Dueling letters over endorsements

Dems and One Saratoga trade barbs and a question of tactics

The Real One Saratoga, the political group in Saratoga Springs with the tagline “City before Party” sent an email Thursday with the subject line “Setting the Record Straight.” In it they assert that a letter written by the city’s Democratic committee on Sept. 13, is misleading and that One Saratoga is still, as it has been, nonpartisan.

What makes this a bigger political dust-up this year is that One Saratoga petitioned for, and gained, a line on the November ballot. Along with the Democrats, Republicans, Working Family, and Conservative parties, the ballot will also contain a line for One Saratoga’s endorsed candidates.

One Saratoga is not a political party but a small group of about 16 people who endorse candidates they feel are best for city positions, regardless of party. This gives some voters cover, leaders of One Saratoga and the Democrats said. And Democrats say that is all part of a Republican ploy to tip the scales their way.

Giving voters cover

Voters who do not like Republicans generally, or who do not want to support the MAGA movement, might still like a candidate who appears on the Republican line.

The One Saratoga line allows the voter to vote for the candidate without supporting the GOP, or any other, party.

“Clearly, this is not a nonpartisan exercise, and the reason that, tactically, the Republicans need an additional line is because there’s so many people that regard the Republican brand as toxic, they don’t want to vote for Republicans on the Republican line, so they, you know, present this, this mask, this alternative, to give them a different place to vote for Republicans,” said Gordon Boyd, a Springs’ Democrat and a member of the New York State Democratic Committee.

Not so, says Courtney DeLeonardis, the head of The Real One Saratoga, and a former Democrat and party leader.

“If [voters] are not comfortable voting on the Democrat or Republican line, it’s, you know, an option,” for them to support the candidate without supporting the party, she said. It was not an effort to support one party or another but to support the strongest candidates.

“They’re wonderfully qualified,” DeLeonardis said of the One Saratoga endorsees. “They are not extremists on either end. They are moderate people that want to work together and get government done.”

This year One Saratoga has endorsed three Democrats, three Republicans and one person who is unaffiliated with any party.

Which party is which?

But the rub is that