NY Man Charged With Putting Fake Addresses On Election Petition for GOP | TPMMuckraker

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Please note that this alleged criminal is not a member of ACORN but a regular rank & file Republican working at the Nassau County Board of Elections...

Election fraud alert!

An employee of the Nassau County Board of Elections has been accused of writing eight fake addresses on campaign forms in 2009, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice's office announced Tuesday. Imtiaz Insanally, 27, of Valley Stream, is alleged to have used the fake addresses on a petition to add Republican Christian Browne to the ballot on the Tax Revolt Party line. Browne was running for County Legislator in the Fifth Legislative District.

Insanally was arrested Tuesday, and charged with one felony count of offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree and one misdemeanor count of misconduct in relation to petitions.

Insanally, who the DA says was working as a campaign volunteer for Browne, allegedly wrote the fake addresses next to names that were illegible. The addresses he wrote do not exist. Insanally is currently employed as a part-time clerk for the Nassau County Board of Elections, in the election machine department, a job he's held since 2006.

"Whether you're talking about a highly sophisticated case of systemic corruption or something as simple as this case, they are both violations of the public's trust and of our democratic process, and my office will continue to have no tolerance for that," Rice said.

In 2009, county Republicans withdrew the petition to add Browne to the Tax Revolt Party line after Democrats challenged the petition's validity in court, according to The Long Island Herald. Democrats claimed that that more than half of the 1,300 signatures were fraudulent. County Democrats later withdrew a lawsuit that accused Browne himself of fraud, citing the fact that Browne did not sign the petition in question. Browne then withdrew a defamation lawsuit against the Democratic election worker who had brought the charges. Browne lost the election to Democrat Joseph Scannell.

"He was not affiliated with my campaign," Browne told the Herald after news of Insanally's arrest. "I don't really know him. He was working for the Republican committee. I hope he didn't do anything wrong. If he did and the district attorney has evidence of any wrongdoing, then he will have to bear the consequences of his actions."

Claims of widespread voter fraud were en vogue in conservative circles before the election, even if actual examples of fraud turned out to be hard to come by.

Insanally faces up to four years in prison.

(h/t Long Island Business News)

Senator Addabbo to Introduce Bill That Increases Print Size on Ballots

At the September 29, 2010 public hearing in NYC on Primary Day problems experienced by voters with new machines, Senate Elections Committee Chair Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. listens to testimony. Also shown on panel is Senate Elections Committee counsel David Kogelman. SHANA WITTENWYLER, Photographer, New York State Senate

Answering the most common complaint from voters on both Primary Day in September and Election Day in November, NYS Senator Joseph Addabbo, Chair of the State Senate Elections Committee, is drafting the language necessary in a bill that would enlarge the print on the ballot used for the scanner. The Senator is hopeful this legislation can be introduced before the end of the year and passed early next year, before the 2011 elections.

“As I have often stated, I have been determined to make certain that the transition from the lever voting machines to the required paper ballots and optical scanning machines would make it easier for people to vote, increase their participation in the electoral process, and leave citizens feeling more confident than ever that their votes are being accurately counted,” said Addabbo. “One complaint that stood out in the elections across my district and the city was that the ballot was difficult to read and understand because of the small type size. Solving this problem for the voters is of critical importance and is one of my top priorities for the next legislative session.”

The Senator pointed out that there are usability experts available who can help to resolve such issues, and to whom the state and the local Board of Elections should be reaching out. Addabbo said he will be looking into all aspects of this and other issues that arose during the election cycle and introducing whatever legislation may be necessary to assure that not only are ballots legible for the voters, but that the entire voting process is reliable and easy for the people.

And Another One Gone: Anthony Como Bows Out Of Senate Arena by Celeste Katz - Daily Politics Blog - NY Daily News

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On the heels of longtime GOP state Sen. Frank Padavan's formal concession of defeat to Democrat Tony Avella, another Queens Republican hopeful, Anthony Como, is doing the same.

Como, a former city councilman, was up against incumbent Democratic state Sen. Joseph Addabbo in SD-15. He jumped into the race relatively late, throwing his hat in the ring in June only after succumbing to pressure or pleas -- your choice -- to go the Senate route instead of grabbing for the brass ring of executive director of the city Board of Elections.

Here is Como's statement in full:

"It is with regret that I announce today I have officially ended my pursuit to represent the residents of the 15th State Senate district. It was important to me that every vote be properly counted and although there are remaining discrepancies with some of the machines, it is in the best interest of the community that we move forward and put politics aside.

"I spoke with Senator Addabbo this afternoon and congratulated him on his successful campaign.

"This was a hard fought race and I am proud of the campaign we ran. We raised issues of great importance to New Yorkers, like lowering taxes and creating a more attractive climate for small businesses. I am also hopeful that some of the government reforms I advocated during my campaign will become a reality. I'm enormously grateful to the thousands of New Yorkers who supported me and believed in my message to make government work again for the people. I remain committed to public service and look forward to the new challenges and opportunities that lie ahead."

Join the NYS Democratic Coordinated Campaign - Statewide Day of Action - October 23rd...

Petition Snafu Threatens To End Lynn Nunes Council Candidacy At BoE by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

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Lynn Nunes’ Council race may be over before it even began.

