Embattled Elections Commissioner Reappointed

TROY – The open ended question tonight in Rensselaer County is whether or not an elections commissioner already accused of election fraud can be trusted to oversee future elections.

When the county legislature voted to reappoint Republican Commissioner Jason Schofield on Tuesday night, the GOP controlled body was essentially saying, “Why not?”

“What is going on in Rensselaer County?” the Legislature’s Minority Leader Peter Grimm asked rhetorically, “You can’t make this stuff up.”

Grimm is one of two Democrats who voted Tuesday night not to allow Schofield to keep his job.

“If an election doesn’t turn out the way people have voted for it to turn out,” Grimm said, “I think that’s the biggest sin. We’re supposed to preserve democracy and we are losing that.”

Noreen McKee, Vice President of the Justice Center of Rensselaer County, is now calling on Governor Kathy Hochul to exercise her authority and remove Schofield from office.

“He was arrested by the FBI, indicted by a federal grand jury,” McKee points out, “This is a very, very serious allegation.”

McKee believes Schofield is now “grievously ill-equipped” to do his job.

“This is public position,” McKee continued, “He holds the public trust to do his job and once you lose that you become totally ineffective.”

“Democracy is the buzz word across the country right now,” Grimm states, “The reason it is such a buzz word is because people are afraid of losing it.”

News Channel 13 was told Schofield was not in his office on Wednesday. We left a message seeking comment but hadn’t heard back from him by air time.