Nomination deadlines pass, not lawsuits
In Mineola, Nassau County Presiding Officer Peter J. Schmitt gestures as he talks about the new 2011 Legislative District Map for Nassau County to correct inequities uncovered by the 2010 U.S. Census data which he filed for. (April 26, 2011) Credit: Newsday/Karen Wiles Stabile
The annual deadline has come and gone for election candidates to file their required nominating petitions. So has the deadline for rivals to challenge those petitions. So has the deadline for minor parties to permit nonmembers to run on their tickets.
But even with these preliminaries supposedly locked up, a court battle persists -- over the very definition of the 19 districts that Nassau County's legislative candidates look to represent.
Last week, acting State Supreme Court Justice Steven Jaeger, a Democrat, ruled for the Democrats seeking to run this year on the old district lines. This week, Republican officials -- insisting their new map, signed into law, should apply in November -- head to the Appellate Division.
And as the courts lag behind the election schedule, chances for chaos mount.
Democrats filed their petitions for seats as they've existed under the old map. Republicans and Conservatives filed using the new map -- but also under the old map, to be safe. Now, if Jaeger's 22-page ruling is overturned on appeal, are all the Democrats' petitions for nominations to 19 voided seats void?
Or, if Jaeger's reasoning prevails, will those unusual dual filings on the "R" and "C" lines force unintended primaries between candidates, as Democratic lawyer Tom Garry suggests? A related question: If these GOP lines are rejected for this year, do they remain valid for the 2013 elections, as Presiding Officer Peter Schmitt (R-Massapequa) says? Answers are awaited.
OFF THE MAP: Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo vowed to veto any gerrymandered state redistricting maps drawn by the legislature. Bill Samuels of the reform group New Roosevelt Initiative has been urging him to create a panel to draw its own preferred map. Gov. Mario Cuomo faced the prospect of a redistricting veto in 1992, saying that year: "Just vetoing this and throwing it away doesn't produce a plan. We must get the lines drawn. And either we do our own lines or we leave it to people we did not elect, we do not know" -- meaning a court-appointed master.
REFERENDUM RUN-UP: "Vote Yes 2011," aimed at next Monday's vote on the Nassau arena financing, reported spending $167,505 as of July 14, funded by the Islanders. An opposing "Committee for Smart Growth on Long Island" reported $35,000 in expenses, funded by the Association for a Better Long Island real-estate group.
UP & RUNNING:Nassau's GOP comptroller appears serious: "George Maragosfor U.S. Senate 2012" signs were spotted in Rensselaer County.
