Aydelott, Keeler File Petitions In Legislative Races

Attorney Judy Aydelott, one of six Democrats running for Republican Congresswoman Sue Kelly's 19th District seat this fall, filed petitions for a spot on the ballot. Aydelott filed more than 450 pages of names, which comes to more than 3600 - about three times the amount she needs to win a spot in the primary.

In the 41st New York State Senate district, first-time candidate and long-time blogger, Brian Keeler filed about 245 petition pages, or close to 2,000 names, on the Democrat and Working Family Party lines. His opponent in that race, incumbent Republican Stephen Saland turned in about 350 pages, or about 2,800 names.

Perusing the list of filings, three area incumbents in Congress, Democrats Eliot Engel in the 17th District and Nita Lowey in the 18th, as well as Republican Sue Kelly in the 19th District have all filed.

Although his campaign claims to have well more than the number of signitures he needs, no filing yet by progressive, anti-war Democrat Jonathan Tasini, who hopes to force a primary faceoff with Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Tomorrow is the filing deadline for the primary. We'll be keeping an eye mostly on those races where a primary is expected to still be vaible after tomorrow and particularly on some of the newcomers' races as they test their name-gathering strength.

SHULDINER: KELLY'S STANCE ON FINANCIAL OVERSIGHT TOO LITTLE TOO LATE

Rep. Sue Kelly yesterday called on the Goverment Accountability Office to look into the formerly secret Bush administration program which monitors financial transfers without warrants. Kelly, head of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said Congress was not being properly briefed on the program.

Today, one of her six Democratic challengers, Ben Shuldiner of Mohegan Lake, accused Kelly of playing politics with her comments on Tuesday. In a press release, Shuldiner said Kelly was expressing criticism of the program only to appear more moderate to voters in the district.

"This is not a new problem, but it has taken Kelly nearly three weeks to express any concern," Shuldiner said. "Kelly has consistently declared herself to be a moderate, but she has voted with the Bush administration more than 75% of the time and the Republican House Majority more than 85% of the time. Talk is cheap and Kelly's actions are anything but moderate."