Andrew Goodell owns his opponent's dot-com name.
The Republican candidate for state Assembly said Friday that he will turn over www.NancyBargar.com to his Democratic challenger at no cost.
Both are running for Bill Parment's state Assembly seat, representing the 150th district.
Bargar held a press conference Friday morning alleging that Goodell bought the site out from under her. Goodell said that he did not know his camp owned the domain name until Bargar pointed it out, and that the whole issue could have been resolved with a phone call.
Bargar argues that whoever registered Goodell's website, www.AndyGoodell.com, also registered www.NancyBargar.com. Goodell admitted that he's "not that technological," explaining that he had someone else set up his domain name and create his website for him.
Bargar called the "hijacking" of the domain name a "dirty trick," saying it's just the sort of thing that's wrong with Albany.
"The way a candidate runs a campaign says a lot about him," Bargar said. "More importantly, it shows how that person will conduct himself as an elected official. I'm confident the voters of Chautauqua County will take note of Mr. Goodell's attempt to trick them. I'm equally confident they will quickly see this for what it is because they're much smarter than that."
Goodell said Friday that he wishes Bargar the best of luck in the campaign and that he is more than happy to help her with the domain name.
"I feel sorry that Nancy got upset and if she had just called me, we could have straightened it out," Goodell said. "I'm sure it was an enthusiastic supporter of mine that went ahead and got that domain name."
Both candidates agreed on one thing, each professed a desire to focus on the issues affecting the people of Chautauqua County and New York state in their coming campaigns.