August 7th, 2009
As promised, a followup on the
escalating war of words between City Council candidates PJ Kim and Margaret Chin. This morning both campaigns were in court on Chin's lawsuit seeking to force Kim off the ballot for alleged voter fraud. Following the hearing, Kim accused Chin of targeting him legally because she's threatened by another Asian in the race. He then said that while he wants to represent the entire First District, she is seeking to be the "mayor of Chinatown." Chin's campaign has now released the following statement:
…Kim just moved into the district, so it’s excusable that he is unaware of Margaret Chin’s almost four decades of dedication to Lower Manhattan families. What is inexcusable is Kim’s use of racially-charged language whose only aim is to divide and distract voters. “Attacking me takes attention away from the important issues facing working families from TriBeCa to the Lower East Side,” Margaret said today. “Our district needs a councilmember who is committed to working together to build a stronger community. It is clear from his language and his actions that P.J. Kim fails to meet that standard.”
Kim also accused Margaret’s campaign of harassment and intimidation. Margaret, who barely breaks five feet in heels, shook off those comments while reminding voters that she has fought for the people of this district for almost my entire life. “He should be intimidated,” she said. "When you take on unscrupulous landlords, or push City agencies to better serve the community, you learn to stand up and fight for your community. I may be small but I have a big voice and I know how to use it to get results for our district, and I will continue to fight for our communities in the City Council.”
Margaret Chin has dedicated her life to public service for over 30 years. A former teacher, she has been working with community groups in lower Manhattan on affordable housing, education, and equity issues for most of her life. She left her position as Deputy Executive Director of the non-profit group Asian Americans for Equality, where she worked to protect and build affordable housing, in September 2008, to focus on her campaign. Ms. Chin was also a member of Community Boards 1 and 3.
Another candidate in the race, Pete Gleason, is also jumping into the fray this afternoon. His campaign emailed this a short time ago:
This kind of divisive racial politics is exactly what we are trying to move beyond in this campaign. I am convinced that I am the strongest candidate in this race, and the one best suited to work for all our neighborhoods. But PJ Kim’s attempt to racially divide our district by attacking Margaret Chin is unnacceptable. I call on Mr. Kim to apologize to Ms. Chin and all the residents of our diverse community for his insensitive remarks.
In his remarks today, Kim criticized Chin for "dragging me into court for frivolous matters." He called the legal activity related to the campaign a "waste of everyone's time" and a waste of donations made to both campaigns. A spokesman for Chin's campaign said Chin does not relish going to court but she believes it's important to uphold the principle of honesty in political campaigns.
August 7th, 2009
Yesterday we reported on the hearing before a court appointed referee weighing whether City Council member Alan Gerson should get back on September's Primary ballot. Ray Dowd (pictured, left), representing candidate Pete Gleason, has now given us his take on what happened in the courtroom. Dowd called several witnesses to support his contention that the Gerson campaign engaged in fraud. He wants the court to uphold the Election Board's decision to kick Gerson off the ballot.
The trouble for Gerson began when the printer got his home address wrong on some petitions. Even though the campaign ordered corrected petitions, somehow (it's unclear how) the Truman Democratic Club didn't get the corrected version. The club collected signatures on behalf of Gerson and other candidates it decided to support. Dowd believes yesterday's testimony by one of the volunteers, Renee Abramowitz, is critical. On the stand, she acknowledged that someone had corrected the address and then written in her initials. Dowd says it's a clear case of forgery and, therefore, fraud. Dowd also pointed to the testimony of Jessica Loeser, president of the Truman Democratic Club. Loeser said that – after volunteers had collected signatures – she told them to change Gerson's address.
During cross-examination, Loeser said signature collectors were instructed to inform voters that they were being asked to sign a petition in support of placing Alan Gerson on the ballot. Councilman Gerson's attorney, Lawrence Mandelker, said there can be no fraud unless it's proven that voters were deliberately misled. Dowd called this argument "ridiculous." "Falsifying petitions is fraudulent behavior," he said. Dowd said that yesterday's testimony contradicted what Gerson himself has said — that the problems were caused by a printer's error. Dowd believes he proved it was the "fraudulent acts" of campaign surrogates that are to blame for Gerson's predicament.
Dowd told me he is troubled by the circumstances under which Abramowitz said she collected signatures A nurse for the United Jewish Council, she testified the petitions were left on her desk. When the petitions were completed, she handed them in to her boss at the UJC. Dowd says he questions why an employee, working for a non-profit organization receiving millions of dollars in government funding, was collecting signatures for a political campaign. Dowd acknowledged that this aspect of Abramowitz's testimony is not relevant to the allegations of election fraud. But he thinks it might be a campaign finance issue.
The referee, Leslie Lowenstein, is now preparing a report that will be forwarded to the State Supreme Court Judge who will decide the case next week.
August 7th, 2009
City Council candidate Margret Chin's alleged voter fraud lawsuit against rival PJ Kim was back in court this morning. Following the hearing, Josh Ehrlich, Chin's attorney, conceded he probably did not present enough evidence to prove the fraud allegations. Only about a third of the subpoenaed witnesses showed up, seriously hampering Ehrlich's case (more on that in a moment).
The most striking development this morning occurred outside the courtroom, after the proceedings had been adjourned. Talking with reporters, PJ Kim said the lawsuit is evidence that Chin can't accept that there's another Asian candidate in the race. Kim (who's Korean) said he wanted to represent the First District on the City Council – he asserted that Chin (who is Chinese) wants to be "the mayor of Chinatown." It's fair to say these comments are not sitting well with the Chin campaign. They will be releasing a statement shortly – we'll have more on the Kim/Chin war of words later this afternoon.
Now back to the proceedings before Leslie Lowenstein, the court appointed referee, this morning. About 10 witnesses were called to testify, all signature collectors for the Kim campaign. While there were some irregularities, Ehrlich was not able to establish a pattern of illegally altered petitions. He noted that 18 witnesses were "no shows." A spokesman for the Chin campaign has suggested that the Kim campaign encouraged witnesses to ignore the subpoenas.
Lowenstein will prepare a report early next week for State Supreme Court Judge Edward Lehner, who has scheduled a hearing on election matters Wednesday afternoon.
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