A Republican New York State Assembly candidate was reportedly caught on camera illegally tampering with a constituent's mail, removing a flier sent out by his Democratic opponent and replacing it with one from his own campaign.
A Schenectady County resident informed Democratic incumbent Angelo Santabarbara's campaign of the incident after retrieving the footage of Republican challenger Joe Mastroianni. She was prompted to check her ring camera footage when she failed to receive a piece of mail she had been anticipating, after being notified through the U.S. Postal Service's informed delivery, according to WRGB.
Footage provided by the office of Schenectady County Democratic Committee chairman Frank Salamone demonstrates that the mailer from Santabarbara's campaign was delivered to the constituent's home around 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 17. Republican candidate Joe Mastroianni can then be seen stepping on to the porch alongside a woman from his campaign. He then picks up the mailer from Santabarbara's campaign, folds it up and places it into his pocket before replacing it with his own campaign material.
"Bad, bad, bad," Mastroianni can be heard saying in the video.
"For somebody to reach into a mailbox like that and for it to be on video, it's insane," Salamone, who has filed complaints with the U.S. Postal Service, told Newsweek.
"You can actually make out the mail piece," Salamone continued. "You can actually make out the pictures."
Mastroianni, who called a press conference in order to respond to the allegations directed towards him, said that he would "not comment on this specific story."
"Prior to this complaint, there has not been a single allegation against myself or any of my team for any instances whatsoever," said Mastroianni.
He then changed the topic, beginning to address policies enacted or supported by Democratic politicians that he was opposed to.
He then refused to provide a comment to press when asked if he was the individual from the ring camera video by journalists at CBS 6.
"The press conference last night really reinforces that," Salamone said. "If had gone in there and begged for forgiveness and said my emotions got the better of me and I did something really stupid and please forgive me, I don't it would've worked and it probably would've hurt him legally, but perhaps voters could say, 'Hey at least he owned up to what he did.'"
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