After a thorough investigation by the New York State Police into Saratoga Springs Democratic Chair Pat Tuz’s charge that Republican Public Safety candidate Tracey LaBelle forged signatures on her petitions, the result is in. Tuz’s charges were unfounded. Every one of the people whose petition signatures Tuz claimed were forgeries confirmed to the police that they had signed the document.
Tuz claimed some signatures were fraudulent because some of the people who signed LaBelle’s petitions did so using block letters. These same individuals wrote their name in cursive rather than block letters when they registered to vote. As city Democratic chair, Ms. Tuz has to know that mistakenly using block letters on petitions is a common error and does not necessarily constitute forgery.
Ms. Tuz’s accusation produced embarrassing headlines for LaBelle, and Tuz made a series of harsh comments to the press telling the Gazette that there was “clear evidence” of forgeries on the petitions.
There was a time when people who carelessly hurt others would apologize. Some still do, but Ms. Tuz is apparently not one of those.
Did Pat Tuz Ignore Attempts by the New York State Police to Contact Her?
The police report exonerating Tracey Labelle also documented that the State Police had repeatedly tried to contact Tuz without success.
It is troubling that Pat Tuz did not respond to numerous messages left by the New York State Police asking her to contact them regarding her complaint. I emailed Tuz asking her for an explanation.
Although she has not responded to my emails in the past, this time she sent me this curious reply:
Hi John:
I do admit to having a phone that I often forget to put the ringer on, in which case I don’t hear the call and even miss a voicemail. However, when people want to get a hold of me they usually do.
Thanks!
Pat Tuz
I wrote back to Ms. Tuz asking why she thought the State Police were then never able to get hold of her in spite of leaving numerous messages for her.
Ms. Tuz replied:
As discussed, they may have called, and I am very sorry if I missed the call, but, they have a lot to do, with many things going at once, as I do.
Police Report
