Queens Congressional Candidate Accuses Opponents of Fraud

A Republican candidate for Congress in Queens is calling for a criminal investigation into her opponents in the race, saying they committed election fraud.

Elizabeth Berney, a lawyer running in the 5th Congressional District, said her fellow Republican candidate, Jun Policarpio, and the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Gary Ackerman, illegally copied or fabricated hundreds of signatures to get on the primary ballot.

Mr. Ackerman's campaign has denied the allegations, and late yesterday Mr. Policarpio responded by calling for a criminal investigation into Ms. Berney's petitions.

While signature challenges are common before an election, advocating for criminal charges is rare. Ms. Berney said her office analyzed her opponents' petitions and discovered that Mr. Policarpio submitted signatures for people who had died or moved out of the district. She also accused Mr. Ackerman, who has served in Congress for 25 years, of submitting 240 signatures for people who do not exist.

"We were pretty shocked at first," Ms. Berney said. "If you can't file honest petitions, how can anybody trust you to do anything else honestly?"

An administrative hearing has been scheduled for today in Albany to assess the petitions' validity, but Ms. Berney said it would not address her criminal allegations. To that end, she has contacted prosecutors in the Eastern and Southern districts, she said.

The Ackerman campaign appeared unfazed. "We do not challenge her petitions, and she has a right to run ... and to say silly things," the campaign said in a written statement. "On Wednesday the State Board of Elections will rule on each and every one of those signatures, and the Congressman is confident that the ruling on the Berney objections will be shown to be the rantings of a desperate wanna be candidate."

Mr. Policarpio denied that any signatures were intentionally forged, but he acknowledged that some might have been collected inadvertently from people who are not Republicans or do not live in the district.

An election lawyer at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, Jerry Goldfeder, said candidates pursuing petition fraud charges face an uphill battle. "It's rare that a candidate would resort to going to a prosecutor in an election case, and it's extremely rare for there to be any criminal prosecution," he said.

The 5th Congressional District encompasses northeastern Queens and part of Nassau County. The U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District declined to comment on whether it intends to act on Ms. Berney's request.