STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The city Board of Elections (BOE) voted unanimously on Tuesday to refer the filing of petition signatures for Rep. Daniel Donovan by a Grimm campaign operative to local, state, and federal prosecutors.

Joe Shikhman, a Grimm campaign aide, filed petition signatures from Reform Party members minutes before the BOE's deadline in April, NY1 reported. Since the Reform Party had already filed a single volume of signatures with the BOE, Shikhman's addition made it a multivolume filing, which the BOE requires to be accompanied by a cover sheet. The lack of a cover sheet after Shikhman's filing put Donovan in danger of being thrown off the Reform Party line for the upcoming GOP primary election.

The BOE voted to refer the Grimm campaign's actions to the U.S. Attorneys for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, the New York state Attorney General, the Staten Island District Attorney, Manhattan District Attorney, and Brooklyn District Attorney for "filing a false instrument."

"We are pleased with the Board's decision and feel completely validated. Michael Grimm's actions were so egregiously illegal that the Board of Elections took the unprecedented step of referring it to prosecutors," Jessica Proud, a Donovan campaign spokeswoman, told the Advance. "One thing is clear: Michael Grimm is the same criminal who will lie and cheat just to get his way. We fully support the Board's referral to law enforcement and look forward to him being held accountable for his crimes."

The BOE held a hearing after Frank Morano, chair of Staten Island's Reform Party, and a lawyer for Donovan's campaign filed an objection to Shikhman's petition signature. Morano told the BOE commissioners that the campaign's action amounted to "fraud." The board, made up of one Republican and one Democrat from each borough, also voted unanimously to keep Donovan on the Reform Party ballot line.

"My hope is that these prosecutors send a message to any candidate that tries to game the system in a manner like this," Morano told the Advance. "I think it's a shame that Michael Grimm, who's already a convicted criminal and lied to the taxpayers, once again cause the taxpayers to waste time, resources, and money with this frivolous action."

The Grimm campaign told the Advance that they did nothing wrong and that no laws were broken by filing the petition for Donovan's campaign.

"For a former prosecutor, Desperate Dan seems to be shockingly unaware of how the law works. As his failing campaign throws out accusations of fraud, what's notably missing is a single reference to a law that was broken or document that was fraudulent," Shikhman told the Advance in a statement. "And that's because there isn't one -- these baseless accusations are as false as Dan's desperate claims he secured funding for the President's border wall or that he opposes sanctuary cities."

Grimm's campaign told a news outlet last month that they filed the petition signatures to help Donovan "out for free," adding, "You'd think he would be more grateful."

Donovan was endorsed by the New York state and Staten Island Reform Party in February. The Republican congressman also was endorsed by the Staten Island GOP, the Staten Island Independence Party and New York state Conservative Party.

A HEATED PRIMARY RACE

Grimm will challenge Donovan on the Conservative Party line via a write-in campaign in the primary election after his campaign circulated and filed petition signatures with the BOE for an opportunity-to-ballot, which will allow voters to write in a candidate on the Conservative line.

Donovan is the endorsed Conservative candidate in the race.

While Donovan has earned more ballot lines than Grimm, a poll by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee showed Grimm ahead of Donovan by 10 points in a recent poll.

The campaign has ratcheted up in recent weeks. Donovan accused Grimm on April 2 of filing a complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics that claimed he helped his partner's son get special treatment following a heroin arrest. Donovan denied the allegation and Grimm denied filling the complaint.

Donovan's campaign gave the Advance a copy of his federal and state tax returns to review on Thursday and publicly challenged Grimm to release his as well. Grimm's campaign declined and said that he'll release his tax returns when Donovan "has his first substantive bill signed into law."

Donovan's campaign also launched a website on April 16, titled "The Grimm Reality," highlighting past political scandals and Grimm's prison sentence for tax fraud.

The primary election is on June 26th.

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