POUGHKEEPSIE – Former state Assemblyman Patrick Manning, who is running for the new 105th Assembly District in the fall, will be allowed to stay on the ballot.
Manning was chosen at the Dutchess County Republican convention in May as the party’s candidate, but his residency was challenged seeking to have him disqualified contending he did not meet the five year state residency requirement. Manning has a vacation home in Edgartown, Massachusetts where he apparently was registered to vote.
Justice Robert DiBella, citing case law, said Glenn Carey and Carmine Istvan, town GOP chairmen in Pawling and Fishkill respectively, who filed the Article 78 challenge against Manning, the Dutchess County Republican Committee and the County Board of Elections, did not meet the burden of proof to demonstrate that Manning did not meet the state election law residency requirement.
The seven-page decision cited Manning’s evidence to support his residence in New York with a home in Dutchess County for over 40 years; that he pays taxes and utility bills in New York; he opened a business in New York; he attends board meetings in New York; he participates in the community and with his children in New York; and he physically stays in the New York house several days each week except during a short period of temporary employment in Massachusetts. He also maintained a New York driver’s license which he refused to relinquish at the time he allegedly registered to vote in Massachusetts, the justice’s decision stated.
Manning will face a Republican primary election in September against two other candidates, Richard Wager and Kieran Lalor.
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