The Broome County Republican Committee (BCRC) allegedly retaliated against the Binghamton University College Republicans for “not falling in line” behind preferred candidates.

The county’s Republican Party had, according to the College Republicans, promised $2,500 for a guest speaker event. However, the funding was allegedly withdrawn after Logan Blakeslee — the vice president of the College Republicans and a junior double-majoring in history and political science — was seen speaking to Michael Korchak, the Broome County District Attorney, at a petition night event on March 30.

Korchak, a Republican, was elected in 2019 on the Libertarian Party ticket after losing the Republican primary to Paul Battisti. Battisti is challenging Korchak again in the upcoming Republican primary.

Blakeslee described how the night of the gathering affected his standing among party officials.

“Unfortunately, some of the other people at that party claimed that our club was giving support to Korchak’s campaign,” Blakeslee said. “On that same night, I received a phone call from [BCRC] Chairman Benji Federman, and he told me that a donation that we were in line to receive was no longer going to be offered because I had upset a lot of people, and I was not being a team player by being seen talking with [Korchak].”

Federman disputed Blakeslee’s account, asserting party neutrality in primaries. The BCRC’s calendar has several events in support of Battisti in the coming weeks.

“The Committee doesn’t endorse in primaries and never made a formal commitment to the College Republicans to underwrite a speaker at the University,” Federman wrote in an email.

Korchak was the winner of a three-way contest in 2019, prevailing by fewer than 100 votes. He conveyed hope that the College Republicans will be able to raise enough money for their speaker — Daniel Di Martino, a Venezuelan “freedom activist and economist” — despite the lack of funding from the BCRC. A GoFundMe has been started to raise money for the effort.

Korchak expressed confidence in his reelection and criticized the BCRC’s endorsement process.

“I want to give the voters a choice, and candidates should not be picked by a small group of politicians in a back room,” Korchak said. “I think the voters of Broome County are very smart, very intelligent and they will see through all this political nonsense and come to the right conclusion in the Republican primary on June 22.”

The College Republicans’ involvement with Husain Hadi, a candidate running in the City Council’s district one race, has also apparently caused controversy. Blakeslee blamed the BCRC for a lack of communication.

“[Hadi] came to one of our club meetings to request volunteers and general advice on how to run a campaign, and we were more than willing to offer that help because we had no idea there was another Republican in the race,” Blakeslee said. “We were never informed about the other candidate, Mary Ann Callahan, who is currently supported by [Binghamton] Mayor Jared Kraham, and as far as I know, the rest of party leadership.”

According to Blakeslee, Federman assured him that he would attempt to fix the relationship between the College Republicans and the BCRC if he withdrew his name from Hadi’s petition witness form. Blakeslee added that Federman has not yet contacted him to “fix the situation,” and expressed surprise at how quickly local Republicans may have turned their back on his organization after the College Republicans frequently volunteered on various campaigns.

Daniel Todd, a senior majoring in business administration, said the BCRC recently has appeared to show animosity toward those supporting Republican candidates they have not backed.

“I think the relationship is extremely weird,” Todd said. “I know historically the Republican party in Binghamton has supported having multiple ideas. It now seems to be doing something it hasn’t been. It has shifted into something very taboo to [disregard and punish] those who show any support for other candidates.”

The primary election will take place on June 27, 2023.