ATTENTION CONSERVATIVE PARTY MEMBERS:
THERE WILL BE A CONSERVATIVE PARTY PRIMARY ON SEPTEMBER 14.
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If voting by absentee ballot:
For questions or to find your polling location, please Click Here or contact our Smithtown headquarters at (631) 656-3094.
If voting at the polls on September 14:
1. Find the Column for “Representative in Congress – First District”
2. Go to the bottom row – “Write-in”
3. Inside the box, write “Chris Cox” as shown in the above example.
Background:
Unanimous Appellate Decision Restores Conservative Primary
In a resounding rebuke of a biased lower court ruling, a five judge panel of the Appellate Division, Second Department of the NYS Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the effort led by Congressional candidate Chris Cox to ensure a fair and open Conservative Primary.
The Appellate decision restored the rights of enrolled Conservatives who, by signing the petitions for an Opportunity to Ballot (OTB), demanded a voice in choosing their party’s standard-bearer in November.
“Our opponents were dismayed that we fought to put the choice back in the hands of the people, where it always belonged. They said it couldn’t be done. But we have won,” said Cox.
Chris Cox is the real conservative Republican in the First Congressional District contest to unseat a liberal Democratic incumbent. His vow to appeal the outrageous lower court was validated by the unanimous decision, after the lower court Judge disregarded the certification of the petitions by the Suffolk County Board of Elections (BOE) and invalidated the historic OTB petitions.
“From the very beginning, the theme of our unprecedented effort, undertaken with grass-roots support from courageous Conservatives and Tea Party patriots, was that democracy works,” said Cox.
“I said so when we sent our OTB petitions to the BOE on July 22. I said so when the Conservative Party chose to go to court to deny the rights of their membership. And I said so when we appealed what our attorney politely called ‘a misguided decision.’ I am pleased that the Appellate panel was able to make a unanimous decision on the law that restores the rights of every Conservative in the First CD who shares my goal of defeating the liberal incumbent and believes that we need a true conservative Republican on the November ballot.”
“We will now carry our message to Conservatives and Republicans alike: I believe I am the one candidate who can unify the Republican and Conservative Parties and defeat liberal Tim Bishop,” Cox declared.
The case was argued by Westchester attorney Daniel L. Pagano, who grew up in Kings Park. “This is a great win,” he declared.
“It’s quite clear that the decision from the Appellate Court not only disagreed with the lower court, but demonstrated how improper the arguments from the Conservative Party were. As an experienced practitioner of election law, I can say that the lower court’s decision was appalling,” Pagano said.
“In fact, the efforts that were made in this case to thwart democracy were truly scary,” he continued.
“The people of Suffolk County need to take notice. There are people out there trying very hard to subvert democracy. And voters have every right to wonder: If party bosses and their candidate try this hard to stop people from exercising their fundamental right to vote, how much do they actually respect the voters? If this is what they are willing to do to try to win, how much do they truly respect the office they seek?” Pagano warned.
Bob Meyer, co-founder of the Suffolk County 9-12 Project, praised the decision: “Justice has been served, the people have spoken about their right as Conservatives to have an open primary and democracy will prevail in the end.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h53WxwYcRq8&feature=player_embedded
OTB
The successful OTB petition initiative 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. Despite the 850 signatures, nearly eight percent of enrolled Conservatives, the party’s leaders tried to silences the voices of their own membership. The petition drive was a real grass-roots effort led by Team Cox and enlisted volunteers from the Suffolk County 9-12 Project and the Conservative Society for Action, two of the area’s largest Tea Party groups, as well as Notaries.
Using the NYS Election Law’s “Opportunity to Ballot” (OTB) provisions, the Chris Cox for Congress campaign 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 OTB initiative – a clearly delineated part of the electoral process under NYS Election Law – as an attempt to “subvert” the process.
The decision by the Appellate Division has laid that argument to rest.
Chris Cox
Chris Cox is a successful businessman who has helped companies expand into markets overseas, allowing their business to grow and create jobs here in America. He is a fiscal conservative who will fight for limited government and lower taxes to make life more affordable for his fellow Long Islanders. Chris Cox is committed to bringing his vision of sensible conservative reform to the U.S. House of Representatives.