Kiryas Joel, NY – Voting Fliers Paid by “John Hall for Congress” Instructed Independence

Kiryas Joel, NY – There was a time when the honchos who control thousands of votes in Kiryas Joel were reliably Republican in their choices. But shifting political winds blew the village’s majority voting bloc leftward in 2006, when it famously supported Rep. John Hall, D-Dover Plains, in his narrow victory over incumbent Republican Sue Kelly.

Their endorsements this week suggest their political identity may have settled somewhere in between the two major parties.

Voting cards distributed outside the polling station on Tuesday by the Anash party — the electoral name of Kiryas Joel’s dominant faction — instructed supporters to vote for five candidates cross-endorsed by the Independence Party: Hall and four Republicans (Bill Larkin, Annie Rabbitt, Bob Onofry and Andrew Bivona).

No stance on presidential race

Specifying that voters pull the Independence Party levers instead of the major-party ones sent the message that neither the Republicans nor Democrats can take their votes for granted. It also burnished the brand that county lawmaker Michael Amo — their representative on the Legislature — claimed by switching to the Independence Party last year.

And who paid for the Anash fliers this year? According to the fliers, “John Hall for Congress” picked up the tab.