotaged my efforts to run for comptroller,” he said. “Some believe that he wants it to be a one-man race and the only person he and the Republican Party want in office is the current comptroller, Elliott Auerbach.”
Auerbach is a Democrat who has been in office since 2009.
A Shawangunk Town Court jury convicted Wendel, 59, of misdemeanor criminal contempt after less than 15 minutes of deliberation at his trial in March.
The Ulster County District Attorney’s Office said Wendel violated a previous order of protection the evening of Dec. 17, 2015, when he “aggressively approached” Auerbach in the Wawarsing Town Hall in the village of Ellenville, “placed himself within inches of Mr. Auerbach with a camera in his hand” and made statements to the comptroller “of a harassing and taunting nature.”
Wendel has been a frequent and outspoken critic of Ulster County’s government.
Wendel was sentenced in June to three years of probation and ordered to not contact Auerbach or his family.
The county Conservative Party endorsed Wendel’s candidacy against Auerbach after the conviction and before the sentencing. Gaddy said immediately after the sentencing that he was unaware of Wendel’s legal issue regarding Auerbach.