Westchester says legislators can't send newsletters so close to election. Some did anyway

David McKay Wilson, Rockland/Westchester Journal News
Updated ·5 min read

Click on the Westchester Board of Legislators website and you’ll learn that under Chapter 960 of the Laws of Westchester County, legislators can’t send out taxpayer-financed newsletters after they’ve filed the designating petitions for an upcoming election.

Check the fat green book called the Laws of Westchester County in the board's library and you'll find Chapter 960, which also declares in Rule 27 that newsletters can only be mailed to constituents in the districts they currently represent.

In the Laws of Westchester County, you'll find that county legislators can't send out taxpayer-financed newsletters after they submit petitions to become candidates in the spring. Legislators say a resolution passed four years ago, which that did not amend the County Code, let's them send out the mailings in September.
In the Laws of Westchester County, you'll find that county legislators can't send out taxpayer-financed newsletters after they submit petitions to become candidates in the spring. Legislators say a resolution passed four years ago, which that did not amend the County Code, let's them send out the mailings in September.

The deadline for mailing newsletters this year was April 12, according to the Westchester County Code. It was enacted in 1998 when County Executive George Latimer chaired the Board of Legislators.

That did not stop five county legislators, including Board of Legislators Chairman Vedat Gashi, D-Yorktown, from sending out their glowing four-page newsletters this summer, touting their myriad accomplishments, replete with photos of them with constituents and their elected colleagues.

Those newsletters, meanwhile, were sent to the constituents in their newly drawn districts, according to Westchester Elections Commissioner Doug Colety, who said that was the mailing list sent to the county’s printer. The new districts take effect on Jan. 1, after the November election.

Westchester County Legislator Vedat Gashi, D-Yorktown, speaking on May 15, 2023 when he was elected board chairman.
Westchester County Legislator Vedat Gashi, D-Yorktown, speaking on May 15, 2023 when he was elected board chairman.

2019 resolution changed the rules

Gashi Chief of Staff Dylan Tragni said the mailings were proper because the board in 2019 passed a resolution to change Rule 27. The action was a boon to incumbents, who could then send out taxpayer-financed newsletters several months after nominating petitions were submitted.

That resolution, which did not amend Chapter 960 of the Laws of Westchester County, does not come up when you click on Rules of the Board on the board’s website.

The only way to find them on the board’s website is if you know to conduct a search for Resolution 138 from 2019.

That resolution, which was passed after the state shifted primaries from September to June, moved the deadline for sending out taxpayer-financed newsletters from mid-July to the first Friday in September after Labor Day.

The Labor Day holiday weekend is the traditional start of the fall campaign season.

Tragni said it’s not required to amend the Laws of Westchester County to change the rules, which are part of the Laws of Westchester County. He said it wasn’t necessary to do so.

“It’s not part of the County Code,” said Tragni. “It doesn’t have to be in there. Our rules are set by resolution.”

County Attorney John Nonna said a resolution passed on 2022 repealed Chapter 960 and replaced it with updated rules that set the new newsletter deadlines. He said it was in force, even though the published rules referenced on the board's website in Chapter 960 still cited the old deadlines.

Tragni, meanwhile, said it’s up to the Board of Elections to determine where the mailings are sent.

“I want to reiterate that we don’t control the list that the newsletters are mailed to,” he said. “The BOE sends the list directly to the printer.”

Tragni declined to disclose the cost of the mailings.

Legislators who sent out mailings after April 12 included the board’s three top officials: Gashi, Minority Leader Margaret Cunzio, C-Mount Pleasant; and Majority Leader Jose Alvarado, D-Yonkers. Also sending them out were legislators Colin Smith, D-Peekskill, and James Nolan, R-Yonkers, the 17-member board’s sole Republican.

Gashi, Smith, Alvarado and Nolan face opponents in November.

Branda says mailing improper

Somers Republican Dan Branda, who faces Gashi on the November ballot, said the mailings were improper. He wants Gashi to refund the cost of his taxpayer-financed mailings.

“His campaign has used a taxpayer-financed newsletter to gain an unfair advantage,” Branda said. “It puts a seal of approval on his platitudes, and because it’s an official publication, and gives them authority, which is far more valuable than the cost of the postage.”

Branda doesn’t believe you can change the rules without amending the laws of Westchester County.

“It’s physically part of the County Code,” said Branda. “It’s in the printed book. You can’t put new rules into the code unless you codify them.”

Somers Republican Dan Branda, on the phone at Starbucks in Yorktown on Sept. 1, 2023, said Board of Legislators Chair Vedat Gashi should step down as chairman if the legislature investigates his ownership of an affordable co-op in Manhattan that requires it be his primary residence.
Somers Republican Dan Branda, on the phone at Starbucks in Yorktown on Sept. 1, 2023, said Board of Legislators Chair Vedat Gashi should step down as chairman if the legislature investigates his ownership of an affordable co-op in Manhattan that requires it be his primary residence.

County Legislator Colin Smith, D-Peekskill, also raised questions about whether the actions taken in 2019 were enough to govern the actions of today’s legislators.

Smith, an attorney, said that the new policy needed to be made part of the County Code in the Laws of Westchester County to go into effect.

“If it’s not codified, we need to correct that ASAP,” he said. “But we can’t undo the sending of thousands of newsletters that have already gone out. It will have to be forward-looking at this point.”

County Attorney John Nonna, however, said that the Board of Legislators doesn’t need to amend the law to change how it handles its internal rules.

“While the Rules of the Board appear as Chapter 960 of the Laws of Westchester County, that does not mean they are required to be ‘codified’ in the same manner as a Local Law,” his office said in a statement.

Nolan, the board’s lone Republican who finds himself in a contested race with his predecessor, Democrat Ruth Walter, said it was his understanding that these rules have been in place for several years.

His newsletter also alluded to the string of incidents that have roiled the board this year. They include then-Chair Catherine Borgia giving up the board’s top position to Gashi over her response to a compliant about a board employee and Legislator Chris Johnson’s decision to move out of his Yonkers district, which led to his subsequent resignation.

“While this year has been turbulent for the Board of Legislators with so many scandals, I know we can work together to regain the public’s trust,” Nolan wrote. “I will work diligently during the remainder of this term to ensure we will again be a pristine governmental organization.”

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David McKay Wilson writes about tax issues and government accountability. Follow him on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@lohud.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Westchester legislators defying county law on newsletters? They say no