100 years ago in The Record
Monday, Feb. 4, 1918
State public service commissioner Seymour Van Santvoord’s recent resignation has revived talk of nominating the Troy man for a spot on the Democratic state ticket this fall, The Record reports. A prominent Troy businessman, Van Santvoord ran for mayor in 1901 but lost to Daniel E. Conway. He was chairman of the platform committee at the Democratic state convention in 1910 and counsel to governor John A. Dix before joining the public service commission in 1914. Since 1910, when he was considered instrumental in Dix’s election, he’s been mentioned frequently as a possible candidate for governor in his own right. Van Santvoord resigned at the end of January. Since then he has written “several extraordinary letters, the type of communications which are indicative of a veiled purpose,” according to our Albany correspondent, “A reason for this is expected to disclose itself at any time.” What makes Van Santvoord’s letters “extraordinary” in part is their implicit criticism of one of his colleagues on the public service commission, John A. Barhite. The fact that Van Santvoord hasn’t mentioned Barhite’s name in any of his letters is seen as a veiled swipe at the Rochester man, who was appointed by Governor Charles S. Whitman last year. His description of Barhite’s district as a “dry cow” is widely seen as a barely-veiled swipe at Barhite and Whitman, both Republicans.
Democrats hope that Barhite’s apparently poor performance, which reportedly left Van Santvoord doing the work of two men, can be a campaign issue against Whitman, should the governor run again. Sources close to Van Santvoord say that he “would enjoy nothing better than becoming involved in a controversy over the manner in which the Rochester man has officially conducted himself.” The best way to make that happen, the sources suggest, is to nominate Van Santvoord for statewide office.
Voter fraud
During a lecture for women voters tonight, deputy state superintendent of elections John J. Gardiner discusses the many ways in which people violate election laws.
“The state superintendent of elections has not once but many times indicted persons in practically every county for such crimes,” Gardiner says. The offenses in Troy alone range from fraudulent registration and repeat voting to attempts by employers to prevent their employees from voting.
“There is not a question in my mind,” Gardiner claims, that the cases cited are “but 50 per cent of the actual crimes committed.” One of the most common offenses in the Collar City, in his experience, is attempted underage voting, encouraged by ward heelers who “if discovered would be the first to forget that they ever knew the violator.”