Federal Judge To Decide whether To Compel Elections
Federal Court Judge Jack Weinstein is set to decide whether to force an election for the open 11th Congressional District, CapitalNew York reported.
Weinstein’s decision comes after Staten Island Board of Elections Republican Commissioner Ronald Castorina Jr. brought a lawsuit to compel Governor Andrew Cuomo to call a special election to replace former congressman Michael Grimm, who resigned last month following his conviction on felony tax fraud charges.
Last year Cuomo failed to call for an election in which 10 assembly seats and two senate seats statewide leaft nearly 1.5 million people without representation statewide – including a good number of people living in impoverished districts.
Lawyers for Castorina Jr. argued Cuomo has a “mandatory and not discretionary” duty to call a special election once a seat becomes vacant, and that not doing so is a “continuous and ongoing” failure that the court must address.
Cuomo’s lawyers countered that federal and state law places the ability to call a special election at the discretion of the governor. In the past, Cuomo has waited until the next election cycle to hold an election, saying that the cost of holding a special election was cost prohibitive and allowed county political bosses to pick candidates.
“Elections are not inexpensive, right?” Cuomo told reporters after an event in Rockland County. “I understand on the one hand you want to get an election done as soon as possible, on the other hand they’re expensive to conduct, and if you can reduce the cost to the taxpayer that’s also something that’s very important.”
Castorina told Capital that the governor’s fiscal concerns are not sufficient to justify postponing an election, claiming that doing so was the “functional equivalent to the governor holding the ball until the time runs out.”
Weinstein’s office said the judge is reviewing the case for a decision.
Should Castorina prevail it would probably also affect the race to succeed the resigning Karim Camara in the 43rd Assembly district race.
Lander Hails Cablevision Deal
Park Slope City Councilmember Brad Lander this week hailed the contract Cablevision owner Jum Dolan offered the 262 workers in at Cablevision sites in Brooklyn after a 37 month labor dispute.
Back in 2012, the workers unionized as part of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), touching off a wave of worker protests – may of which had the support of local elected officials.
“In my opinion, this is the most important lesson: through their act of courage, these 262 workers won big raises and improved conditions for 15,000 other workers (some of whom, sadly, nonetheless testified against the CWA union workers at our hearing),” wrote Lander on his website.
Lander has also been leading an effort to stand for the rights of the newly-unionized car-wash workers on strike at Vegas Auto Spa in Park Slope.
Hikind Tells Nadler Let Me Sit In Your Seat
Boro Park Assemblyman Dov Hikind stated on his website that if Congressional Democrats boycott Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu from addressing Congress for not following American protocol of asking the White House first then he would like to take Rep. Jerrold Nadler‘s seat to hear the speech.
Nadler is both a staunch Democrat and supporter of Israel.
“In the unlikely event that you will not be attending Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address to Congress, please allow me to sit in your seat for those few hours. Indeed, as some of your colleagues plan to boycott this speech, perhaps you can help secure their seats for others who are terribly interested in this important address,” Hikind wrote in a letter to Nadler. “I believe all American elected officials should carefully weigh what our sole Democratic ally in the Middle East has to say, and I for one will be listening closely.”
Under American constitutional law, foreign policy falls under the executive branch of government and the president is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. President Obama said the break in protocol undermines the White House’s ability to deal with foreign policy and also comes just weeks before the Israeli election – breaking another protocol of the United States becoming involved in elections of friendly countries.
