Bronxville "David" Candidate Has His Email Hacked

BRONXVILLE, N.Y. — Delfim Heusler summarized with one sentence his chances in the November election for county legislator.  

“I am the David in this race,” he said.

Heusler, 40, who is backed by the Working Families Party, is challenging Gordon Burrows, a Republican now in his third-term, in the election for the 15th District, which includes Bronxville and a section of Yonkers. A third candidate, Theo Moustakopoulos, is running in the Democratic and Independence parties.   

Besides running on a minor party line, Heusler had to deal with another problem last week. His email account was hacked, and a message sent to all his contacts saying that he had been robbed in Spain and asking for €2,100 (almost $3,000), so that he could come back home.

“All of a sudden, I got phone calls with people saying, ‘Are you in Spain?’” Heusler said.

Heusler said he’s not sure whether the hacker had political intentions, but asked a computer expert to help him investigate the incident.

“I want to see what really happened,” he said. “I just feel violated.”

Heusler said that, although he no longer can access his email account and lost many contacts, the incident didn’t impair his campaign, and that he believes either he or Moustakopoulos can defeat Burrows.

“I think that there’s a good chance that Gordon can lose this race,” said Heusler, who is single and runs a blog in Yonkers.

Heusler mentioned Burrow’s arrest last year on cocaine possession charges as one of his weak points.

“That's an issue that could resonate and that could be one of his downfalls,” Heusler said.

Calling Moustakopoulos “a decent guy,” he said that they worked together in a judge’s campaign and get along well.

But they have opposite views on the 2 percent tax cap the state imposed on all municipalities.

While Moustakopoulos said that he favors the cap, Heusler wrote in capital letters on his campaign’s website that he strongly opposes it. The reason is that the county has to pay for many state-mandated programs, he said, mentioning Medicaid, correction and probation, board of election and social services, among others.

“They don’t give us a cent,” he said of the state, adding that 2/3 of the county budget goes to state-mandated programs.

Heusler has already run for office several times, including in the last election against the same Burrows.

He said that he does it for his love to the community.

 “I don’t want to be a politician,” he said. “I want to be a citizen legislator.”

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