Assembly hopeful Nicole Malliotakis is angling to appear on the new Taxpayer’s Party ballot line — without even knowing what the party stands for.
But that’s fine with her.
“It’s the name I want,” she said. “It symbolizes what I am trying to do in the campaign.”
Malliotakis — who is running on the Republican and Conservative lines against Assemblywoman Janele Hyer-Spencer (D-Bay Ridge) — gathered more than 2,700 signatures in an attempt to earn her third party line. But, when asked what the party platform was, she couldn’t give a straight answer, instead directing us to her campaign website, nicoleforassembly.com.
“I chose to gather petitions for the party because taxpayers are constantly being nickeled and dimed by Albany,” said Malliotakis.
That may or may not be the platform of the New York Taxpayers Party, which was inaugurated earlier this year by gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino, who is vying with Rick Lazio for the Republican nomination to run against Democrat Andrew Cuomo in November. Unfortunately, the party does not have a website, and our Internet searches for its platform led us to Paladino’s campaign site, www.paladinoforthepeople.com, and a series of news articles about Paladino’s effort to get the party on the ballot.
But Malliotakis — who worked as Con Edison’s public affairs manager and was one of 32 listed lobbyists for the utility in 2009-2010, according to the state’s Commission on Public Integrity — is claiming ownership of the party.
“This is the party I created,” she said, noting that she had no other candidates on her petitions. “Other statewide candidates are going along, but I didn’t join forces with them.”
But, it seems like Paladino got in first with his effort to register the party, and only one entity can register a party name in the state, according to John Conklin, a spokesman for the state’s Board of Elections.
This would mean that Malliotakis is just one of numerous Republican candidates trying to latch on to a new line that can increase their ballot presence. Others who have answered the call of the Taxpayers Party include Michael Allegretti, who is running for the Republican congressional nomination in Bay Ridge, as well as two Republican Senate candidates, David Malpass and Gary Berntsen.
