Cliff Borchert grew up in West Seneca and now he's one of three candidates running for two seats on the school board there, but there's a question of whether he should even be on the ballot.
- Borchert claims to live in West Seneca, but voted in the Town of Marilla last year
- School board candidates are required to live continuously in the district for at least a year leading up to the election
- Town Board candidate Brendon Najm has petitioned the NYS education commissioner to remove Borchert from the ballot
"There are strict rules in place to ensure that people who are residents inside the district," said Brandon Najm, a candidate for West Seneca Town Board.
Najm looked into Borchert's residency after attempting to send him a "Thank You" note for attending a "Meet the Candidates" event.
Through Board of Elections voting records, Najm found that Borchert actually voted in the Town of Marilla last November, which he says should disqualify Borchert from the race because he does not meet the requirement that school board candidates live continuously in the district for at least one year prior to the election.
"I think it's important that if you're going to be levying taxes on the citizens that you live with the citizens that you're levying taxes on," Najm said.
Borchert's late wife Marge was the longtime principal at Allendale Elementary School in the district before she died in 2016. After spending years volunteering in the district, Borchert hopes to continue her legacy and commitment to public education on the school board.
"I thought maybe this was a good time to pay back my alma mater,” West Seneca West," he said.
Borchert owns horse farm in Marilla, but says after his wife became ill he moved with her into his father-in-law's home in West Seneca and has continued to live there. He admits to voting in Marilla last November.
"I was registered to vote there all the while we lived there," Borchert said. "It never dawned on me that I needed to switch that."
Borchert says he has since changed his voter registration to West Seneca, but still goes to the farm every day to tend to his horses.
Najm told the West Seneca School District and Board of Education about his concerns over Borchert's residency. He is filing an appeal petition with the state education commissioner to take Borchert off the ballot, and looking into a possible of conflict of interest with current school board members in allowing Borchert to run.
"There's plenty of evidence that warrants at the least an investigation, and at most, automatic removal from the ballot,” he said.
District Superintendent Matthew Bystrak released the following statement in response:
"We did receive a petition from Mr. Najm. We have reached out to our attorney to respond to this petition as is required by law. We believe we have acted lawfully in all respects. We await the Commissioners decision with which we intend to fully comply.”
Najm says if Borchert is elected, he'll ask the education commissioner to remove him from the school board. If not, Najm is prepared to file a lawsuit.
Despite the controversy, Borchert has no plans of dropping out of the race.
The other two school board candidates besides Borchert are incumbent Edmund Bediant and Peter Kwitowski. The election along with the budget vote is next Tuesday, May 21 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at West Seneca East Senior High School.