The Lo-Down contacted the city's Board of Elections this afternoon. Spokeswoman Valerie Vazquez says Manhattan candidate appeals will be heard next Wednesday at 11am, not Monday as some news outlets have been reporting. If Councilman Gerson wants to appeal the board's decision to kick him off the ballot — that's when it will happen. Earlier today, City Hall News reported that Vasquez had indicated only the County Supreme Court could reverse that decision.
We also talked with Gerson campaign consultant George Arzt today, He confirmed the Councilman's attorneys will present their case to the Board of Elections next week. He said the printing mistake in which Gerson's address was incorrect, amounts to a "trivial error." Arzt said the rules that invalidate the voices of thousands of voters who sign petitions are "ridiculous and absurd just on the surface." Gerson submitted petitions with more than 7-thousand signatures.
Arzt said the campaign would pursue legal action if the board does not reinstate Gerson on the September primary ballot.
George Artz is a lobbyist, a remnant of the Koch era, a hired gun who will say what his client wants him to say.
Basically, Gerson’s error was not minor. He willfully tampered with a signed legal government document (the petitions) witnessed by someone else.
The volume of petitions in question had his incorrect address. The Board of Elections gives all candidates one chance to correct errors.
Instead of doing it the legal way, by noting that the printer had printed an incorrect address on one of his sheets of petitions and then submitting an explanation, Gerson expediently and illegally changed the address, without the knowledge or permission of the subscribing witness.
Gerson should have done the wisest, easiest and simplest thing: just remove the volume with the Fatal Error.
Instead he tampered with a government document. Gerson is a lawyer and a seasoned politician who should know better. He surely knows that it is common knowledge that when a candidate tampers with even one signature, all the subsequent signatures are suspect. As well they should!
Gerson took his chances and lost.