By Courtney Dentch
Maverick City Councilman Allan Jennings (D-Jamaica) was knocked off the ballot in his own re-election bid after a court battle with the Queens County Democratic Organization, officials from the city Board of Elections said last week.
Jennings did not have the required 900 signatures to earn a spot on the primary election ballot, Justice Janice Taylor ruled in State Supreme Court in Jamaica Aug. 13.
The ruling, a rare instance in which an incumbent did not make the candidate lists, leaves two challengers for Jennings' seat – Yvonne Reddick, the Democratic Party favorite and Community Board 12 district manager, and Inderjit Singh, a Democrat who worked in city agencies for more than 30 years, a spokesman for the Board of Elections said Tuesday.
A staff member at Jennings' district office in Jamaica said the councilman was preparing to appeal his removal, but Jennings was unavailable to comment on the decision.
Reddick received the party nod in May over Jennings, making him one of the first city council incumbents not to get machine support in Queens, Jennings said.
Reddick said Jennings' removal does not change her outlook on her chances or her campaign.
“I still have an opponent. I'm just staying focused and I'm continuing to campaign just as if he was in it,” Reddick said of Jennings. “I'm in it to win it.”
The Queens County Democratic Organization challenged about two-thirds of Jennings' signatures in a court proceeding that began July 30. Some 30 of the 50 petition carriers who worked for Jennings had been subpoenaed to testify before Taylor about how they collected about 2,100 names out of the total 3,357 his campaign gathered, the councilman said at a protest earlier this month outside the Jamaica courthouse.
Leaders of the Queens Democratic machine did not return calls for comment.
Designating petitions for Stephen Jones, Garth Marchant and Inderjit Singh – all Democrats eyeing Jennings' seat – were invalidated by the Board of Elections, while Republican candidate Carolyn Younger-Nolan withdrew her bid in the face of challenges and said Monday that she would back Reddick.
Singh was restored to the ballot by a court decision Aug. 5, a Board of Elections spokesman said.
“Allan Jennings objected to my petitions and we thought his objections were not quite right,” Singh said. “I don't believe in these kind of shenanigans. As long as they follow the rules and regulations, we should let the people decide as to who should be representing them.”
Jennings was not endorsed by the Queens County Democratic Organization during his campaign in 2001, but he remained on that ballot and overcame his underdog position to win the primary nod and the general election.
Jennings has earned a reputation as a wild card since he assumed his council seat in January 2002. He placed ads in two Chinese-language newspapers earlier this year touting his love for the Chinese community and detailing his relationship with a Chinese-American folk dancer and his failed marriage to a Taiwanese woman.
Jennings drew the council speaker's wrath over his vote against the 18.5 percent property tax hike. The vote went against a compromise between the Republican mayor and the Democratic City Council and as a result Jennings was removed from his seat on the Finance Committee. He also came under attack for releasing the names of undercover police officers at a council committee hearing he was chairing.
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