Just days before the end of his unsuccessful State Senate primary against Shirley Huntley, Nunes irked some of his backers by simultaneously applying for matching funds in the Council race to replace the deceased Tom White. At the same time, Nunes’ sister, Elaine, petitioned onto the ballot for the Council race, with the unspoken intention of ceding the spot to her brother via her committee on vacancies if the Senate campaign was unsuccessful.

And so the plan went into motion last week, after Nunes fell to Huntley by a 2-1 margin in Tuesday’s primary.

But it too seems to be falling short of expectations.
The New York City Board of Elections is initiating prima facie objections against the petitions of both Lynn and Elaine Nunes for the special election, based on the party name they created for the purposes of the election: Working Harder for Queens.

The problem is simple, and is one that has cut short special election candidacies before: their new party name is similar to that of the existing Working Families Party. And according to Board of Elections rules, the name of a party used on designating petitions cannot share all or any part of the name of an existing political party. (Huntley, as it happens, received the WFP line for the Senate race earlier in the summer.)

The Board of Elections considered a very similar issue just last February, for the special election fill the Council seat Joe Addabbo vacated to go to the State Senate. Glenn DiResto, a former police officer who had petitioned for the seat as the candidate of the Families First party was booted from the ballot because he had used the other operative word in the WFP’s title.

Eventually, DiResto was allowed back on the ballot by a judge, but only because the Board had given another candidate in the race the chance to change the name of their party after making a similar error.

In a phone conversation early Monday, Nunes said he was not sure if he would be running for the Council, and did not mention the BOE snafu.

Nunes did not return subsequent calls for comment.

J.C. Polanco, the Board’s Republican commissioner from the Bronx, said a BOE hearing
would be held on Tuesday, Sept. 28 regarding Nunes’ petitions. The special election is set to be held on the day of the general election, Nov. 2.

Already, 22 general objections have been filed in the race against nearly every one of the dozen potential candidates. A general objector named Joseph Thomas Jr. filed objections against Elaine Nunes, while general objectors Sharon Smith and Troy L. Jackson filed objections against both Elaine and Lynn Nunes.

Between them, Smith and Jackson appear to have lodged general objections at least once against every candidate except for Ruben Wills, the favorite of Huntley and Assembly Member Vivian Cook. Wills, who is running as the candidate of A Better Way, had his petitions challenged by Jaime Nunes.

General objections were also filed against the Taxpayers line petitions filed by Michael Allegretti, who lost the GOP Congressional primary to face Rep. Mike McMahon last week, as well as the Taxpayers petitions of Nicole Malliotakis, hoping to unseat Assembly Member Janele Hyer-Spencer. New lines with names playing off the word “taxes” appear to be somewhat taxing themselves: the Tax Cuts Now! line of Anthony Como, running against State Sen. Joe Addabbo, was challenged by three people, and the Taxed Enough line of Vince Tabone, running for the seat being vacated by Ann-Margaret Carrozza, was challenged by two people.

In the 38th Assembly District: Board of Elections Records Show Comaianni Campaign Low on Available Funds...

Click on images to enlarge...

Upon seeing this van parked in front of PC Richards in Ozone Park, it got me wondering if the Comaianni campaign was low on cash just a week before the primary, so I decided to check the Board of Elections website to see...The most recent figures show the Comaianni campaign has very little cash on hand, $1,903.05, with 11 days to go until the primary...

On the flip side, the Miller campaign for the same time period shows cash on hand in the amount of $20,920.42...

The following is directly from the BofE website...



FRIENDS OF NICK2010 11 Day Pre Primary Report Summary Page (Click)

---

Opening Balance	$3,945.61
Contributions	$2,025.00
Miscellaneous Receipts	$.00
	Total Receipts	$2,025.00
	Total Expenses	$4,067.56
	Closing Balance	$1,903.05

Report Date 09/06/10 07:09:57

FRIENDS OF MIKE MILLER FOR ASSEMBLY2010 11 Day Pre Primary Report Summary Page (Click)

---

Opening Balance	$18,063.70
Contributions	$8,700.00
Miscellaneous Receipts	$.00
	Total Receipts	$8,700.00
	Total Expenses	$5,843.28
	Closing Balance	$20,920.42

Report Date 09/06/10 07:09:50

Citizens Test Drive New Voting Machine by Stephen Geffon - Queens Chronicle

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Jack Marotta of Howard Beach tries out a DS200 voting machine during a demonstration Thursday in Howard Beach. PHOTO BY STEPHEN GEFFON

There were questions and concerns from a group of about 60 Howard Beach residents at a demonstration of the new electronic voting machines last week.

The event was conducted by the Board of Elections at the Old Mill Yacht Club on Cross Bay Boulevard in order to educate voters on how to use the new optical scan voting machine.

Some of the attendees’ questions concerned the system’s perceived complexity and voter privacy. BOE staffers assured the attendees that the system was designed to give voters the utmost level of privacy during elections.

Representatives also explained that the machines will recognize if there is a mistake on the ballot and give the voter the option to either reject the ballot and get another opportunity to cast a vote or accept the vote “as is.”

Earlier this summer, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s law school filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the NAACP and the Working Families Party, along with other groups, challenging how the new system responds to “over-voting” when voters cast too many votes in a single race. The old machines physically prevented that from happening. That lawsuit is still being reviewed in court.

