Politics on the Hudson

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:

Janet DiFiore, who is seeking re-election as Westchester County District Attorney, chided aspiring Mount Vernon City Council candidate Samuel Rivers for his comments about her yesterday. Rivers said the city’s Democratic committee was wrong to endorse DiFiore over Democratic challenger Tony Castro. 

DiFiore issued this statement today: “Mr. Rivers seriously misjudges the integrity and intelligence of the people in the city of Mt. Vernon. My positions are well-known to serious and informed voters. I am a recognized leader in advocating for reform of the drug laws and I am not a proponent of the death penalty. Of greater concern to all should be the fact that Sam Zherka walked Tony Castro into the Board of Elections to file Castro’s petitions for District Attorney, the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the county. Anyone who wants to be District Attorney should have better sense then to be led around by a strip club owner who is under investigation and Sam Rivers, a criminal defendant in this county.”