"I originally did not know what the entire process was. I live down in Tompkins Terrace, and a shooting had happened [in May 2023]. I went to our rehab meeting because they are about to redo the entire complex. I went to speak on it. Our Councilwoman Molly [Rhodes] was sitting in the back not really saying anything. All of my friends were like 'Instead of you just going to a City Council meeting and voicing your opinion, why don't you go run for this election.' I'm like 'Ok, cool!' I went onto the Board of Elections website, and found out I was too late to run as a Democrat, but I was still in time to run for the Independent. So I came up with a whole party name for myself; I wrote up my ballots; I sent them to the County as well as our city Board of Elections to ensure that my ballots were correct before I got them signed. My petitions: I got the signatures that I needed. I handed them in on the last day, the 30th of May. I went there, and I handed them in.
"About an hour after I handed in my petitions, I got a text or email from Lisa Jessup, the head of our Beacon Democrats here, saying that she would like to speak to me. We had a very long phone call. She asked me why I didn't run as a Democrat. I said at the time I did not know, and this issue just came up, and I was passionate about trying to save my part of the city, and make it batter for the people that live there.
"There were a couple of odd things said, like 'We could back you off the ballot if we wanted to...I'm not sure your petitions are all correct.' I said I know that every signature is not correct, but I have more than enough to be put on the ballot. But none the lease, in order to accept it, I received a letter in the mail on June 3, that said I needed to accept the position by June 2. But the letter was not mailed until June 1 [letter was postmarked June 1].
"But Lisa received this phone call on May 30 when my ballots were handed in stating that I handed in my ballots. I did call the County Board of Education and went there myself personally and spoke with the Dutchess County head there, and she told me that Lisa had FOILed for my petitions in order to see them.
"I said 'well how did she know to FOIL for them if I just handed them in? Who informed her that I handed in my petitions on the very last day at 12pm in the afternoon? Someone had to let her know that they were there in order to FOIL them. For her to get them so quickly, and be able to call me so quickly within the hour and to ask for a phone conversation. But you mail me out my letter on June 1 so that I don't received it until June 3, and I had to accept it by June 2.'
"I went there [to the Board of Elections] in person on June 5 to ask if there was any way I could accept it. She said 'well hold on, let me ask the Republican side. We have to be in agreeance in order for you to be able to accept.' She went away for 2 seconds, came back and said that they said no. So that was it.
"I did email the Enforcement Agency in Albany but I have not received an email back regarding it because I believe it was done on purpose and maliciously [it is November 5th as of this interview, and LaStar emailed the Enforcement Agency in May].
"Lisa and Molly both still reach out to me wanting to talk. They had a very long conversation asking me my ideas. Afterwards, I was like 'Oh, you dummy, you just gave them all of your ideas that they probably didn't know of the issues actually going on in Ward 1.'
"Molly actually knocked on my door Friday. Saying 'I just want to make sure you knew we are voting, since this is closed down. I still want to meet up with you and talk to discuss this whole Council process.'
LaStar's response: "I'll see you in 2 years. And I'll be starting from the top."
ALBB emailed Lisa Jessop on November 9th for comment on these events, and did not receive a response. On that same day, ALBB shared an election results article, “Beacon Election Results: The Significance Of The Unopposed Party, And A Few Other Races,” which pointed out that the Write-In Candidate for Mayor won 16% of the vote, when other Write-In results for other seats were 1%. A representative from the Beacon Democrats’ Instagram commented in that thread: “This post is misleading. Anyone can run for office, but NY state and Dutchess County have filing requirements. If you go to elections.dutchessny.gov, you’ll find all the requirements spelled out in great detail—gathering of signatures (which are sometimes challenged), financial statements, etc. It’s not like someone wakes up on Nov 6 and says, ‘I think I’ll tun for City Council, vote for me tomorrow’. Is it a perfect system? No. Could it be better? Yes. Anyone who wants to get involved with how elections are tun should contact the Board of Elections—they’re slways looking gor more help.”
The Beacon Democrats IG representative than posted a correction Comment: “Apologies for misspelled words in last paragraph—it posted before final edits. It should say: Anyone who wants to get involved with how elections are run should contact the board of elections – they’re always looking for more help.”