The new optical scan voting machines will be in place for the Sept. 14 primary and the Nov. 2 general election, replacing the old machines with the familiar red levers, used in city polling places for about half a century.

Under the new system, voters will receive paper ballots and use pens to color in ovals to mark their choices, reminiscent of college entrance tests. Voters will then feed their ballots into an optical scanner that records their votes. The scanner will take only a few seconds for most voters.

Those who attended the BOE demonstration received practice paper ballots that allowed them to choose from various fruits, in lieu of candidates’ names, to get a sense of how the new machines operate.

Ozone Park resident David Quintana said he found the voting process a lot simpler than people make it out to be. “I think people are afraid of it for no purpose at all,” he said. “I think it’s going to go very smoothly in November.”

Mary Loraglia of Howard Beach disagreed, saying, “I think it’s going to be complete chaos.”

PS 63 poll worker Maria Provisiero of Ozone Park, who along with other poll workers received comprehensive training, believed the new voting machines are easier to use.

Ozone Park resident Lou Mascaro also gave the new machines a thumbs up. “I’m glad I came because on Election Day I would have been a little nervous,” Mascaro said.

Robert Drake of Howard Beach said he was upset that trees would have to be cut down to make the paper ballots, and had several questions about them.

“What are they going to do with these ballots?” he asked. “How long are they going to keep them? Where are they going to store them?”

The BOE has conducted 103 voter training sessions — at various community events and senior centers — that have reached 6,000 voters, officials said.

The new voting machines are the result of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 that mandated new voting systems after the confusion over ballots in Florida in the 2000 presidential election. New York is the last state to replace all old voting machines.

BOE Commissioner Judith Stupp said the new voting process will be very simple. “I think it’s going to go very well on Election Day,” said Stupp. “I’m very confident.”

For more information on the new voting machines, visit www.vote.nyc.ny.us or call 866-VOTE-NYC.

Maltese Bids to be city Elections Chief by Michael Cusenza - Queens Chronicle -

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Months after his protege backed out of a bid to run the city Board of Elections in order to challenge this fall state Sen. Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach), former state Sen. Serphin Maltese has formally tossed his hat into the ring to become executive director of the BOE.

Maltese, who beginning in 1988 was elected nine times to lead the 15th District, last Thursday and Friday forwarded an e-mail, with biographical information attached, to both Republican and Democratic commissioners on the board indicating his interest in being considered for the top spot. He also this week e-mailed BOE President Julie Dent and Deputy Executive Director George Gonzalez detailing support from Queens County Republican Party Chairman Phil Ragusa, Queens County Republican BOE Commissioner Judith Stupp and state Sen. Marty Golden (R-Brooklyn).

"I’ve always been interested in the position,” Maltese, 77, told the Chronicle Tuesday. “I thought it would be a challenge. That’s why I decided to do it.”

Maltese served the communities of Forest Hills Gardens, Glendale, Hamilton Beach, Howard Beach, Maspeth, Middle Village, Ridgewood, Woodhaven, parts of Elmhurst, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Ozone Park, Rego Park, Richmond Hill, South Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, Sunnyside and Woodside until he lost his Senate seat to Addabbo, then a city councilman, in 2008. Anthony Como, once Maltese’s chief counsel, is running to unseat the freshman Addabbo, but only after Como withdrew his own bid to lead the BOE. Como changed his mind regarding a campaign for his mentor’s senate seat twice in the span of two days in June.

Like Como, Maltese cited the upcoming debut of new voting machines as one of the main reasons he launched the bid.

“We have a very unique system here in New York — a good system, a fair system and over the years it has worked,” Maltese said. “This is the most difficult election cycle ever.”

The BOE is a bipartisan administrative body composed of 10 commissioners, two from each borough. According to a City Hall News report, the board has not had an executive director since Marcus Cedarqvist resigned in February. In order to secure the $172,000 per year gig, Maltese must get six of the commissioners to vote for him.

“Some Democrats and Republicans indicated to me I’d be a good choice, mainly because I’m not interested in a future elected office,” he said. “I’ve always gotten along with Democrats and Republicans — you have to in Queens County.”

Maltese, a native of Corona and Korean War veteran, has been an election attorney since 1961 and spent seven years as chairman of the Senate Elections Committee, a position now held by Addabbo. He holds no post with the QGOP, but still is the chairman of the board of Christ the King Regional High School in Middle Village, where he has served pro bono for 30 years.

His last day in political office was Dec. 31, 2008, but Maltese said he’s “kept a hand in” borough affairs since then.

“It’s very hard after you’ve been in politics for 40 years to not be involved,” he said.

House Hopeful and Former 'Real World' Reality Star Kevin Powell Hasn't Disclosed Personal Finances by Michael Mcauliff - NY Daily News

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House hopeful Kevin Powell, a former 'Real World' star, did not know he had to file personal finance disclosure forms in 2008. Maisel/News

Welcome to the Real World, Kevin Powell.

Powell, a former star of the MTV reality show and a second-time primary challenger to Rep. Ed Towns (D-Brooklyn), has taken more than three years to figure out House rules require him to file personal financial disclosures.

A review of House records found no disclosures from Powell in 2008 or 2010. This year's deadline was May 15.

