who were also working for Josh Eisen’s congressional campaign
By Dan Murphy
Two different political campaigns are asking Westchester voters to sign
their petitions to allow them to run as independent candidates for office in
November. Rapper Kanye West attempted to secure 30,000 valid signatures
in New York to get on the ballot for President, while local businessman
Josh Eisen attempted to get onto an independent ballot line to run for Con- gress in the 17th District.
Both campaigns ended up using the same workers to collect signatures
in the final days before the July 31 deadline. West had already obtained
ballot access is several other states, and created his own, independent party
line to run on. The new party, called The Birthday Party, has West running
for President and Michelle Tidball, Kanye’s “Biblical life coach,” as his
Vice President.
West tweeted to his 30 million followers on July 4 that he was serious
about running for President. “We must now realize the promise of America
by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running
for president of the United States.”
On July 19, West appeared in Charleston, SC for his first campaign
appearance, in which he wore a bullet proof vest and delivered a strange,
emotional speech about abortion and his parents. West had supported President Donald Trump as recently as last year, appearing at the White House and praising him for his “dragon energy.”
But now, Kanye has said that he is “taking the red hat off” a reference to
Trump’s Make America Great hat, to mount his own run for the Presidency.
Some political analysists believe that Kanye could take away votes from Joe
Biden and that West is running for President to do just that, and help give
Trump four more years.
West, 43, registered to vote for the first time last month, and has already
secured his name for President on the ballot in several other states, including
Missouri.
Josh Eisen, who was collecting signatures to run on an independent line
for Congress in the 17th District, said West was paying his canvassers to get
signatures for West while also collecting for Eisen. “I never thought I’d be
helping facilitate ballot access for Kanye West,”
Eisen has sued Governor Andrew Cuomo and the NYS Board of Eleci- tons in Federal Court, claiming that the number of signatures required to get on the ballot imposed by NY State in the middle of a pandemic is dangerous and life threatening.
Cuomo’s lawyer noted the governor’s recent order also slashes the num- ber of voter signatures required for independent nominating petitions by 30 percent to earn ballot status in the general election — from 3,500 to 2,450
for Congress and 3,000 to 2,100 signatures for state Senate during a short- ened petitioning period.
“It’s hypocrisy. He’s taken this cautious approach. He’s steered a conser- vative approach toward saving human lives,” Eisen said. “He was all in —
now he’s sending people out to spread the virus.”
If Eisen gets on the ballot, he will join democrat Mondaire Jones, re- publican Maureen McArdle Schulman, and SAM Party candidate Michael
Parietti, who are all seeking to replace Nita Lowey in the 17 CD which
incluides mid-northern westchester and all of rockland county.
