Corning, N.Y., October 16–County Republican Chairs from across New York State’s 58th Senate District today called on the region’s County Democratic Committees and other leading Democratic officials to rescind their support of Democratic Senate candidate Amanda Kirchgessner of Tompkins County and call on her to withdraw from the race in the wake of recent reports of domestic violence.
The chairs noted that October is Domestic Violence Awareness
month while highlighting the domestic violence allegations and reports against
Kirchgessner. NYS GOP Regional Vice
Chairman and Chemung County GOP Chair Rodney Strange, City of Elmira GOP Chair
Sara Lattin, Schuyler County GOP Chair Lester Cady, Steuben County GOP Chair
Joe Sempolinski, City of Corning GOP Chair Nick Weinstein, City of Hornell GOP
Chair John Buckley, Tompkins County GOP Chair Mike Siglin, and Yates County GOP
Chair Jack Prendergast said that their counterparts in the Democratic Party
should act to publicly reject Kirchgessner’s candidacy.
In a statement, the regional GOP Chairs said, “First and
foremost, voters in every community across the 58th Senate District should be
aware of these allegations and factual, corroborated reports against Democratic
State Senate candidate Amanda Kirchgessner.
Local law enforcement agencies, crisis centers, health professionals,
domestic violence survivors, and many others take important steps during this
Domestic Violence Awareness Month to bring this issue to the public’s
attention. We believe it’s important
that we do what we can to make local voters aware that Democratic Senate
candidate Amanda Kirchgessner has been accused by her ex-wife of a long pattern
of domestic violence and abusive behavior.
At the very least, local Democratic Committees and other Democratic
Party leaders should publicly reject her candidacy, withdraw any support they
are providing the Kirchgessner campaign, and urge her to withdraw.”
First reported by the Ithaca Times in a lengthy article on
October 2, Kirchgessner’s ex-wife, Brandi Morgan, accused Kirchgessner of a
“pattern of abusive behavior during the latter years of their marriage, which
officially ended in 2016. The allegations include grabbing, pushing, throwing
objects, verbal abuse, intimidation” and threats to harm Morgan and to kill the
couple’s pets.
The Ithaca Times reporting includes a New York State
Domestic Violence Incident filed by the New York State Police following a
physical abuse incident in June 2015, and a tape recording of Kirchgessner
acknowledging the physical abuse.
According to the October 2 Ithaca Times article, “While
acknowledging there will inevitably be questions about the timing of her
decision to tell her story and any political motivations, Morgan, herself a
liberal like Kirchgessner and self-described ‘pretty far to the left,’ decided
coming forward was necessary once she saw the primary results and knew
Kirchgessner was advancing to the general election in November. Morgan has
chosen to come forward and gave the Ithaca Times permission to use her name
despite her status as a survivor of domestic violence. She presented evidence
of the abuse through tape recordings, pictures, a police report and blog posts
from the time period. People familiar with the couple at the time have also independently
corroborated to the Ithaca Times what Morgan told them throughout the later
course of the marriage about Kirchgessner’s conduct.”
[Read the full Ithaca Times article here:https://www.ithaca.com/news/ithaca/state-senate-candidate-kirchgessner-accused-of-domestic-violence/article_008f87d6-c675-11e8-b1c8-73a197696eba.html]
The County GOP Chairs, highlighting the factual reporting
and the extreme seriousness of domestic violence, said that the Chemung County
Democratic Committee has already rescinded its endorsement of Kirchgessner and
called on the Democratic Committees in Schuyler, Steuben, Tompkins and Yates
counties to also publicly rescind their Kirchgessner endorsements and urge her
to withdraw from the race.
The GOP Chairs also called on regional Democrat leaders
including Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick,
Tompkins County Legislature Chair Martha Robertson, and Corning Mayor
Bill Boland to publicly renounce Kirchgessner’s candidacy and also call for her
to withdraw in light of the serious domestic violence reports.
