By Stephen Stirling
Only three of the dozens of City Council candidates in Queens were tossed off the ballot by the city Board of Elections this week, but anticipated court battles were expected to drag on after the ballot is certified in the coming days.
On Tuesday morning, a battery of Queens politicians and attorneys shuffled in their seats in a crowded and stuffy hearing room in Manhattan, each waiting their turn to speak to a semi-circle of eight city Board of Elections commissioners and make their case to remain on the ballot for the Sept. 15 primary election.
But though the city’s governing body on elections may have ended the political season for a few, most escaped the hearing unscathed — for now.
The candidacies of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care co-founder Marquez Claxton in District 31, former VH1 reality TV-star Kwame Smalls in District 26 and Republican Jay Golub in District 29 were invalidated by the city Board of Elections’ eight commissioners after flaws were found in their ballot applications.
Although the objections made against other candidates were dropped by the Board of Elections, several challenges are being taken to court for what amounts to a superseding second opinion.
A Board of Elections clerk review of the more than 2,400 signatures submitted by Claxton, who is challenging incumbent Councilman James Sanders (D-Laurelton), found that only 867 were valid, putting him just 33 below the required 900.
Reached for comment Claxton, who was not represented at the hearing, said he was disappointed but vowed to fight on.
“It’s part of the system, I’ll explore whatever options are available,” he said. “I’m not a politician, so I’m at the whim of the bureaucracy of the system.”
Smalls, best known for appearing on VH1 reality TV show “I Love Money,” was found to have 567 valid signatures in his bid to succeed Councilman Eric Gioia (D-Sunnyside) and was promptly removed.
Golub, who was running for the seat of Councilwoman Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills), was removed for improperly submitting his petition signatures.
A challenge against Stephen Jones, who is vying to oust Councilman Thomas White (D-Jamaica), was dropped early in the hearing, but the Democrat was called before the panel of commissioners anyway before Elections Commissioner James Sampel realized the error.
“Well, since the specific challenge was dropped, do you want to be on the ballot or do you not want to be on the ballot?” Sampel asked.
“I worked hard for this, yes,” Jones excitedly responded.
David Rosasco, a contender for Councilman Eric Gioia’s (D-Sunnyside) seat in District 26, squeaked by the hearing with 902 signatures and was placed on the ballot. But like several others hopefuls, such as Constantine Kavadas and James Wu running for John Liu’s spot, Rosasco will now be headed to civil court, where he could still be knocked off from the ballot in a superseding judgment.
Court hearings were scheduled to take place at Queens Civil Court in Jamaica Tuesday.
Kavadas, who made it past two separate challenges, said bringing the cases to court is nothing more than a political ploy.
After two [Board of Elections] clerk reports, it’s frivolous,” Kavadas said. “It’s just a way of draining my campaign money. I guess it's all part of the process, what can you do?”
Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e-mail at sstirling@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