Powell, who has cast himself as a new breed of politician who would clean up the messes of people like embattled Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel, told the Daily News Tuesday he did not know he had to file such forms in 2008.

He said this year he sought an extension, and mailed the forms at least three weeks ago; however, a fresh search of records Wednesday still revealed no disclosures.

And he also was not included on the list of candidates who sought extensions.

"My treasurer reached out to them after we talked yesterday [Tuesday], and what they said is that it takes a few days to a few weeks to process," Powell said yesterday.

"We did our due diligence," he added, though he admitted to blowing the deadline.

As far as never filing in the 2008 contest, Powell blamed his handlers. "We had a big-time consulting firm charging us a lot of money, and they missed a lot of things," he said.

Powell has been highly critical recently of the ethics-challenged Rangel, arguing he and Towns are cut from the same cloth. Towns was not impressed by Powell's arguments on disclosure.

"This guy has sort of stepped out of bounds on the law all along," Towns charged. "There's a lot of questions about him."

Towns' campaign is trying to block Powell from the September primary ballot, claiming his petition signatures are fraudulent.

mmcauliff@nydailynews.com

Former State Sen. Serf Maltese Launches Bid To Be New Board of Elections Executive Director by Edward-Isaac Dovere - City Hall News

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Former State Sen. Serf Maltese wants back into politics.

But instead of running himself, Maltese wants to run all city elections, in a bid to become the new executive director of the city Board of Elections.

“I am writing you to indicate that I would like to be considered for the position of Executive Director of the Board of Elections in the City of New York,” Maltese wrote in an email that was sent around to commissioners Wednesday evening. “My biography accompanies this request and I believe that my background and experience would qualify me for this position of great responsibility and importance.”

That 2,000-word biography details Maltese’s history in local politics, hitting all the highlights and many of the awards he picked up during his 20 years representing Queens in the State Senate. Maltese lost by double digits to Joe Addabbo in 2008 in one of the two seats that swung the majority to the Democrats.

And in an ironic twist, Addabbo is this year being challenged by former Council Member Anthony Como, who had been agitating for the executive director job before pulling out at the last minute to pursue the State Senate race. Como, though a former commissioner, had been unable to rally the six votes necessary to get a majority of the 10 commissioners.

In his email to the commissioners, Maltese indicated that he had a running start in getting to six.

“I can assure you that I have the confidence and backing of my Queens County Chairman, the Honorable Phil Ragusa, our Queens County Republican Commissioner the Honorable Judith Stupp and my former Senate colleague Senator Marty Golden,” Maltese wrote.

The top position at the city Board of Elections has been vacant since February, when Marcus Cederqvist resigned, and the process of picking his replacement has been stuck in a largely partisan stalemate: four Democratic commissioners and one Republican, from Staten Island are looking to promote deputy executive director George Gonzalez, but have been blocked from reaching a majority by the Staten Island Democratic commissioner, Michael Ryan, who remains undecided, and the four remaining Republicans.

The Staten Island Republican commissioner, J.P. Sipp, is said to be allying with the four Democrats thanks to the efforts of John Haggerty, the operative indicted by the Manhattan district attorney in the Independence Party probe, but also one of the leaders of the anti-Phil Ragusa faction of the Queens Republicans.

After Como’s decision to run against Addabbo, J.C. Polanco—the Bronx Republican commissioner and the secretary of the Board—had put himself forward as an alternative. But as the Board has been dealing with a budget crisis and the complicated run-up to the roll-out of new optical scan voting machines for the fall elections, the search for someone to fill the top job has remained frozen.

Reached late Wednesday, Polanco said he was focused on his duties as a commissioner fielding objections to petitions and as the director of Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb’s New York City and Westchester regional office.

“I haven’t spoken to Senator Maltese as of yet regarding his interest,” Polanco wrote. “I’m in the middle of working with my colleagues on voting on specific objections to petitions for the next several days. And along with a busy special session with Assembly Republican Leader Kolb, I’m going to have my hands full. I hope to have an opportunity to discuss our views as to the direction the NYC Board of Elections in this very important year.”

Maltese could not be immediately reached for comment.

Anthony Como Must Pay $13,000 Back to NYC CFB by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

STATEMENT RE ANTHONY COMO'S ABUSE OF CAMPAIGN CASH FROM ERIC BLANKENBAKER, DSCC SPOKESPERSON

The recent Campaign Finance Board decision fining Anthony Como $12,484 for violating campaign finance law is yet another example of this career politician's utter disregard for the law and New York' s overburdened taxpayers. Anthony Como only announced his candidacy for the State Senate after losing out on two patronage jobs; one with the Board of Elections and one as a commissioner of NYC Housing Authority.

The people of Queens deserve better than an opportunistic, unemployed politician as their State Senator. New Yorkers need a State Senator who cares about them, abides by the law and is truly interested in improving our schools, lowering taxes and creating jobs. Anthony Como has shown once again that he does not meet those criteria.

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Former New York City Council Member Anthony Como, a Republican who is running for State Senate in Queens against Joe Addabbo, must return nearly $13,000 in unspent and misspent funds to the New York City Campaign Finance Board, according to a July 22 audit released by the CFB.

