AUBURN -- Mayoral candidate David Dempsey will have to clear another inter-party hurdle before city voters can decide on a Democrat this September to run for the top post.

Former city councilor and mayoral candidate Charles Mason alleged dishonest tactics in specific objections to Dempsey's petition filed Monday. Cayuga County election commissioners are expected to review the objections today.

Mason contends that Dempsey obtained about 40 percent of his signatures on petitions that didn't identify a three-person committee to fill vacancies. Dempsey switched to a longer ledger similar to petitions being circulated by candidates endorsed by the county Democratic Committee.

Katie Lacey, Patricia Hunter and Robert Nagle are listed on the second set of petitions as the committee to fill vacancies.

"Those three people happen to be the party officers of the local Democrats," Mason said Monday. "It was a signal to the potential petition signers that not only did he have a legitimate (endorsed) petition, but he also had the support of the top three members of the party."

Dempsey didn't, according to signed letters from Democratic Committee Chairwoman Lacey, Secretary Hunter and Treasurer Nagle that were submitted with the objections.

"It's a blatant attempt to mislead and because he didn't have the permission of those individuals, it's an act of fraud," Mason said. "You might call it a lack of judgment or mistake if it was a first-time candidate, but you're talking about someone who should know what he's doing after being involved in the political process for two decades."

Read the full report in Tuesday's edition of The Citizen.