Joshua Sauberman, candidate for New York’s Third Congressional District, is claiming that Hicksville Board of Education Vice President Brenda Judson donated $2,700 to his political campaign in an attempt to have his support in her reelection to the board. The online donation was made at 9:59 p.m. on April 15.
After Judson’s alleged donation to Sauberman’s campaign, the JOSH FOR NY campaign received a message with Judson’s email address attached that read, “I’d like to have an opportunity to talk to you about my candidacy for reelection to the Hicksville School board. If you would be so kind as to contact me I would appreciate it.”
Sauberman promptly refunded Judson her money with the statement, “Dear Barbara, While I greatly appreciate the gesture, a donation is completely unnecessary to get a meeting with me. As such, we’ve returned your monies accordingly.”
Judson is running against 18-year-old Kyle Singh, a Georgetown University student and Hicksville resident seeking to be named vice president should he be elected to the board as trustee. Sauberman has endorsed Singh for the board seat.
“The intentions of this donation are clear,” Singh said. “This campaign must solely be based upon the students. I humbly ask my opponent to reconsider these tactics moving forward.”
Sauberman’s decision to refund Judson her donation money was based on his “commitment towards ending the era of ‘pay-to-play’ politics.”
When reached for comment, Sauberman said, “While I tried reaching out to Ms. Judson, and never heard back; the fact that she, a Republican, made a maximum contribution to a Progressive Democratic candidate, and then requested a meeting to discuss her campaign moments later speaks volumes to her motive and intent.”
As Sauberman suspects Judson’s donation came as an effort to have him back off of his endorsement for Singh, Sauberman said, “The fact that [Singh’s] platform seeks to expose how taxpayers got duped into building a new athletic complex when their children are still using decades-old textbooks has clearly touched a nerve; board members like Judson are now quaking in their boots, and rightfully so. We already pay exorbitant amounts of money in property and school taxes, so I will continue working with Kyle and others to root out endemic corruption from all levels of government.”
Judson claimed credit card fraud on the incident.
“I never made any donation of $2,700. When I saw this on my bank records I contacted Chase to report fraud along with a purchase from Staples which was also fraud. I received a phone message from Mr. Sauberman, but did not respond as I had no reason to talk to him. He referred to me as Barbara. My name is Brenda. My ATM/Debit Card was lost when this occurred.”
Judson subsequently sent the Hicksville News an email she received from Chase bank alerting her to a charge of $2,700 made to Sauberman’s campaign on April 15, and two charges of $5 and $71.15 made to a Staples location in Hicksville on April 16.
