A campaign consultant hired by Kanye West in his failed bid for the presidency deliberately sabotaged Sara Tirschwell’s campaign to become the Big Apple’s first female mayor, Tirschwell alleges in a $5 million Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit.
The long-shot candidate, who was booted off the Republican primary ballot on April 14 when she failed to get enough signatures to qualify, claims in court papers filed Wednesday that consultant Steve Kramer didn’t take her campaign seriously — partially because she is a woman.
Kramer, president of Get Out the Vote and a longtime campaign consultant who was hired by West last summer to get him on the ballot, was tasked with securing 6,200 signatures for Tirschwell and paid $80,000 for the gig, the court filing alleges.
Kramer allegedly assured the campaign he was on track to secure the signoffs needed, including at least 2,250 valid signatures, but the day the petitions were due to be submitted to the Board of Elections, he’d only secured 4,500 — 200 of which the campaign obtained themselves.
And once the signatures were reviewed by the BOE, only 546 were deemed valid — a breach of contract that Tirschwell’s attorneys said “shocks the conscience.”
“Kramer’s negligence is extremely egregious given his substantial experience and reputation as an election and petition drive consultant. He was retained by the Campaign based on his prior experience aiding other candidates with signature gathering and election consulting,” the civil complaint states.
“Given Kramer’s substantial experience, Kramer’s malfeasance is so egregious that it suggests deliberate sabotage and malice … [and] is the direct cause of Tirschwell’s outrageous disqualification from the New York City Republican primary ballot and the primary election.”
Tirschwell’s attorneys claimed Kramer’s “disastrous misconduct” “deprived her of a singularly unique honor and opportunity to continue that candidacy” and “the unprecedented opportunity to finally break the gender glass ceiling” to become the first female mayor of the Big Apple.
The complaint alleges Kramer has been unresponsive and “shamefully unapologetic.”
Tirschwell is requesting about $5 million in damages.
The deep-pocketed financier and Texas native spent 30 years on Wall Street before announcing her bid for mayor in January.
At the time, she said many of the Democratic candidates seeking to replace him will continue pushing his left-leaning policies as she promised to “be a refreshing antidote to the incompetence that got us here.”
Kramer said in a text message to The Post: “It is inappropriate for me to comment on a pending suit.”
