Politics on the Hudson

Westchester County Legislator Jose Alvarado, D-Yonkers, will not actively campaign for a sixth term representing Yonkers, the city’s Democratic party chair said today.

Alvarado, who has represented the 17th District in southwest Yonkers on the county legislature for almost 10 years, lost the September Democratic primary to Virginia Perez, leaving Alvarado with minor party ballot lines; he also faced a challenge from Republican candidate Carmen Gomez Goldberg.

“Alvarado thanked the members of the Yonkers Democratic Executive committee for their support and stated he is not actively campaigning. He wants to preserve the Democratic super majority on the Board and wants all our Yonkers Democrats to win,” Democratic party chairwoman Symra Brandon wrote in an email this morning.

Perez could not be reached this morning for comment about Alvarado, who also did not answer his cell phone; Gomez Goldberg said she was unaware of Alvarado’s statement to his party’s leaders.

“His name still remains on the ballot,” Gomez Goldberg said this morning. “As far as I’m concerned my campaign continues forward. It doesn’t affect me one way or the other. I think my message is clear and I think my reputation speaks for itself and I think I have the ability to bridge people together.”

Republican Carmen Gomez Goldberg, a candidate for the Westchester County Legislature’s 17th District in southwest Yonkers, objected to renewed proposals to pump sewage from New Castle to the county’s plant in Yonkers.

In a statement she issued today, Gomez Goldberg said that the county plant in Yonkers is already operating beyond its capacity.

“The neighborhoods surrounding the facility have endured the stench from this overused plant for months now. Piping in more raw sewage from the New Castle communities of Random Farms, Riverwoods, the Yeshiva, and the planned community of Chappaqua Crossing is not only a poor idea but an irresponsible one,” she said in her statement. “It is time to upgrade the Riverwoods Sewage Treatment plant to accommodate the sewage from those communities. Yonkers can no longer be the dumping ground for the rest of the county’s sewage.”

In other campaign developments, Gomez Goldberg announced on Thursday that she received an endorsement from the Asian American Republican Committee.

Goldberg is challenging Democrat Virginia Perez and incumbent Legislator Jose Alvarado, who lost the Democratic primary to Perez.

Westchester County Legislature candidate Sandy Annabi, a Yonkers councilwoman, is asking her supporters to contact the Justice Department’s voting rights hotline at 800-253-3931 if they encounter unfair treatment at the polls on Election Day.

Annabi is running on minor party lines in the 17th Legislative District against Democratic incumbent Jose Alvarado, who beat her in the primary by five votes.

Annabi has claimed voter fraud in the primary and she has sent her allegations to the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and federal officials, though none have made any public conclusions about her claims.

In a press release this week, she claimed that the Justice Department set up the 800 number to take calls about election fraud in response to her allegations, but a Justice Department spokesman explained to The Journal News that the hotline has previously been available for anyone in the U.S. to call about voting irregularities.

Another interesting item in her release was a reference to Jose Alvarado supporter Wilson Soto, who Annabi claims broke the law by voting in Alvarado’s district.

Soto says he lives in the district but has owned property outside the district.

Alvarado’s campaign disclosure form from July 2009 indicates that Soto made an in-kind contribution of $1,000 and the listed address is well outside the 17th district. Soto said that the home belongs to his fiancee.

Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi, D-2nd District, is proposing a county tax break for Yonkers residents who live near the county’s waste treatment plant in southwest Yonkers.

The proposal is made as part of her race against incumbent county Legislator Jose Alvarado, D-Yonkers, who she will challenge in the Nov. 3 election from minor party lines.

Here is her proposal: (more…)

Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi, D-2nd District, met with the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office’s public integrity unit on Tuesday.

She presented her list of irregularities that she claims constitute voter fraud in the Democratic primary for Westchester County’s 17th legislative district. I’ve attached a copy of her complaint below.

Annabi lost the primary by five votes to four-term incumbent Jose Alvarado, who released his own statement about Annabi’s allegations on Wednesday.

For the record, Alvarado misrepresents some of Annabi’s positions on the city budget, capital budgets for the schools and a land disposition agreement (LDC) for downtown redevelopment. Annabi voted against the LDC because she said it was a bad deal for city taxpayers; she voted against the city budget because of cuts to police; and the City Council has not yet voted on the capital improvement bonding for the schools.

Here is the text from both statements. Annabi’s is VERY long:

Yonkers Councilwoman Sandy Annabi said today that she’ll ask the federal government to launch a voter-fraud investigation of her five-vote defeat by incumbent County Legislator Jose Alvarado in last month’s Democratic primary.

Annabi lost that race by five votes and today she e-mailed a copy of an affidavit ballot filed by Alvarado’s attorney Wilson Soto which lists his address as 279 S. Broadway. An accompanying party invitation for tonight honoring Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor lists Soto’s home address as 8 Huron Rd. in Yonkers, far outside Alvarado’s district.

“This is an election that was not won fair and square,” said Annabi, adding that she has evidence of irregularities with other ballots that would make her the winner.

Soto, who held Annabi’s seat before she won it, could not be reached at his law firm, which is next to his alleged South Broadway residence.

Alvarado could also not be reached for comment.