Queens GOP Can't Block New Board Of Elections Commissioner From Firing; Case Goes On

To elaborate on an update to my previous BOE-fight item:

Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Paul Wooten today denied the Queens County GOP's request for an order that would block the firing of temp workers by a new elections commissioner chosen by the Republican members of the City Council.

While Wooten denied the TRO request made on behalf of Queens County GOP Chairman Phil Ragusa and Judith Stupp -- the commissioner ousted in a stunning power play for control of the elections agency -- the larger case will go on.

"I am not a lawyer, but I understand TROs are not easily granted," Ragusa said in a statement to the Daily Politics. "But I believe the Supreme Court will get the law right and justice will ultimately be done. We don't believe the law was intended to reward trickery or interfere with political parties. New York has smart judges."

To recap this extremely important but rather convoluted story:

The Republican members of the City Council replaced the Brooklyn and Queens appointees of those boroughs' GOP organizations, saying the county parties ceded control over the jobs when they blew the legal deadlines to keep their own people in place.

An intra-party feud in Queens between a faction supporting Ragusa another aligned with one of the GOP Councilmen, Eric Ulrich, sparked the power grab. Now the county organization is now trying to undo it.

GOT THOUGHTS OR TIPS ON THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS? PLEASE CONTACT ME HERE.

Representing Ragusa and Stupp, attorney Lawrence Mandelker argues that the councilmen didn't have the authority to appoint new commissioners. In today's action, he asked Wooten to prevent the council-picked new commissioner, Michael Michel, from firing any of the board's temporary workers (who are largely drawn from a party patronage system) while the case is sorted out.

Mandelker, who is also employed as the election-law attorney for the campaign of John Catsimatidis, who's backed by the Queens GOP -- said Wooten didn't grant the request in part because the temp workers weren't placed in danger of "irreparable" harm. That is, even if Michel fires them, they can be rehired.

He also noted that the Board of Elections, as represented by the city Law Department, objected to the TRO on the grounds that sitting commissioners shouldn't be restrained on firing matters.

Because today's proceedings ran late, Wooten is expected to sign a show-cause order Thursday.

From there, the case moves on, with the Queens GOP requesting the court annul Michel's appointment, that the party have a chance to resubmit a new certificate of recommendation for the job (presumably selecting Stupp) and that Stupp return to the board on an interim basis until the whole thing's resolved.

Queens Councilman Dan Halloran -- who actually voted against replacing Stupp but did approve subbing lawyer Simon Shimoun for Brooklyn GOP Elections Commissioner Nancy Mottola-Schacter -- said Wooten's denial of the TRO suggests the caucus assertion that it had the power to replace commissioners will hold up in the end.

"For the county organization, it was not a good day in court," Halloran, a lawyer, told The Daily Politics.

"It indicates that at first blush, the court is not [inclined] to believe that we overstepped our authority -- or that there isn?t some other remedy of law if that gets proven down the road."

Mandelker dismissed that theory as "an ill-informed political analysis, not a legal analysis."

Stay tuned!

Source: http://feeds.nydailynews.com/~r/nydnrss/blogs/dailypolitics/~3/jOq540ZpxkE/story01.htm

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