EDEN, NY – As republican leaders in New York's 27th Congressional District work to appoint a successor candidate to incumbent Chris Collins, who suspended his re-election campaign after being indicted for insider training, they may find that to be only half the battle.
A far more formidable task may be getting Collins’ name off the ballot, as any attempt to do so is almost certainly going to spark a lawsuit by democrats, who claim election laws do not allow for that.
One of the options talked about would be to get Collins into contention to serve in another elected office.
This has gotten people stirred up - particularly democrats, in the town of Eden.
There, the town clerk recently retired and one of the three elected town assessors died last week.
No republican leader would say there was any plan being concocted to place Collins into contention for those posts, yet democrats are wary.
"I see this as kind of a stretch to really happen in the first place," conceded Ed Krycia, Chairman of the Town of Eden Democratic Committee.
But with no residency requirement to run, it has democrats concerned enough to plan a rally here Wednesday in opposition to any plan the all republican/conservative town board might support, toward appointing or running Collins for either position.
“Mr. Collins lives in Clarence, not Eden,” Krycia said. “I’d like to have local people doing those jobs.”
Krycia is supported in that position, particularly when it comes to the Town Clerk’s post, by Town Supervisor Missy Hartman, a republican.
"I wouldn’t support that either,” Hartman told 2 On Your Side. “I would only support the residents of this town who are interested in serving our public. We have two candidates already who've been endorsed by each party, who've made a commitment to our residents to run, and who have made a financial commitment and a time commitment to our community. I believe that those people should be the one that are running for that position," Hartman said.
Hartman also said she has had no communication from Collins or from GOP leaders regarding the matter.
"No one has approached us in any way shape or form, except for the news media,” she said.
As for the suddenly vacant assessor role, which the town board could conceivably appoint him to, Hartman said Collins has the right to seek the post. However, in her mind at least, he'd have to commit to moving to Eden, while noting it's a job which you actually have to be qualified for.
“He’d have to have training as an assessor. And like I said before, his intention would have to be to serve this community," Hartman said.
Despite this, Krycia and his fellow democrats still pan to stage their rally at 7 p.m. in front of Town Hall, if for nothing else than to go on record to say they don't want Chis Collins as part of their town government.
“It’s important that we make our voices heard,” he said.