City Hall News is reporting that City Councilman Alan Gerson has been kicked off the September Primary ballot, due to an error made on his petitions. Here is the full text of the article by reporter Chris Bragg:
Council Member Alan Gerson (D-Manhattan) has been kicked off
the ballot for a technical error involving the misprinting of one of his
petitions, the New York City Board of Elections has confirmed.
The Board of Elections will hold a hearing at 1:30 p.m.
today to decide whether he will be reinstated. Gerson’s legal representation
met with lawyers for the Board of Elections this morning to discuss the case.
The printer that published Gerson’s petitions apparently
committed an error that incorrectly listed Gerson’s address as 1505
LaGuardia Place, rather than his actual address, 505
LaGuardia Place, in a petition book that contained
approximately 1,000 of his signatures. Gerson attempted to cure the error this
weekend, but tried to do so without the assistance of an attorney. He tried to
cross the extra “1” in the address off the petitions, but the board was not
satisfied, according to Gerson campaign consultant George Arzt.
Arzt said that Gerson had submitted over 7,000 signatures
and expressed confidence that the incumbent, whose signatures had not been
challenged by any of the other candidates in the race, would be reinstated to
the ballot.
If he is not reinstated, Arzt said, Gerson would file legal
action against the board.
“This would never stand up in court,” Arzt said. “This
really shows the need to simplify the board’s arcane rules.”
Artz, who also consults for Council Member and Public
Advocate candidate Bill de Blasio (D-Brooklyn), will also find out at the hearing
today whether he is reinstated over a technical error.
One source who had looked at both candidates’ petitions,
however, said they believed the errors Gerson had made were much more serious
than the error committed by a de Blasio attorney, who mislabled the number of
petitions de Blasio had submitted.
If this doesn’t lead to a serious change in NY’s bizarre election rules, I don’t know what will. Millions of people in our state and city are walking around convinced they’re living in a democracy when, in fact, we’re subjects of the land beyond the looking glass. This is so bloody amazing.
Yori,
Read the story carefully. Gerson was thrown off not for a minor typo like deBlasio did. That is why deBlasio is back on.
Gerson was thrown off for submitting a fatally flawed petition. When he was given a chance to fix his mistake, instead of properly repairing it, he screwed it up further (sound familiar with Gerson?).
He altered a signed-and-sealed witnessed document. He crossed out information. Further, he signed it himself.
He is lucky he is not charged with candidate fraud
Yori,
Please note that Alan Gerson used these same tactics against Pete Gleason in 2003 holding him up in Court through the end of August preventing Gleason from obtaining matching funds and campaigning. Talk about democracy —- I say what goes around comes around.