Buffalo News - Rocks shatter windows at GOP headquarters

11/5/2004

Large rocks were thrown through the plate glass windows of Erie County Republican Committee headquarters in the Statler Towers on Thursday morning. Party officials believe the vandalism is connected to the close 27th Congressional District race between Democrat Brian M. Higgins and Republican Nancy A. Naples.

Threatening phone calls had been made to party officials, according to Bradley J. Stamm, executive director for the GOP County Committee.

He said he sees a correlation between the vandalism and threats and the Naples campaign efforts to gain an accurate count of all voting machines and outstanding paper ballots in a race that she trails by nearly 4,000 votes.

Erie County Democratic Chairman Leonard R. Lenihan dismissed allegations of telephone threats to unnamed party members. 'That's political spin,' he said. 'There's been no phone threats by anyone.'

Republican officials are considering whether to assign extra security for those who were threatened, Stamm said.

'The calls threatened certain individuals,' Stamm said. 'I'm concerned for everybody's safety.' He would not specifically say who was threatened.

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