YONKERS – City Council president candidate Mike Khader has been cited for unfair campaigning because of exaggerated or incorrect claims about his opponent.
The ruled that Khader, a Democrat seeking to unseat Republican City Council President Liam McLaughlin, made seven unfair claims about McLaughlin in his campaign literature.
The exaggerated or false claims included statements that Yonkers changed for the worse over McLaughlin‘s public service and that taxes doubled and water bills rose 585 percent since McLaughlin was elected.
The committee, which has no power to force a candidate to stop engaging in unfair campaigning, concluded that some of the Khader campaign‘s claims were factually inaccurate. For instance, the McLaughlin campaign complained that a palm card posted on a local website claimed that Yonkers was worse off “after 16 years” that McLaughlin was in office.
The committee ruled that there were several years when McLaughlin did not hold elected office. The committee also shot down the Khader campaign‘s claim about taxes under McLaughlin‘s tenure.
“The claim that taxes had doubled since Mr. McLaughlin was elected is not supported by data the committee was provided, nor is the term ‘taxes‘ explained. There are many kinds of taxes controlled by various entities,” the committee wrote in its decision.
On Wednesday, Khader, 41, a business litigation attorney who has never held elected office, said that he doesn‘t agree with the committee‘s rulings.
“Our explanation of the water rate increase could have been explained much better. It wasn‘t 585 percent. It was 485 percent,” said Khader, who defended the spirit of his campaign‘s claims. “In every unfair finding, there‘s truth in every one of them.”
McLaughlin, 49, a certified public accountant and an attorney, seeks a second four-year term on the City Council. He served 10 years as a councilman in the 2000s before term limits took effect.
The committee held an Oct. 19 hearing on the McLaughlin campaign‘s complaints about Khader. Both campaigns sent representatives to the hearing.
Yonkers City Council members receive a base annual salary of $48,000. Election Day is Tuesday.
https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/westchester/yonkers/2017/11/01/yonkers-candidate-unfair-claims/820939001/