The charges stem from his losing 2008 general election Council loss to Elizabeth Crowley. The repayment includes $6,800 that was spent impermissibly on phone and copy machine contracts for his campaign office that spanned well beyond Election Day, repayments of unspent campaign funds, and $100 spent on a newspaper ad for the Holy Child Jesus Team Drama Club that the CFB deemed not campaign related. The campaign was also assessed $500 in penalties.

Como, an attorney, and his Council campaign treasurer, Laura Schreiner, are personally liable to pay off the nearly $13,000 balance, which the Board must receive by August 25, according to the audit.

Como’s Council re-election campaign’s most recent CFB disclosure, filed in January 2010, showed only $5,200 in his account. After an inquiry from City Hall, Como said he would double check whether he had enough money in the account to pay the $13,000 balance.

“I’ve been busy with the State Senate campaign, but I’m going to find out,” he said. “I believe the money should be in the account.”

Eric Friedman, a spokesman for the New York City Campaign Finance Board, said that Como would likely be allowed to pay off his remaining debt through his State Senate campaign’s account.

But there is not yet enough money there to pay off the balance either: according his July 15 filing, Como had raised $17,600, had spent $13,700, and had only $3,900 on hand.

Update 4:44 p.m.

John Conklin, a spokesman for the State Board of Elections, confirmed that Como could transfer money, if he so desires, from his State Senate account to pay off debt from his Council campaign.

Assembly Member Barbara Clark Petitions With The Dead In Southeast Queens by Andrew Hawkins - City Hall News

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Twelve-term Assembly Member Barbara Clark is counting on her old friends Gloria Black and Warrington Canston, two state committee members from Clark’s district in Southeast Queens, to help her win another term in office this year. And she did not let the fact that both Black and Canston are apparently dead deter her from putting their names at the top of her petitions.

Clark’s opponent, Clyde Vanel, a 36-year-old lawyer and former candidate for City Council in 2009, filed a challenge to Clark’s petitions with the Queens Board of Elections last Thursday. He said Clark’s indifference toward the petition-gathering process speaks to a wider sense of apathy in the community he hopes to provoke with his candidacy.

“That’s just ridiculous,” Vanel said. “Barbara’s county committee people, a majority of them don’t even know that they’re on county committee. We’re fighting against something that has historically kept a majority of the community uninvolved and outside the process.”

“Is a dead person a Democrat?” he asked. “I don’t know.”

But Clark could end up skating by without much damage to her re-election efforts. According to the Board of Elections, while it may seem odd to include the deceased on a candidate’s petitions, the signatures that are collected are technically counted as separate for each person on them. Therefore, while the fact that they are deceased makes Black and Canston ineligible for the ballot, as long as Clark herself is living (which she is), there is no legal problem.

Vanel said he would be disappointed if Clark got away with just a wrist slap, but noted he would not want to rob residents in the district the chance to choose between their two candidacies.

All the same, he used the opportunity to blast his opponent for doing a disservice to the political process, and to the memories of community leaders like Black and Canston, by turning in petitions that read more like the obituary pages.

“Clark is not getting people in involved and active in the process by using dead people. It’s a shame,” he said. “I have to tell my county committee people, who are working in the sun, working in the hot summer to collect signatures, that they may be running on the ballot against a dead person. It reflects badly on Clark and it reflects badly on the district.”

Vanel is part of a small-scale movement to challenge the political powerbase in Southeast Queens. He ran against and lost to Council Member Leroy Comrie last year in a race that garnered some attention for unveiling some of the dissatisfaction in the community with leaders like Comrie, Rep. Gregory Meeks and State Sen. Malcolm Smith.

Vanel has run into his own difficulties. He only raised $1,250 for the race, though Clark reported just $2,500 on hand, having raised $900. The Board of Elections also has identified a problem with a number of the petitions turned in by Vanel’s ally and mentor, Donnie Whitehead, who, along with his wife is running for district leader. Vanel said they are still mulling whether to contest the Board’s decision to disallow Whitehead and a handful of others from running as district leaders. Whitehead may run for state committee member instead, he confirmed.

“It’s been a struggle to open this process up,” Vanel said.

Clark could not be reached for comment.

Petitioning's Sign of Times - Scramble's on for Ballot Spot by Lisa L. Colangelo - NY Daily News

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GATHERING signatures on petitions is the first, and sometimes toughest, task for political candidates.

They have less than six weeks to knock on doors, visit train stations and scour shopping centers to fill petitions to secure a place on the September primary ballot.

Petitions must be submitted to the Board of Elections by July 15, but the endurance test doesn't stop there.

Insurgent candidates without party backing must fight off inevitable court challenges to the validity of signatures - a method favored by incumbents and party leaders to avoid primary battles.

"You have to get at least four times the amount of signatures required," said Lynn Nunes, a Democrat running against state Sen. Shirley Huntley in the 10th District primary. "Anything less and you leave yourself vulnerable."

Election law requires Assembly candidates to gather 500 signatures and state Senate candidates to collect 1,000 between June 8 and July 15.

Bob Friedrich, who wants to run against Assemblyman David Weprin in the Democratic primary, said he is targeting registered Democrats in the 24th District.

Assembly candidate Steve Behar, a Democrat and one of six candidates vying for the 26th District seat being vacated by Ann Margaret Carrozza, said he believes the whole petitioning process should be reformed.

