WASHINGTON — Rep. Chris Collins may be running again even if he doesn’t want to.
The upstate lawmaker suspended his campaign after being indicted for insider trading and the eight GOP chairs of his 27th congressional district were meeting Tuesday to discuss a replacement — even though the deadline to do so has passed.
“At this point we’ve got a lot of uncharted waters that the eight of us are going to have to figure out,” said John Pauer, acting chair of the Livingston County GOP.
In New York, there are only three ways for Collins’ name to be removed from the ballot: death, disqualification for being a non-resident or declination because he’s nominated for a new office.
One possibility being floated is for Collins to declare Florida — where he also owns a home — as his official residence. The terms of his $500,000 bail allow him to travel freely within the US.
But the most likely way out seems to be finding a minor office in Erie County that Collins could run for.
“Election lawyers a lot smarter than I am are working on that right now,” said Niagara County GOP chairman Richard Andres on ways of getting Collins off the ballot.
“From what I hear, there’s definitely a potential path off. What the other side does to block that path is going to be an interesting scenario. If I were them, I’d be trying to keep him on the ballot.”
Indeed, Democrats are ready to challenge the move in court, saying GOP leaders have known for some time that Collins was under an ethics investigation in Congress yet backed his nomination regardless.
“This is fraud,” said Erie County Democratic chairman Jeremy Zellner.
“What they are concocting here is a scheme … to have an elected official resign his position so they can put someone who was just arrested last week in it. It’s hard for me to believe that any judge in this state would say that this is OK,” he said.
Republicans have stepped aside in the past for the greater good of the party, including Rick Lazio in 2010, who was nominated for state Supreme Court to clear the Conservative Party line for Carl Paladino in the governor’s race.
“We have a long tradition of shifting people off lines here,” said political consultant Michael Caputo.
About 15 eager Republicans are looking to take Collins’ spot.
The GOP candidate would face Democrat Nate McMurray in November.