'Dirty tricks': Republican in hot water for highlighting 'endorsement' that never happened

On Tuesday, November 4, a wide variety of elections will be held in the United States —from gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey to a mayoral race in New York City to three Pennsylvania State Supreme Court elections to a Philadelphia district attorney race. GOP and Democratic strategists will be paying close attention to the outcomes, looking for signs of what could lie ahead in the 2026 midterms.

In Geneva in Upstate New York, Republican Paul F. D'Amico and Democrat Ben Gummoe are competing in a Geneva City Council race. And he is now, according to the Finger Lakes Times (FLT), facing a controversy over an endorsement that never happened.

The Finger Lakes Times won't be making an endorsement in that race or any others, as the publication has discontinued political endorsements in its opinion section. But according to Times reporter Steve Buchiere, a D'Amico mailer implied that the Times endorsed him and used an older Times quote that, Democrats in Upstate New York argue, was used out of context.

In an article published on October 25, Buchiere quotes Mike Cutillo, the publication's publisher/executive editor, as saying, "While Mr. D'Amico may not have been intending to deceive, using words that were printed in the Finger Lakes Times years ago with no attribution of the date, it makes it seem like they were printed recently and also gives the appearance that we are endorsing him in his race for City Council in 2025. We are not. We stopped the practice of endorsing candidates years ago, and so, we don't think that those sentences should have been used in campaign literature for this year's race."

D'Amico is insisting that he never meant for the mailer to be misleading.

"I have been using the statement in question on my printed campaign materials for (Geneva) City Council races in 2011 and 2015," D'Amico told the Times. "I also used the same statement on printed material for my supervisor race in 2013. I realize the FLT is not doing any endorsements for the 2025 City Council elections. If that is the perception of some on the Democratic side, I can't help that. It was not ever intended to represent an endorsement."

The Republican added, "The quote used was an opinion at the time of the FLT assessment on how I approached governing on City Council. It was accurate then, and there is no reason to think it changed."

But Todd Beeton, who chairs the Geneva Democratic Party, maintains that the older Times quote used in D'Amico's mailer lacked context.

Beeton told the Times, "It is telling that Paul D’Amico would use an old quote from more than a decade ago to try to trick voters into thinking the Finger Lakes Times had endorsed him in his race. This is just the latest in a string of dirty political tricks by D’Amico meant to mislead people, and Geneva voters are tired of it. Such deceptive tactics are one of the reasons we are seeing such enthusiasm for Ben Gummoe in his run to serve as Ward 2 councilor."