"There should be some system where over a year or so you collect a smaller number of signatures and it's audited by the Board of Elections," said Behar, a lawyer from Bayside.

Carrozza's decision not to seek reelection has Republicans and Democrats scrambling. Queens Democrats have endorsed Ed Braunstein, a legislative assistant to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. Queens Republicans tapped lawyer Vince Tabone, who is also executive vice president of the Queens GOP.

The crowded field also includes former Assemblyman John Duane and lawyer Elio Forcina on the Democratic line and a second GOP candidate, retired city Police Officer Rob Speranza.

Assemblyman Michael Gianaris' bid for state Senate opens his western Queens seat in the 36th District. Aravella Simotas, Jeremiah Frei-Pearson and John Ciafone - all lawyers - are planning to run in the Democratic primary.

State Sen. Jose Peralta's former Assembly seat in the 39th District is also up for grabs, sparking a possible primary battle between disgraced former state Sen. Hiram Monserrate and Francisco Moya, a community leader backed by the Queens Democratic Party.

In Assembly District 38, Democratic incumbent Mike Miller is expected to face off with education advocate Nick Comaianni.

Anthony Miranda, executive chairman of the National Latino Officers Association, plans to run against Democratic Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry in the 35th District.

Two Democrats are looking to oust state Sen. Toby Ann Stavisky in the 16th District. Retired scientist and lottery winner Isaac Sasson has promised to use his own deep pockets to counter any petition challenge. Lawyer and businessman John Messer is also eying the seat.

New York’s New Voting Machines Flawed, Suit Says by Jack Healy - NYTimes.com

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Electronic voting machines being deployed for the first time this year across New York City and the rest of the state contain a flaw that could lead to thousands of votes being thrown out, according to a lawsuit that advocacy groups will file Monday.

The problem, according to the legal complaint, revolves around voters who accidentally pick too many candidates for a particular race — an error known as “overvoting,” which invalidates the incorrect part of their ballot.

When a voter submits such a ballot, the new machines do not automatically return it to be corrected and recast. Instead, the machines that scan the new SAT-style ballots are programmed to start beeping and to offer a choice on their digital touch-screens: a green button for voters to confirm their choices and cast their ballot, or a red button to scrap their votes and start over.

Lawrence D. Norden, senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, which is representing the New York State conference of the N.A.A.C.P., the Working Families Party and other groups in the lawsuit, said that the setup was poorly worded and confusing, and that the design of the new machines could prompt thousands of voters to press the green button accidentally, casting parts of their ballots into oblivion.

The lawsuit, filed against the State Board of Elections, says voters who are minorities or non-native English speakers would lose their votes in disproportionate numbers.

“They have to make a fast decision,” Mr. Norden said. “There are people behind them, and they tend to press ‘cast,’ especially because there’s nothing there that says, ‘Your vote will not count.’ ”

The machines tell people they have “overvoted,” but do not explain what, exactly, overvoting is, or its consequences, Mr. Norden said. And many voters are just more likely to hit a button with a green check mark than a red X — even if it has the effect of quashing part of their vote, he added.

In 2000, thousands of voters in Florida made a similar mistake by accidentally choosing two candidates for president, invalidating their selections and helping plunge the razor-thin contest into a chaotic stalemate for weeks.

The new scanning machines offer improvements like the creation of paper records of votes, but Mr. Norden said the way they were programmed to handle mistaken votes put New York at risk of sowing confusion. “This completely ignores what happened in Florida in 2000,” he said.

The old lever-operated machines prevented overvoting by locking themselves up if a voter flipped too many switches for various candidates. But Douglas Kellner, co-chairman of the New York State Board of Elections, called the conflict “a very minor issue” and said the new voting machines had taken a trial run in some upstate counties in elections last year with no major problems.

Rather than reprogram thousands of voting machines a few months before the primaries in September, Mr. Kellner said the board had agreed to assess how the system performed after the elections in November, in which New Yorkers will select a governor and vote on both Senate seats, among other races.

“We have a completely new system,” Mr. Kellner said. “That’s why the consensus is, don’t do an emergency fix of this one little minor point right now.”

A spokesman for the elections board called the new machines “compliant and legally sufficient” and said that tweaking how they handle improperly completed ballots would take months of testing and layers of approval to recertify the changes.

The new machines, which replace the lever-operated antiques many election districts in New York had used for decades, sprang from the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which aimed to update voting machines to prevent another election marred by thousands of rejected ballots. Voters in New York will now fill out ovals on a paper ballot, feed the ballot into a scanning machine and drop it into a locked box.

Public-interest groups began raising concerns about the potential for invalidated ballots this winter, citing a study in June 2009 by the Florida Fair Elections Coalition that attributed high numbers of overvoting in Florida’s 2008 elections to flaws in some electronic voting systems.

A letter sent in February to the New York State Board of Elections from several groups, including the Brennan Center, said that as many as 40,000 votes could be lost in a heavy election year.

Mr. Kellner disputed that estimate, saying the number was “made up out of thin air.”

The lawsuit says the current setup violates the Voting Rights Act and asks that New York not use the new machines until more safeguards are put in place.

The complaint, which was given to The New York Times by the Brennan Center, says that Wisconsin developed its system to “return a ballot to the voter immediately” if the scanning machine noted an overvote.

