http://www.stargazette.com/article/2008 ... /812110310School board candidate pleads guilty
Elmiran won't say whether he'll continue to seek seat
By Roger Neumann •
rneumann@gannett.com • December 11, 2008
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Buzz up! A convicted felon who pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge tells the Star-Gazette he hasn't decided whether he will seek a seat on the Elmira school board.
David E. Stedge Sr., 43, of Hopkins Street in Elmira, is one of six people scheduled to participate in a public forum tonight in the community room at Elmira Free Academy. The forum is still scheduled, starting at 6:30 p.m., and the board is then expected to meet in executive session and select one of the candidates to fill a vacancy until May 19.
Records show that two of the candidates -- Stedge and Timothy Blandford -- served time in state prison on felony convictions. Those convictions do not disqualify them from serving on the board. In fact, Blandford was a member briefly last year.
When asked Wednesday night by the Star-Gazette whether he'll attend the forum, Stedge said, "I don't know." Earlier Wednesday, when asked about whether he's still a candidate, he told the Star-Gazette, "No, not at this time, no."
Stedge pleaded guilty Wednesday morning in Elmira City Court to forcible touching in a case involving a 15-year-old girl in his car as he drove from Elmira to Southport on June 13.
In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped a related charge -- endangering the welfare of a child -- and five charges that were pending in Southport Town Court.
Chemung County District Attorney Weeden Wetmore said Stedge faced three counts of forcible touching, involving one teenage girl in April and May, and one count each of forcible touching and endangering the welfare of a child, involving another teenage girl in March.
Wetmore said the additional charges were dropped "due to the wishes and the circumstances of the various victims."
Susan Rider-Ulacco, an assistant district attorney, prosecuted.
Wetmore said Stedge now will have to register under the Sex Offender Registration Act.
Stedge plans appeal
Stedge told the Star-Gazette he will appeal.
"I am 100 percent innocent of all charges," he said during a phone interview Wednesday.
Public Defender Nancy Eraca-Cornish said a defendant cannot appeal until after sentencing. Stedge is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 20.
"I was railroaded by the Chemung County Public Defender's Office. I was caught between a rock and a hard place. I had injustice done to me by the city of Elmira court system," Stedge said. "I was given no choice but to plead guilty."
He said he was not contacted by the public defender's office until "three and a half business days" before he was to appear in court. But Eraca-Cornish said his case had been on the court calendar since November.
Stedge also said Judge Thomas E. Ramich denied his motion to adjourn so that he could work on his defense. Public defender Elizabeth Mannion, who represented Stedge, said he made the motion himself last week.
School board President Rodney Strange said that if Stedge still chooses to take part in the forum tonight, he could do so.
"He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, and that does not preclude him from serving on the school board," Strange said. "It is his decision as to whether or not he still wants to be a candidate. There's nothing we can do."
But in a statement released by the school district, Strange said:
"It is my personal opinion, as just one member of the board, that this individual's candidacy causes me great concern, especially in light of the mission of this institution, and I would hope that he takes a hard look at the impact of his continuing candidacy on the board."
The same news release said, on behalf of the district, that "no action of any kind" was planned before the public forum.
Felons can serve
Even Stedge's felony conviction would not keep him from being appointed or elected to the board. Blandford was elected in May 2007 and served for six months before resigning for personal reasons, and he's now a candidate again.
A search of state records found no felony convictions for the other candidates for the board or the current board members.
Conrad Wolan, Elmira's school attorney, said felons are prohibited from holding public office only until the full term of their sentence has passed.
"It ends when you've reached the maximum expiration of your sentence," he said. "That can come well after you're out of jail."
For Blandford, it came in May of 1997 when he got off parole, according to the state Division of Parole. Stedge's parole period ended in July 2002.
Stedge was sentenced Sept. 6, 1996, to one to six years in state prison after pleading guilty to third-degree attempted arson for starting a fire that damaged a building in Tioga County on Oct. 8, 1994, according to the state Department of Correctional Services.
Stedge was released Aug. 4, 1997, from the Groveland Correctional Facility at Sonyea and was put on parole. But on July 23, 2002, he was sent to the Elmira Correctional Facility on a parole violation and served until Oct. 6 of that year.
Blandford was arrested June 5, 1992, for assaulting a police officer while resisting arrest that day, according to state records. The records only show that he was arrested in Chemung County and don't say what agency the officer was from.
Blandford was sentenced Dec. 10 of that year to two and a half to five years at the Collins (N.Y.) Correctional Facility and was paroled on Dec. 1, 1994. He returned to prison July 11, 1995, on a parole violation and was released from the Cayuga Correctional Facility on Sept. 29 that year.
No background checks
In the brief bio Stedge supplied the school board when he put his name in for consideration as a member, Stedge said he was married with three children of his own and three stepchildren.
Under "employment," he listed himself as co-owner of Buckwheat Contractors and also listed Labor Ready and "bounty hunter."
He said Wednesday he's a certified bounty hunter and is in the process of starting his own business. At Labor Ready in Elmira, a day labor service, Bobbie Jo Morse, a branch operational specialist, said Stedge had occasionally sought day jobs there since August of 2005. She said he hadn't been in since Sept. 22.
Also, Stedge said in his bio that he's studying criminal justice online through Penn Foster University.
Strange said school board members and candidates don't get background checks, but teachers and other employees of the district do.
"They're not employees," Strange said of board candidates. "The public makes the decision as to whether or not they serve on the school board."
