In June, Garnar announced that he was moving out of his District and would be resigning later in the year.
“A number of people have reported the Jason Garnar has now moved to his new house outside of this Legislative District,” said Datta. “I congratulate him on the move, but if he doesn’t live in the District today, he should resign today.”
If the resignation were to take place after September 20th, a replacement would not be elected by the people of the District. Instead, Democratic Party political leaders would select a nominee to be appointed by the Legislature until the November 2016 election – meaning that an unelected Legislator would serve for 14 months before ever having to earn a vote.
If the resignation were to take place prior to September 20th, then there would be an election this November where the voters of the District would elect their new Legislator.
“I have a simple question for Jason Garnar: Where did you sleep last night?” remarked Datta.
“If he has moved, it’s just plain wrong that Garnar hasn’t yet resigned,” Datta added. “He’s trying to game the system and deny the people of the District their right to vote for his replacement.”
Aside from calling on Garnar to resign, Datta called on the Broome County Board of Elections as well as the Broome County Board of Ethics to begin an immediate investigation into the question of Garnar’s residence and the timing of his resignation.
“There is a strict set of rules all government officials are expected to follow, and we believe that Mr. Garnar is trying to circumvent those rules,” Datta said.
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