Connecticut does the same thing, said its secretary of state, Susan Bysiewicz, adding that it gives voters a chance to fix the ballot or to send it through, errors and all.

“This can happen a lot,” Ms. Bysiewicz said. “It’s much better if the voter has the opportunity to ask a question of a poll worker and be given the opportunity to vote a fresh ballot.”

NYS Dems Filing Board Of Elections Complaint V. Rick Lazio: (Updated) by Celeste Katz - The Daily Politics - NY Daily News

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The state Democratic Party is going after GOP gubernatorial nominee Rick Lazio's relationship with JPMorgan Chase, saying even though the Republican is currently on unpaid leave from his job there, he may still have access to perks -- like the use of corporate jets -- that could count as in-kind contributions.

“Given how fed up people are with Wall Street, Rick Lazio’s decision not to make a clean break from JPMorgan Chase makes no sense unless there’s some substantial financial upside for him,” said NYS Dems ED Charlie King. “There is certainly no political upside for him.”

“We already know Lazio’s decision to maintain an ongoing relationship with JPMorgan Chase doesn’t look good. The real question for the Board of Elections is whether any laws were broken,” added King. “Today, we’re asking the Board of Elections to determine what kind of financial arrangement Lazio has with JPMorgan Chase and whether it runs afoul of campaign finance rules.”

Responded Team Lazio's Barney Keller:

"Charlie King sounds like he's auditioning for a part on the X-Files, because everyday his conspiracy theories are getting more bizarre and out of control. On the other hand, it is a fact that Andrew Cuomo has taken over $7 million from the special interests to protect Albany's special-interest government. That's something he'll have to address with the voters in November."

Update: The Board of Elections declined comment on the complaint.

By the way, I have uploaded as many CPI disclosure forms as I can currently get right here on Scribd for anyone who's interested..

Como Throws Hat in Race Against Addabbo by Howard Koplowitz - YourNabe.com

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State Sen. Joseph Addabbo (l.) is being challenged by former City Councilman Anthony Como. Photos by Christina Santucci

Just as it looked as if state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Howard Beach) would be free of opponents for re-election in a contentious western Queens district, former City Councilman Anthony Como,a Republican, said he would challenge the one-term senator.

Como, a former city Board of Elections commissioner who briefly held a Council seat now occupied by City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village) following a special election in 2008, said he had been grappling with whether to run against Addabbo.

“It was something that I had been contemplating for some time,” Como said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Como was being considered for the $170,000 a year executive director position at the city Board of Elections, but said he withdraw from consideration last week to mount a bid against Addabbo.

“With all the calls, texts and e-mails I received, I changed my mind,” Como said.

Como said having a Democratic governor and Democrats being in control of the state Legislature are not benefitting people in the 15 Senate District, which includes Howard Beach, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Glendale, Middle Village and Ridgewood.

“We see that the one-party tyranny of the state Legislature just hasn’t worked,” Como said. “We have a budget that has been dragging this entire state down. This is not a game. This is people’s lives. This is children’s lives and senior’s lives.”

But Addabbo said the Democrats are not to blame for the state’s economic situation, pointing out that 39 other states have budget deficits.

“I don’t think the party has anything to do with it,” he said. “

Como pointed to his accomplishments during his brief stint on the Council, including speeding up a Ridgewood landmark project, getting a downzoning of Middle Village approved and securing funds for seniors centers that were threatened to be closed, to show that he is a viable candidate.

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Como said there is a “lack of leadership” in the district and that Addabbo should have done more to stand up to leaders in his own party.

“We need a person that will stand up,” he said.

“People have felt that there is a time for change and there is definitely time for someone to lead this senate district than what has been happening for a year and a half,” Como said.

Addabbo said he does not vote along party lines, noting he took heat for his vote against gay marriage and he does stand up to leaders in his party.

“The reason you don’t hear about it in the papers is because I do it professionally,” he said.

When It Comes To Campaign Cash, There's Bloomberg... And Then There's Everyone Else by Celeste Katz - Daily Politics - NY Daily News

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It's true: Billionaire Mayor Bloomberg, all by his lonesome, donated more money to campaigns in 2009 than the rest of the entire state's donors put together.

Click on image to enlarge...

Obviously, most of that -- about $102 million -- was spent on his self-financed bid to win a third term, which he did in a narrow $175-per-vote victory over former city Comptroller Bill Thompson.

Bloomberg gave $109,490,000. Everybody else put together gave $90,723,510.19.

It really jumps out at you when you see it as a graph, which you can right here, courtesy of NYPIRG.

2009 Contribs From NY Residents

For Addabbo No Town Hall is Too Small by Daniel Bush - Glendale Register

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All politics is local all the time for State Senator Joseph Addabbo, who held another yet another town hall-style meeting, this one at I.S. 93 in Ridgewood.

Only three dozen residents braved the heat to hear Addabbo speak June 3, but the longtime elected official, who clearly relishes such meetings, appeared unmoved by the low turnout.

After losing his suit jacket (the tie stayed on), Addabbo jumped into a host of issues, from the Ridgewood Reservoir to the census to the elections this fall.

Community residents are battling the city over its plan to redevelop part of the Ridgewood Reservoir, the slice of overgrown wilderness on the Brooklyn-Queens border. Without referencing the Parks Department specifically, Addabbo said he opposes plans to build in the area.

