CHRIS COX VOWS TO PROTECT 'OPPORTUNITY TO BALLOT'
After Unprecedented Petition Effort, Cox will Defend Grass Roots Call from Enrolled Conservatives for a Fair and Open Conservative Primary
SMITHTOWN, NY — Eleven days ago, Chris Cox, the real conservative Republican in the First Congressional District contest to unseat a liberal Democratic incumbent, achieved what no Suffolk political observer can recall having been done before – Cox forced an open Conservative Primary over the no-holds-barred opposition of the Party’s leaders and its millionaire designee.
Today, a package of Specific Objections -- the product of the scheme between the Conservative party bosses and their designee’s money to ignore the voice of registered Conservatives was delivered to the Suffolk County Board of Elections. The Objections to the Opportunity to Ballot (OTB) petitions were filed in hopes of trampling the rights of Conservative parry members to have their say in choosing a true conservative to be their standard-bearer in November.
“When we sent our OTB petitions to the Board of Elections on July 22, I said that democracy works. Now, I am vowing to defend democracy and the rights of those hundreds of Conservatives who, with courage and conviction, signed the OTB petitions and sent a message to the party bosses,” declared Cox. “They want the right to choose their candidate, to choose a true conservative to defeat Timothy Bishop.”
“I’m confident that our petitions will be upheld by the Board of Elections. If the bosses persist in attacking their own rank-and-file, I’m confident that the signatures will withstand their desperate challenges in a court of law,” Cox continued. “Our opponents are unhappy that we’ve put the choice back in the hands of the people, where it always belonged. I was honored to be able to work with so many people dedicated to ensuring a fair and open primary and we will defend vigorously their right to vote.”
“The success of the OTB effort was propelled by courageous Conservatives and Tea Party patriots, including the Suffolk County 9-12 Project and the Conservative Society for Action,” said Cox.
“Conservative voters in the First CD deserve a true conservative to represent them in Washington. I will fight for limited government, economic opportunity, and conservative values. I will be an Ambassador for job creation on Long Island and Suffolk County’s toughest defender in our Nation’s capital,” declared Cox.
'OPPORTUNITY TO BALLOT'
Using the NYS Election Law’s “Opportunity to Ballot” (OTB) provisions, the Chris Cox for Congress campaign has sent OTB petitions containing 850 signatures to the Suffolk County Board of Elections in Yaphank on the July 22, 2010 deadline. Only 554 signatures were required, a number equivalent to five percent of the total number of enrolled Conservatives in the First Congressional District.
The grassroots initiative overcame a steady stream of mailers, ‘robo-calls’ and invective from the Conservative Party establishment to gain valid signatures from registered Conservatives in excess of the number required by law. A letter to party members from Suffolk Conservative Chairman Edward Walsh, as the back page of a mailing which labeled courageous Conservatives as “invaders,” even went so far as to shamefully insult the Opportunity to Ballot initiative – a clearly delineated part of the electoral process under NYS Election Law – as an attempt to “subvert” the process.