GOP US Senate Hopefuls Squabble in Court Over NY Primary Election Requirements

The New York GOP nominee who is aiming to unseat Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in November’s general election is locked in litigation with another aspiring Republican candidate.

Retired New York Police Department (NYPD) detective Mike Sapraicone, 76, and Queens Republican Party chairman Anthony Nunziato sued Cara Castronuova, 44, on April 15 in Albany court alleging that the required 15,000 signatures she gathered to be listed on the June 25 primary ballot are fraudulent and false.

“It’s nothing bad,” Mr. Nunziato told The Epoch Times. “I like Cara. We just wanted to check. It’s just something that you prove whether you’re going into a kickboxing ring or the political ring.”

Ms. Castronuova must gather nearly 15,000 signatures from Republican voters. At least 100 or 5 percent of the enrolled voters must come from one-half of the state’s congressional districts, according to the New York State Board of Elections website.

Mr. Nunziato’s complaint alleges that the distribution table filed with Ms. Castronuova’s collected signatures is inaccurate.

“The failure to properly account for the required distribution of signatures from an adequate number of congressional districts is fatal to the petition, requiring invalidation,” Mr. Nunziato’s attorney James Curran wrote in the lawsuit.

On Feb. 28, Broome County GOP data determined that Mr. Sapraicone received some 80 percent of the weighted vote of GOP county chairs and state committee members while Ms. Castronuova and another candidate, Josh Eisen, garnered less than 25%.

Broome County Republican Committee chair Benji Federman declined to comment.

A federal judge previously declared New York ballot access rules unconstitutional however the state legislature hasn’t widely enforced the court order.

“Neither party wants it enforced because it’s an incumbent protection racket,” Mike Zumbluskas, a former GOP candidate for New York’s 12th Congressional District, alleged. “This is the way they can knock off first-time candidates, candidates with less money and less prestige. It also ties them up in court and ties them up in the whole administrative process for weeks and even months.”

Ms. Castronuova was endorsed by the Staten Island Republican Party, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Roger Stone, adviser to former U.S. President Donald Trump. She also received a lofty 42 percent of the vote while unsuccessfully campaigning for state Assembly two years ago in the 22nd district.

“Cara definitely has a future in politics,” Mr. Nunziato added. “She’s an amazing woman. Let’s find another slot for her and we’ll back her all the way. I’m not against her.”

The dispute over the legitimacy of Ms. Castronuova’s ballot signatures started after she sued the New York Republican State Committee in the Eastern District of New York on April 1 alleging the organization violated the U.S. Constitution by requiring 15,000 voter signatures.

Ms. Castronuova’s co-plaintiff is her boyfriend John Tabacco who unsuccessfully campaigned for New York City Comptroller in 2021 as an independent.

“Mike Sapraicone, the guy who is the Republican pick, is not having to collect signatures so that’s not equal protection under the Constitution,” Ms. Castronuova told The Epoch Times. “They need to either remove this requirement or require all candidates to gather 15,000 signatures.”

In her federal lawsuit, Ms. Castronuova deemed the 15,000 signature requirement as unrealistic and expensive.

“With a workforce paid $25 per hour, it would cost a minimum of $200,000 minimum to collect the signatures, that includes labor expenses for a team to organize the entire state-wide operation, payroll for hundreds of ‘petition walkers,’ the cost of printing thousands of ballots and supplies, travel expenses, delivery of petitions, postage and loss of work,” Ms. Castronuova’s complaint states.

However, Jason Weingartner, executive director of the New York GOP, said Ms. Castronuova is misguided in suing the New York Republican State Committee because political parties statewide do not set election requirements.

The signature requirements for ballot access are governed by New York State Election Law Section 6-136.

“They are established by New York State law, voted on by both houses of the legislature and signed into law by the governor,”  Mr. Weingartner told The Epoch Times in a statement. “Any change to the minimum number of signatures requires a change in State Law. Unfortunately, either Cara Castronouva and John Tabacco are woefully ignorant of this or they are purposely misleading their supporters for whatever self-interested reasons they have.”

New York Republican State Committee’s chairman, Ed Cox, and the New York State Board of Elections are also named as defendants. Mr. Cox did not respond to requests for comment.

“It is Board practice to not comment on pending litigation to which it is a party,” New York State Board of Elections Director of Public Information Kathleen McGrath told The Epoch Times.

A hearing on Ms. Castronouva’s qualifying signatures is scheduled for Monday, April 29.

Lobbying the state legislature would take years, according to Mr. Zumbluskas.

“She wouldn’t be on the ballot this year if she did that. So, you have to challenge it in court and people have been put on ballots in previous elections by court order,” he said.