The Buffalo News is reporting that top Erie County Democratic political operative Jerome Schad of East Amherst is behind a shockingly offensive strategy that bullies, shames, and humiliates rank and file voters to go to the polls.
From the address of his son’s apartment, Schad sent out thousands of mailers that openly disclose the voting history of nearby neighbors.
Rank and file voters are outraged and some members of the political community are so taken aback that they are openly discussing the possibility of a mass disenrollment from the party. I’m told that organizers of the local Green Party are eager to take that ball and run with it.
Even more interesting is the prospect of dozens of defamation lawsuits against either Schad, a central figure in the region’s patronage largess, or the local Democratic party. Political operatives are speculating that those defamation lawsuits could go either way in the courts, but that settlements or judgements could cost the party a few hundred thousand dollars.
“These party bosses give us a line full of criminals to vote for and then they pull this bullying tactics that do nothing but humiliate people into voting for the criminals that they nominated,” says one lifelong Democrat who asked not be named for fear of political retribution. “Forgive me if I’m not inspired to put those people in power.”
That seems to be the sentiment among most Democrats who have grown deeply disenchanted with the party’s leadership. Most rank and file Democrats are planning on staying home in a profound protest vote of the party leadership.
There is also a growing anti-Dennis Ward movement percolating. They see Ward as the party boss that controls both Chairman Zellner and Jerome Schad. Ward acquired a nomination for State Supreme Court under suspect circumstances. Many of those local Democrats who actually do vote are plan on boycotting his candidacy for Supreme Court.
Isn’t it against the law to use board of election data in that manner?….?.