Let Him Stay in Office and Serve Peekskill
Peekskill Councilman Robert Scott
By Dan Murphy
When we read the news last year that then DA Mimi Rocah had charged Peekskill Councilman Robert Scott with felony filing of a false instrument for petition fraud, I wondered why Scott was singled out when so many other elected officials and their supporters filed fraudulent petitions year after year.
Thankfully, on October 7, Councilman Scott received a plea deal for a reduced sentence to a misdemeanor charge from DA Susan Cacace’s office. He will serve 250 hours of community service.
After Scott pled guilty to the misdemeanor, his colleagues on the Peekskill Council called for him to resign. Again, I wondered if they don’t want him to serve out his remaining two-year term.
But Scott’s term expires at the end of 2025, in just over two months! What is the urgency for the council to remove him with only five meetings left for him to serve?
The anger against Scott appears to have come from Peekskill Democratic leaders who did not want him to challenge County Legislator Colin Smith in a democratic primary in 2023. When Scott did not listen to the democratic party leaders in Peekskill and across Westchester, he was politically cancelled.
Scott never got the chance to challenge Smith in a democratic primary because his petitions were deemed insufficient by the Board of Elections. He had three dead people on his petitions. Where did they come from?
In a recent interview with former Peekskill Mayor Andre Rainey, who has his own history with political petitions, Scott explained how the petition fraud took place. “These signatures were collected at my store. If someone wants to come and sign a petition, they can sign. There is no defense for someone giving a false statement-you are not required to get their ID.”
And that is what happened, according to Scott. Someone walked in and signed a dead person’s name to his petitions, on three occasions, to try to end his campaign for County Legislator.
Mayor Rainey said, “The truth? He was never convicted. This wasn’t just about signatures; this was about politics, power, and people in his own party who didn’t want him to run for County Legislator. While rumors spread, support was scarce, and the whispers got louder.
“Rob opened up about spending nearly $40,000 in fees fighting this battle, naming C. Smith and the Yorktown Democratic Vice Chair as the ones who filed the suit. Through it all, he’s stood firm as a father, husband, businessman, and community fighter.
“Now Rob’s being told to step down, even though the law says he hasn’t done anything that requires it. So where are all the voices that shout “justice” and “community” when it’s convenient? Where are the people “standing with Letitia James” when it’s time to stand for one of OUR own? In our OWN COMMUNITY!
“If optics matter more than integrity and silence feels safer than truth, then we’re not the community we say we are,” said Rainey.
Scott said, “I definitely didn’t know the document was tampered with.”
We agree with DA Cacace in letting Scott plead to a misdemeanor and to continue to serve on the Peekskill Common Council.
With all of the serious crimes that DA Cacace’s office is presiding over, specifically sex crimes against women and underage children, wasting resources on a petition fraud case is not a good use of the Westchester taxpayers’ money, so it was wise to reduce the charge and close the case, in our view.
We also see the charges against Scott as selective enforcement. There have been HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of instances of petition fraud filed at the Westchester County Board of Elections in recent years. Yet Scott is the only person who has been charged. Why?
Members of the Common Council and Mayor Vivian McKenzie called for Scott to resign his council seat immediately after he pled guilty to the reduced charge, calling it a breach of the public trust and a violation of ethical standards.
We don’t see it that way. We find Councilman Scott to be a local businessman, father, and a good public servant for the people of Peekskill. Now let him continue to serve out his term and move on with his life.
