Norman Green

MAYVILLE – Chautauqua County Democratic Committee Chair Norman Green is blasting both the Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaigns for failing to include Chautauqua County in its delegate selection process.

“We are the biggest county, with the biggest city and we have the biggest concentration of Democrats in the 23rd Congressional District,” said Green in a media release sent out on Wednesday. “Yet we have been shut out of the delegate selection process by the two campaigns.  I am disgusted.”

The State Democratic Presidential Primary (scheduled for April 19) will actually consist of a series of primaries held in each congressional district within the state. Chautauqua County is part of the 23rd Congressional District, which includes ten other counties (Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chemung, Schuyler, Seneca, Steuben, Tompkins and Yates) along with parts of Ontario and Tioga counties.

Democratic voters will find two parts to the election.  First there will be the choosing between Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders as the Democratic choice for president in the 23rd Congressional District.

Second there will be a choice of delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

“The choice of delegates has absolutely no bearing on anything to do with the selection of a presidential candidate,” said Green. “Understand that every state in the United States conducts its selection process differently. In NYS we hold closed primaries which means only voters registered as Democrats may cast ballots in our NYS Democratic Primaries.  Our election process to determine how many delegates a candidate will be awarded is waged at the Congressional District level.  Delegates are awarded at the Congressional District level in proportion to the vote totals. We are not a winner take all state.”

“Unfortunately,” Green continued, “The delegate candidates listed on the 2016 Democratic primary ballot are all from the eastern end of the district and both presidential candidates chose delegate candidates mainly from Tompkins County.  It’s a big district and just a small area of the district is being represented for the delegate slate.”

All ten Sanders-Clinton delegate nominees reside on the eastern side of the district. Tompkins County is home to seven of the ten candidates including 125th NY Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton, Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick, and Tompkins County Democratic Chair Irene Stein – who are each pledged to Clinton.

Sanders’ Tompkins County delegate group includes activists Emily Adams, Mathew K. Ashford, Molly C. Grover and Donald Brazely.

Chemung County, directly and immediately south of Tompkins County, finds two delegate candidates of Mary D. Thorpe (pledged to Sanders) and Elmira pharmacist Bushra Sheikhs (pledged to Clinton).  Hornell Mayor Shawn Hogan (pledged to Clinton) of Steuben County rounds out the list.

“While the final candidate selection is decided by a complicated set of rules adopted by the State Democratic Committee, the simple explanation is that for each 20 percent of the vote Clinton or Sanders garners, they will earn one delegate from our Congressional District. Additionally, the five person delegate slate will absolutely consist of three females and two males,” explained Green.

Even though none of the candidates delegate nominees are from Chautauqua County, Green said there is a chance for some county Democrats to be selected as an at-large delegate.

“Not all is lost yet for a delegate coming out of Chautauqua County,” Green said. “The State Committee will meet on May 24 to choose the at-large delegates from our state and I am asking that they pick between long serving Jamestown mayor Sam Teresi, Dunkirk mayor Willie Rosas (the first elected Hispanic mayor in New York State history) , Fredonia Mayor Athanasia Landis (a Greek immigrant), Jamestown City Council President Greg Rabb, western New York’s first openly Gay elected official or one or more of our local labor leaders. I hope this inequity gets corrected.”