New Questions for Town Justice
The whole point of having campaign finance rules is so that the public can know who is paying - and how much - to support a particular candidate. If anyone could be expected to be scrupulous about adhering to those rules it would be a candidate seeking to be a judge. Alas, in Putnam Valley that does not seem to be the case.
Robert Nachamie, the Republican candidate for Town Justice who has served in that role for the last four years, is not in compliance with basic campaign finance rules of New York State's Board of Elections. As can be seen on page 10 of the BoE handbook, "Prior to raising or spending any funds, all candidates and political committees are required to register with NYSBOE and to disclose, at specific times, all of the financial activity made in connection with their campaign or in support or opposition of candidates, committees or ballot proposals/propositions."
Nachamie has not registered his campaign with the state Board of Elections. In text messages explaining his approach, he wrote, "Didn't spend any money that needs to be disclosed. All my money. I don't spend much." But even if he uses his own money to pay for campaign materials, he is required to disclose that to the state's Board of Elections.
Nachamie's opponent, Democrat David Axinn, is also financing his own campaign and registered with the Board of Elections. Those records show that Axinn has contributed $3,000 to his campaign since March and has spent a total of $2,655 on items like brochures and lawn signs.
Judicial candidates are not only supposed to comply with state election law, they face an even higher hurdle: All New York State judges are required to follow pristine ethical standards spelled out in detail in the Rules Governing Judicial Conduct. Those rules state that "neither a sitting judge nor a candidate for public election to judicial office shall directly or indirectly engage in any political activity." In an interview on September 18th, Nachamie expressed support for that general approach. "I personally feel that all judges should be nonpartisan," he said. "They shouldn’t be related to any party. I think that in itself is a conflict."
Yet, on August 2nd Nachamie donated $150 in cash to the campaign of County Executive Kevin Byrne for what was billed as a "Victory BBQ Party" in Carmel's Veterans Memorial Park.
The Judicial Campaign Ethics Handbook is very precise. It lists a variety of prohibited activities that include "making a contribution to a political organization or candidate". Asked to explain his donation to Byrne's campaign, Nachamie wrote in a text, "He is a close friend and gave to democratic party as well." In a follow-up text he clarified that the donation he was referring to was for the Putnam Valley Democratic Committee.
There is no record in the NYS Board of Elections database of Nachamie's donation to the PV Democrats. There is, however, a record of Nachamie's $150 donation to Byrne's campaign, some of which would have been permissible. The Judicial Campaign Ethics Code makes a narrow exception that allows judicial candidates to purchase up to two tickets to an event like Byrne's as long as it's at the lowest possible price, which in this case was $25. Nachamie's donation was $100 over that limit. Additionally, since cash contributions over $100 from any donor are impermissible, Byrne's committee, which is under investigation by the Board of Elections, ended up refunding $50 to Nachamie on September 28th.
Campaign finance rules are certainly complicated, and, some might think, even obscure. But in an era of massively endowed PACS, the tracking of money flows to candidates seems like a goal worthy of protecting, particularly by those whose job it is to interpret and apply the law.
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