By Dan Murphy
As a resident of NY-17, my family has been inundated by a slew of political mailings from three candidates: Republican Congressman Mike Lawler, and two Democratic candidates, Beth Davidson and Cait Conley.
The gloves came off for the democrats in a recent political mailing that says, “Cait Conley Works for an AI firm Helping Trump’s DHS & ICE.”
The mailer highlights two stories about the issue; A Politico story Titled, “Conley worked for firm supporting DHS, Palantir,” and from The Intercept, “NY Democratic House Candidate works for Palantir Partners Pushing AI Border Surveilance.”
Both stories report on the fact that Conley, a military Veteran, worked for Primer.ai and Hidden Level, two companies that partner with Palantir. Palantir has contracts with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE.
At a debate-forum in Westchester earlier this year, Conley explained that the articles misrepresented her work, which she said did not include working with immigration enforcement. Conley also said at the time that she had signed non-disclosure agreements with her clients, in her capacity as a consultant, and could not elaborate any more details on her work.
But this recent mailing, which has a positive biography of Davidson on the other side, is the first time that a fellow democrat has gone after Davidsonand spent the significant resources, $25,000, to mail to the thousands of democrats and independents in NY-17.
After the mailing, Conley said, “It’s disappointing that my opponent Beth has taken a page out of Mike Lawler’s playbook, parroting his lies in a mailer. But not surprising coming from someone who, like Mike Lawler, has spent decades as a career political operative.
“I am running a campaign based on reality, so here it is: The work I do focuses on technology to prevent terrorist attacks, so our families can be safe at a Yankees game or a Taylor Swift concert. I do not work for and have never worked for Palantir. I do not work with Trump’s despicable immigration enforcement. Claiming otherwise is just untrue.
“I have and will continue to fight back against this Administration’s lawlessness against our immigrant neighbors and hold this Administration accountable for terrorizing our communities.
“If you want another political operative unbeholden to the truth, I may not be your candidate. If you want a candidate who has proven experience fighting back against the Trump administration and has fought their entire life for a better America, that is me.
“Voters are looking for honesty, not lies. They deserve someone who will fight and actually deliver for them. As Democrats, we should expect more from each other,” said Conley.
Westchester democrats we spoke to views depended on which candidate they are supporting. An influential Westchester democrat and Davidson supporter said, “I think it was true and its not saying anything she didn’t do. The firm does do work with ICE, which should have been a red flag for Cait that they are doing something wrong and not in the values of the democratic party.”
“Cait says she didn’t work on immigration related issues, but how do we know that? She signed a NDA, and who makes you sign NDA’s? A guy named Trump.
“I’m sorry but hiding behind an NDA is not a democratic party way of doing things. Your running for Congress. Go back and tell them I have to get out of this NDA and I have to be honest with the voters and tell them what I did. If you don’t then that’s on you.
“What are you hiding about? Lawler will use it against Cait and already has. It’s become a narrative in this campaign and that is why the mailer came out.
“Cait talks about how she grew up in a blue-collar, working class environment, but not in the district. But when she moved into our district, NY-17, she moved into a wealthy, upscale commuty in Westchester.
“I think the mailer is fair game. You are running for Congress. I’m an old school democrat, don’t behind an NDA…or don’t run for Congress. That is rule #1 for me.”
The enrollment breakdown for NY-17 is as follows:
Democrats-211,870
Republicans -137,909
Conservative-9,308
Working Families Party-2,122
Other and Not registered to a party-161,726
You can see by the breakdown how impressive Congressman Lawler’s victories over the past four years have been, and that it is possible for a republican to win in New York state through a coalition of republicans, independents, and some democrats.
But you can also see how democrats believe that they can take back NY-17 with a race for Governor also on the ballot.
Five democrats are on the democratic primary ballot on June 23. In addition to Davidson, a Rockland County legislator, and Conley, Tarrytown Trustee Effie Phillips-Staley, TV reporter Mike Sachs , and Air Force Veteran John Cappello round out the field.