SARATOGA SPRINGS — A postcard mailing that showed up in city resident’s mailboxes last week has been cited as “misrepresenting, distorted, or otherwise falsifies a fact or facts” by the Fair Campaign Practices (FCP) of the Capital Region, Inc.
The mailing, which was sent out by the Saratoga County Democratic Committee alleged that city mayoral candidate Shauna M. Sutton (R, C), had engaged in “double-dipping” because she draws a salary from her role as deputy mayor as well as a trustee and treasurer of the Greenridge Cemetery Association. The city of Saratoga Springs pays $20,000 per year to the cemetery, though the Sutton camp notes that this money is earmarked for maintenance workers.
FCP found specifically that the flier said that Sutton had taken $120,000 in salary from her activities at Greenridge, but neglected to note that it was over a six-year period.
A complaint from the Sutton camp was not filed until Saturday, November 2, which resulted in an emergency hearing via conference call. There was some confusion as to whether this call constituted an official hearing on the part of the Democratic committee and they therefore complained that they did not have an adequate opportunity to respond. FCP nonetheless went ahead with its ruling.
Sutton’s opponent, Joanne D. Yepsen’s (D, I, WF) name did not appear on the postcard. Yepsen said that at this time she had no opinion about the subject of the mailing.