Dave Hollenbeck: Veteran, Father, Fighter for NY-22

Exposing Electioneering Violations

My fight began when I witnessed a Democrat candidate park his campaign truck loaded with giant signs in the very first non-handicapped spot only seventy-four feet from the polling doors, in violation of New York Election Law section eight dash one zero four’s one hundred foot no-electioneering rule. I did not ignore it. I verified the law. I measured the distance. I confronted him on camera. I forced the poll supervisor to relocate him but only after warning him I would call the State Police. I filed formal complaints with the State Board of Elections against him and against both county commissioners. I spoke publicly at the New Hartford Town Board demanding accountability. And I am now preparing a Department of Justice packet to escalate the matter. This is not partisan warfare. This is a defense of integrity. The Republican candidate obeyed the law. The Democrat candidate broke it and won by just over one thousand votes. The Oneida County Board of Elections misrepresented the facts, dismissed my video evidence, and laughed it off. That single incident exposed the quiet rot that runs through our system: rules enforced selectively, a good-old-boys network shielding insiders, and power quietly transferred from the citizenry to loyalists.

Facing Obstructions and Stonewalling

From the moment of the electioneering forward, every step I have taken has been obstructed, concealed, or denied. I submitted Freedom of Information requests for November seventh security footage at the county Board of Elections. The clerk’s office merged one of my online and in-person filings without my consent, violating state law and only separated them after I posted it online. I returned to inspect the original document at the board of elections. The Republican commissioner told me to my face I would have to FOIL my own FOIL, a blatant breach of New York statute. I told her that was illegal and demanded that she cite the exemption in writing. She retreated to the back office, re-emerged, and showed me the form I had handed her but never received a confirmation email for. She lied to my face and told me that it had already been sent to the clerk. I then went to the Clerk’s office and the deputy clerk repeated three times, “That’s all I have.” I asked her to cite the exact exemption, sign and date it on paper. She disappeared into the back office, searched the computer, and two minutes later returned with the in-person request that the Republican commissioner had emailed over eight minutes after I left her office. After I texted the committee secretary telling her I was running for the twenty-second congressional seat, the clerk’s office sent only video footage of the elevator lobby for every single request. Convenient. They lied and stonewalled me repeatedly for elevator lobby footage? Doubtful.

Confronting the Good Old Boys Network

When I mentioned I would go to the state and to the DOJ in my Facebook group, the Oneida County Republican Committee invited me in, sat me down with the chairman and the secretary, floated a town board seat and a veterans toy drive, collected my contact details, and never followed through. Instead they keep posting the county clerk’s announcements on their official page even though I too, am the declared challenger running against her. It’s telling how they found the electioneering and dereliction of duty important enough to bring me in for a sit down but not important enough to condemn it publicly. I believe it’s because they do not support accountability. They support containment. I have experienced that rot firsthand. In Verona, the committee chairman attempted to silence me. The rank-and-file members overruled him. In New Hartford I received zero questions after I publicly called out the county clerk to her face. Silence equates to complicity.

Pivoting to NY-22 for Bigger Impact

This is not partisan—it’s a defense of integrity. I pivoted from Clerk to NY-22 after the previous candidate quit, seeing no Republican challenger and the incumbent vulnerable. I will codify the Trump agenda: secure borders, lower taxes, school choice, no DEI. I will back ICE and law enforcement against defund radicals. I will slash oil and gas costs through drilling expansion and regulations cuts so groceries and heating fall. National Grid spikes crush families. I will cap hikes, boost competition, fund Upstate upgrades. I will defend the Second Amendment as founders wrote it—to guard against tyranny. I will halt leftist policies forcing gender ideology in schools, inflating prices, weaponizing justice. I do this for my boys, so they inherit a country that honors the Constitution, transparency, accountability, and efficiency in government. So they know that their dad always did the best that he could to make things right for them.