ONTARIO COUNTY, N.Y. – An internal report says an annual staff party in the Ontario County District Attorney’s Office on Election Day last year spilled into a jury room and courtroom with alcohol.

“Our community should be outraged with the allegations concerning drinking in a courtroom,” said Jason MacBride, challenger for the GOP nomination for DA.

News10NBC Chief Investigative Reporter Berkeley Brean obtained the heavily blacked-out report through a Freedom of Information request. It says the party happened on the 4th floor of the courthouse in Canandaigua where the DA’s office is located but it ended up on the 3rd floor inside a jury room and courtroom.

The report states it was a party with “costumes, alcohol and karaoke.” Employees admitted they “brought alcohol into the courthouse” in “plain sight” and many employees admitted they “drank alcohol during the workday.” A photo from the party in the courtroom shows alcohol in green solo cups.

Election Day was a holiday for state employees so the courtrooms were closed and locked.

MacBride, who was once the DA’s top assistant and is now challenging him in the Republican primary in June, expressed his frustration.

Berkeley Brean, News10NBC: “You were probably at some of these fall fests. Were they similar to what we read in this report?”

Jason MacBride: “It started off simply as a team bonding event. Chili. Drinking was never a part of those festivities.”

District Attorney Jim Ritts gave different statements about alcohol in the report, first saying there was none, then saying there was none in the courtroom and jury room, and finally admitting it’s “possible” there was alcohol in the courtroom. For the people who brought alcohol into the courtroom, Ritts told the investigator “Shame on them.”

Ritts said the party was started by his predecessor and in an email to the investigator he wrote “I stand by what we did.”

In a statement texted to Brean, Ritts wrote “Just like plenty of offices everywhere, we held an office party on a State holiday. This event started many years ago under the direction of my predecessor and no one has ever made issue of it until now, when I happen to be running for re-election. Political silly season is apparently upon us, and I’m confident the people of Ontario County are smart enough to see through it.”

However, the investigation started last November while MacBride didn’t announce he was running until February.

In the report, the DA says he “will probably take a different perspective about drinking at future fall fests.”

News10NBC looked into whether alcohol is allowed in government buildings in New York. Generally the answer is no but clarification is being sought from the state office that oversees courthouses.

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