Democratic Chair Shawn Hogan: “All hogwash, they are afraid that a woman would have the nerve”
By Andrew Harris, pictured is candidate for Steuben County judge Michaela Rossettie Azemi
Steuben County Republican Chairman Joe Sempolinkski issued a statement today that accuses candidate Michaela Rossettie Azemi of, “blatantly failed to comply in any way with New York State Campaign Finance Law in her campaign.”
Sempolinski, pictured, went on to state that Azemi has not just failed to file the proper documents with the Board of Elections, she has failed to file any required campaign finance documents:
“This is a shockingly serious violation. How can someone claim to be qualified to be a county level judge when apparently they can’t even attempt to comply with the most basic of campaign finance laws? Campaign finance disclosures enable the public to see who is financing a campaign and what campaign money is being spent on. The Democratic Party nominee has failed to comply with the law and provide any of this information. Either she has no idea what she is doing or has something to hide. Either way she shouldn’t be a judge.”
The Steuben County Republicans reasserted that Azemi has not completed the required reporting:
“Campaign finance disclosure reports are available for review by the public at the NYS Board of Elections website – publicreporting.elections.ny.gov. There is no campaign for Ms. Rossettie Azemi filed in that database.”
Steuben County Democratic Chair Shawn Hogan fired back with a very direct rebuke of Sempolinski’s claims:
“It is all Hogwash; they are afraid as hell that a woman would have the nerve to run for Judge against the good old boys club. This is an unconventional race as the out going Judge did not resign until it was too late to petition for the vacancy. So, both parties are given the opportunity to recruit a candidate and name the individual as their parties’ representative on the ballot. We didn’t name the candidate until July. As a new candidate Michaela Rossetti Azemi had to assembly a campaign staff and hit the ground running. Joe Sempolinski is attacking our Democratic Candidate as she poises a strong threat to their candidate and brings a new perspective to the race. How dare the Democrats run a woman, a very intelligent woman who is well qualified for the position she seeks. These financial filings are routine and I would like for Joe to review how many other candidates both Republican and Democrat may have missed the Deadline, this not unusual and is not a fatal issue. I wish Joe would have been just as outraged about January 6th as he is this situation.”
