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Jason WestJason West is the mayor of New Paltz, a small town in the Hudson Valley region of New York. After an unsuccessful run for Congress in 2002 on the Green Party ticket, he was elected mayor of New Paltz in 2003, thanks in part to votes from students at the State University of New York campus http://www.gp.org/press/pr_05_08_03.html. On February 26, 2004, he drew national attention to New Paltz when he announced that he would be performing same-sex civil weddings. Within the first day, he had performed 25 such ceremonies, although their precise legal status remains uncertain. On March 2, he was charged with 19 misdemeanor counts of "solemnizing marriages without a license" by Ulster County District Attorney Donald Williams. According to Williams, West was not charged for all 25 ceremonies because police only witnessed 19 of them. West originally announced that he intended to continue performing same-sex ceremonies; however, on March 5, New York state judge Vincent Bradley issued a temporary restraining order barring West from performing any such ceremonies for a month. West indicated that he would abide by the judicial order while evaluating his legal options. On June 6, Ulster County Supreme Court Judge Michael Kavanagh made the injuction permanent. On June 10, New Paltz Town Court Justice Jonathan Katz dismissed the charges againt Mayor West, ruling that the district attorney had failed to show that the state had a legitimate interest in preventing the marriages, or that the law under which West was charged was constitutional. The district attorney said that he would appeal the ruling, and also indicated that he intended to continue forward with charges against two Unitarian Universalist ministers who had conducted ceremonies in the mayor's stead. A different New Paltz Town Court Justice dismissed those charges on July 13. West, Jason
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