“I am not in favor of any construction being done at the Ridgewood Reservoir,” he said.

A group of opponents recently met with Comptroller John Liu's office in a bid to block the city's plan, which Liu could do by freezing the Parks contract for the project.

Phase one work would upgrade pathways, fencing, and lighting around the three-basin reservoir, which is also being eyed by the state for possible protection. More controversial still is a proposed phase two plan that could include recreational fields for the reservoir's third basin.

Residents say the city should improve the ball fields at Highland Park, just steps from the reservoir, and leave the space as a nature preserve. Addabbo echoed that feeling.

“I love parkland and playgrounds, but I'm not going to destroy nature for another playground” when Highland Park is right nearby, he said.

On the upcoming election, Addabbo, who chairs the State Senate's Elections Committee, said now is not the time to make the switch to new voting machines.

The state has been ordered to do so to comply with federal legislation passed after the controversial presidential election in 2000. But Addabbo said New York doesn't have enough money to train poll workers in preparation for what promises to be a busy election season, and would be better served by waiting until next year.

“We're not ready financially,” he said. But if the state is forced to make the switch, he added, “somehow we will make it work.”

Como Flips Decision, Will Challenge Addabbo For State Senate by Edward-Isaac Dovere - City Hall News

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J.C. Polanco is a Possible Republican Replacement for GOP Pick to Run Board of Elections

What a difference 30 hours can make...

In the space of that time, former Council Member Anthony Como went from confirming with City Hall on Sunday afternoon that he would not be a State Senate candidate, to being convinced by a deluge of calls from some of the state’s top Republicans, his county chair and constituents that he would, in fact, begin collecting petitions to challenge Joe Addabbo in Queens as early as Tuesday.

“It’s 10:30 at night, I’m talking to you, and I basically an hour-and-a-half ago decided that this city and state can use me in the 15^th Senate District,” Como told City Hall late into the evening on Monday.

Como attributed his decision in large part to the response to a City Hall article from Monday morning that explained what had been his decision to skip the Senate race to focus on trying to be selected as the new executive director of the city Board of Elections. Though Como said state GOP chair Ed Cox was not among those who reached out, Queens GOP chair Phil Ragusa was, as were State Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos, Senate Republican Campaign Committee (SRCC) chair Tom Libous and Brooklyn State Sen. Marty Golden.

“They seriously hoped I would run, seriously hoped I would reconsider, which I have,” he said.

Como said they reaffirmed pledges for extensive financial and political support in what he has been told will be their priority race for the fall in the fight what could prove the crucial swing seat in determining whether Democrats are able to keep their slim majority in the Senate.

He was also reminded of SRCC polls that he said show him close to Addabbo, and in some cases, beating him.

“There’s been polls taken, and those polls, I’ve been informed, have me leading the incumbent, Joe Addabbo at this time,” Como said. “I think it was about four points, if I remember correctly.”

Como has not been a candidate since his last race for Council, in November 2008, when he lost the seat he had won in a special election just five months earlier. He said he has no lingering campaign operation, and campaign finance records show him with a $0 balance in his Council campaign account.

As of Monday, Como had no active campaign operation together, but he said he was planning to file the paperwork to create one and open a fundraising account shortly.

He said he had spent part of Monday evening calling the commissioners who had backed him for the Board of Elections job, apologizing to them for backing out on the promises he had just the day before said he could not break.

According to Como, his supporters for the executive director job backed his decision.

“As they thought about it, they decided that it may be best for all parties,” Como said. “They were disappointed in one act, but happy and proud in the next.”

Asked whether his withdrawal should lead to a rush of support for the top job to longtime Board deputy director George Gonzalez, the Democratic-backed executive director candidate, Como said, “I honestly don’t.”

Como framed the argument partially in partisan terms, and took another swipe at Gonzalez’s management of the Board in the four months since Marcus Cederqvist resigned.

“I believe it should definitely remain a Republican spot. There’s no reason the top spot should go to a Democrat,” Como said. “I don’t know who the replacement will be, but I think George had an opportunity to prove himself and he didn’t.”

One possible replacement is J.C. Polanco, the Republican commissioner from the Bronx who serves as secretary of the board—and whose day job is to be the director of Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb’s New York City office—was already making calls late Monday to gauge support among the county leaders and fellow commissioners.

Referring to the stalemate among the 10 commissioners that has frozen the appointment process since February, Polanco said, “The question is, can we get to six votes?”

Polanco said that he was planning to speak to his family, Kolb and his fellow commissioners about pursuing the position in the days ahead, but expressed confidence that he would be able to rally enough support to win the backing of a majority of commissioners.

“I’m not interested in the stalemate,” he said. “I’m really just interested in having a conversation with my colleagues and seeing what they think the future of the board is. “

Polanco, who holds an MBA and JD from Fordham, is also an adjunct business professor at the Center for Ethnic Studies'at CUNY’s Borough of Manhattan Community College. As he likes to remind people, he was a bat boy for the Yankees as a child.

But his Republican registration might be one of the most important qualifications for the job as executive director of the Board, Polanco explained.

Given the massive Democratic registration advantage in the five boroughs, Polanco said, “to have a Republican executive director speaks volumes about bipartisanship in this city.”