It looks like the City Council fights in Flatbush and East Flatbush’s 40th and 45th districts may be decided in the courtroom rather than a voting booth.
All of the candidates in both elections have had petition challenges filed against them, the city’s Board of Elections confirmed this week.
In an ironic twist, the lion’s share of the challenges were filed against one person –incumbent Mathieu Eugene of the 40th District in East Flatbush.
As of this writing, seven challenges had been filed against Eugene. Most of them involved sloppy paperwork.
Apparently, Eugene’s signature collectors did not staple the forms on several of the volumes, opting to paper clip and wrap them in rubber bands instead, according to one challenge. Other volumes didn’t have the appropriate reference numbers.
The other two candidates hoping to be on the ballot in the Democratic primary for the 40th District, blogger and longtime political critic Rock Hackshaw and Leithland Rickie Tulloch, had five and four challenges filed against them, respectively, officials said.
“I’m not surprised [by the challenges],” Hackshaw said in an interview with this paper. “There are a lot of people who don’t care to see me in office because I’ve always been kicking a–, so I guess that’s okay. That’s how the game is played. I don’t agree with it because I believe everyone should face the voters, but I understand it.”
Hackshaw, who lost a bid for Assembly in 1998 and then again in 2000 in a run for District Leader, has had some difficulties in the current race against Eugene.
According to City Hall News, the campaign has been wrought with problems, including the loss of three campaign managers.
While the challenges regarding the validity of his petitions does not brighten his mood, Hackshaw promised that he would get on the ballot.
“It’s been a dogged campaign, but once I get past the petition challenges and make the ballot, I am going to win the race,” he said.
But when it comes to confidence, he’s got some company.
Eugene, who has already been through three campaigns to secure his seat in the City Council, also said that victory was assured.
“I know that there have been challenges and I have my lawyer working on it, but I am confident that we will be victorious,” said Eugene, who believes the high number of challenges shows that the competition is running scared.
“I’m the incumbent and [my competition] knows that I am the strongest candidate — the one who is going to win,” he said. “Still, I don’t take anything for granted and I will be working hard to show the people that serving them again is my passion.”
If Eugene’s challenges lead to some signatures getting pulled, it probably wouldn’t hurt him that much. Eugene’s camp had filed over 6,000 signatures by July 16, significantly more than the 900 required to get on the ballot.
In the neighboring 40th District — where seven people are vying to unseat incumbent City Councilmember Kendall Stewart — candidates shrugged off the 23 challenges spread out against them.
Officials from the Board of Elections said that candidate Rodrick Daley had three challenges filed against him. Two challenges were each filed against candidates Ernest Emmanuel and Erlene King while Dexter McKenzie will be fighting four challenges against his petitions.
Two people even challenged Stewart’s petitions, Board of Elections officials noted. Calls to Stewart were not returned as this paper went to press.
“[Stewart] is a very poor council member and people want to get him out,” said candidate Jumanee Williams, who is staving off four challenges.
“[The challenges] make me feel good,” Williams said. “It shows that my competition is a little worried about me.”
The candidate who “got off easy” was Goodwin Williams — no relation to Jumanee — who will only have to defend his petitions against one challenge.
The candidate with the most challenges was Samuel Taitt, who lost to Stewart in 2005.
“Some people took a look at our petitions and I can understand that,” Taitt said. “We did not get as many petition signatures as others because we chose not to pay people to get them. But we had a methodical strategy in collecting them, so I’m sure it’s resulted in legitimate, clean petitions.”
“They’re running scared because they want me off the ballot,” he said.
While general challenges have been filed, the Board of Elections won’t pull anyone off the ballot until specific challenges have been filed.
As this paper went to press, specific challenges did not have to be in for a few more days.
