Vestal Town Clerk Debra Wallace was accused of improper conduct and personal harassment in a now-dismissed lawsuit filed earlier this year.

The lawsuit, filed by Mary O’Malley — a Vestal resident and substitute teacher — was heard earlier this year in the Union Town Court. O’Malley detailed her 2023 campaign work, which involved driving a U-Haul truck in support of a primary challenge to John Schaffer — the then-incumbent town supervisor. Schaffer, a conservative Democrat, lost his bid to appear on the party line for the general election after Democrat Maria Sexton won on June 27. He remained a candidate on the November ballot by running on the Conservative Party’s line.

Leading up to the June primary, banners that read “John Schaffer Lies” followed by a bulleted list of reasons why voters should reject his candidacy were attached to the U-Haul truck. The banners concluded with the phrase, “Let’s Bite Him in the Butt & Vote Him Out.”

O’Malley alleged that Wallace called the U-Haul customer service line and asked for them to stop renting to them. The manager testified that he asked Wallace, identifying herself as the town clerk, whether the banner contained any malicious or racist messages and told her that “there’s not really much that we can do” about the truck.

Wallace allegedly entered the business later on with another individual.

“She identified herself as the Town Clerk, and said again, repeatedly, that ‘you were gonna get in trouble for having that truck,’ saying that the truck is gonna get towed, and that it’s ridiculous that U-Haul can’t do anything about it [and] that it looks bad on U-Haul that we’re supporting her,” the manager testified. “And I told her that we’re not supporting anyone. It’s freedom of speech, like … it says nothing harmful and as long as the truck is not in someone’s way or an illegal spot, [there is] really nothing that we can do about it.”

The banners were forcibly removed before the primary election, according to O’Malley, when the truck was parked in a diner lot. A police report was filed along with complaints to the Broome County Board of Elections and the Office of the New York Attorney General. No suspect was found.

O’Malley claimed that last year’s incident amounted to a violation of federal voting rights law in a recently published YouTube community post.

New banners in the lead-up to last November called on voters to support the Democratic candidates — Sexton for town supervisor, along with Glenn Miller ‘78 and Robert Greene ‘09 for Town Board — for the general election. Pipe Dream reached out to the Vestal Town Clerk’s office, which declined to comment. Councilman Glenn Miller also declined comment, while Sexton responded that she was unaware of “whether (or not) an investigation has occurred” and has “not been notified of any law enforcement determination in this matter.”

The lawsuit was filed over separate personal harassment allegations that date back to February 2022, when O’Malley was seeking Freedom of Information Law requests for neighborhood dog licensing. She alleged in court that the town clerk’s office called numerous times on Feb. 24, 2022, while at work, alarming her. After calling back, Wallace and another woman allegedly expressed annoyance at O’Malley filing another FOIL request. A “Do Not Contact” order was filed by O’Malley, which was later granted.

Despite this, O’Malley testified that Wallace continued to contact her and that she eventually hired someone to act as a liaison after the June 2023 incidents with the U-Haul manager. O’Malley sued Wallace for $100 to cover the fees she paid to the liaison. She also wrote to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the alleged harassment and a case was opened but later closed due to lack of evidence.

“I retained the liaison, which was Mr. Barton, and I retained Mr. Barton just so I wouldn’t have any problem with the town clerk’s office, because you have to go through the town clerk for everything, including FOIL taxes, dog licenses — I have a dog — everything, and so it just made it easier for me to receive my taxes and everything at his address, go through him for FOIL,” O’Malley said in an interview. “So what I now do is I send FOIL requests by myself so I know that they are getting there. I send them to [First Deputy Town Clerk] Sarah Maney, and then Debra Wallace by FOIL law, by the Public Officers Law, must be the person that issues the FOIL response on behalf of the town, because she is the town records officer. So she responds to Mr. Barton, and we still have that in place.”

Wallace testified that she had no personal interactions with O’Malley, reiterating that she never called her from a personal cell phone. The judge questioned O’Malley, focusing on whether Wallace correctly exercised her professional responsibilities with respect to O’Malley.

The lawsuit was eventually dismissed, and O’Malley declined to appeal the decision. She wrote that she wanted to highlight the U-Haul manager’s testimony.

“I did not appeal … because I had what I really wanted from that case, which was [the manager’s] testimony that Wallace similarly intimidated and harassed him/his business because he helped us urge the Vestal electorate to vote for Supervisor Maria Sexton in the Primary — a violation of the Federal Voting Rights Act,” O’Malley wrote in an email.