"Petitions with too many stray markings or cross-outs can result in summary removal from the ballot. Candidates that changed political parties less than one general election ago may not witness petitions as members of a different party. And so on. Seven candidates for district leader in Central Brooklyn were bounced because their petitions indicated they were running for the office universally called "district leader." That would have been fine in most boroughs, but in Brooklyn the office goes by a different name: State Committee.
Insiders are unforgiving about such errors. Referring to the seven victims of the "district leader" goof, Jeff Feldman, the enforcer-in-chief of the Brooklyn Democratic organization, told me, "I'm not accusing these people of fraud, I'm accusing these people of utter stupidity."Daily News, August 21, 2002
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
Thursday, August 1, 2002
Feldman: Ballot Access Dead on Arrival
"But that may not be enough to get the insurgents on the ballot. 'Most of these insurgents are already toast,' the executive director of the Brooklyn Democratic organization, Jeffrey Feldman, said. "County's not even going to knock them off the ballot - they're dead on arrival."
New York Sun, August 1, 2002
New York Sun, August 1, 2002
Tuesday, April 2, 2002
We Are Above the Law
"As solid as the News stories were, they did not point out the case their own facts made for criminal charges. Between May and August of last year, Norman, who is also an assemblyman, got the county party he controls to make three loans totaling $115,000 to the assembly committee he controls. He told reporters that the interest-free loans were used to pay workers in a variety of city campaigns last year. ''The work of the Democratic county organization is performed by the local political clubs,'' he said. ''The various district leaders hire people to go out and give out flyers and to assist with the get-out-the-vote effort.''
The problem is that it's a misdemeanor violation of Section 2-126 of the state election law for a party organization to spend one cent of its money on a primary, or for ''any person representing or acting on behalf of a party or party committee'' to do the same. Since all of these loans--the largest in county party history, according to its spokesman, Jeff Feldman--came during the primary campaign, every expenditure made by Norman's committee designed to aid a primary candidate would constitute a potential misdemeanor. The loans cannot be explained, as Feldman claimed, by calling them ''a bridge loan'' designed to resolve ''a cash-flow problem'' with Norman's committee, since Norman had no race in 2001 and started the year with a $108,193 balance.
Feldman also contends that these so-called loans--which Norman repaid only after he was contacted by the News--don't violate state law because the prohibition covers only expenditures by a party committee, not loans. Presumably, any competent prosecutor could demonstrate that shifting the funds between committees was a transparent circumvention of the party's spending ban.
While misdemeanor violations of the election law are punishable by up to a year in prison, the statutes also provide that a repeated practice of violation can constitute a felony. Since Norman's committee did not report receiving two of the loans, it's not possible to fully determine how much of the party funds were dispersed for primary activities. But clearly some were--for example, immediately after receiving the one reported loan, the committee paid $2133 to a printer and $8000 to two Norman campaign operatives, Carmen Martinez and William Boone."
Village Voice, April 2, 2002
The problem is that it's a misdemeanor violation of Section 2-126 of the state election law for a party organization to spend one cent of its money on a primary, or for ''any person representing or acting on behalf of a party or party committee'' to do the same. Since all of these loans--the largest in county party history, according to its spokesman, Jeff Feldman--came during the primary campaign, every expenditure made by Norman's committee designed to aid a primary candidate would constitute a potential misdemeanor. The loans cannot be explained, as Feldman claimed, by calling them ''a bridge loan'' designed to resolve ''a cash-flow problem'' with Norman's committee, since Norman had no race in 2001 and started the year with a $108,193 balance.
Feldman also contends that these so-called loans--which Norman repaid only after he was contacted by the News--don't violate state law because the prohibition covers only expenditures by a party committee, not loans. Presumably, any competent prosecutor could demonstrate that shifting the funds between committees was a transparent circumvention of the party's spending ban.
While misdemeanor violations of the election law are punishable by up to a year in prison, the statutes also provide that a repeated practice of violation can constitute a felony. Since Norman's committee did not report receiving two of the loans, it's not possible to fully determine how much of the party funds were dispersed for primary activities. But clearly some were--for example, immediately after receiving the one reported loan, the committee paid $2133 to a printer and $8000 to two Norman campaign operatives, Carmen Martinez and William Boone."
Village Voice, April 2, 2002
Sunday, December 2, 2001
Not, We the People, WE THE MACHINE
"While not 100% accurate - the party machine occasionally does lose - Feldman reveals the contempt in which pols hold the principle of an independent judiciary. Not surprisingly, ex-politicians, county bosses and district leaders clutter the bench. The old saw that there are only three ways to leave elective office - indictment, death or a judgeship - isn't far off the mark.
After a comprehensive review, the Daily News has concluded that of the city's roughly 180 elected Supreme Court justices and surrogates, at least 89, virtually half, are ill-chosen or unfit. The judiciary may disagree, but this finding is based on a large body of fact.
Who are the judge makers? They're people like Jeffrey Feldman, executive director of the Brooklyn Democratic organization and husband of an elected judge. Feldman once boasted, "We haven't lost a judicial seat in over 100 years." He didn't mean "we, the people." He meant "we, the clubhouse." That says it all." - Daily News, Editorial, December 2, 2001
After a comprehensive review, the Daily News has concluded that of the city's roughly 180 elected Supreme Court justices and surrogates, at least 89, virtually half, are ill-chosen or unfit. The judiciary may disagree, but this finding is based on a large body of fact.
Who are the judge makers? They're people like Jeffrey Feldman, executive director of the Brooklyn Democratic organization and husband of an elected judge. Feldman once boasted, "We haven't lost a judicial seat in over 100 years." He didn't mean "we, the people." He meant "we, the clubhouse." That says it all." - Daily News, Editorial, December 2, 2001
Wednesday, August 1, 2001
Judge Sweeney and Nadelson Insects
"One reason that Roper's candidacy for district attorney has raised the special ire of the county Democratic party is that she circulated her petitions along with two insurgent candidates for Brooklyn Civil Court - Peter Sweeney and Eileen Nadelson - who would challenge the party's picks for the court.
If you have an insect flying around the room, and it has bitten you twice, said Jeff Feldman, counsel for the Brooklyn Democratic Party, 'then you do something about it.'" - Daily News, august 1, 2001
(Both Peter Sweeney and Eileen Nadelson beat feldman's county backed candidates and were elected to the Brooklyn Civil Court.)
If you have an insect flying around the room, and it has bitten you twice, said Jeff Feldman, counsel for the Brooklyn Democratic Party, 'then you do something about it.'" - Daily News, august 1, 2001
(Both Peter Sweeney and Eileen Nadelson beat feldman's county backed candidates and were elected to the Brooklyn Civil Court.)
Friday, May 4, 2001
Blocking Candidates From the Ballot
"The Democratic State Committee is to decide whether to resurrect the language of a state law that a federal appeals court struck down as unconstitutional last year, and make it a rule of the party.
The law required that in each legislative district, anyone collecting signatures to get a candidate on a primary ballot must be a resident of that district. The provision made it hard for anyone who was not backed by the party establishment to circulate petitions, strengthening the control of party leaders.
Democrats can't chide Republicans for trying to block Senator McCain from the ballot, and then turn around and try to erect ballot roadblocks to candidates in their own parties," said Gene Russianoff, a lawyer with the New York Public Interest Research Group, which has asked the party not to adopt the rule.
Mr. Feldman said the rule was not meant to block candidates, and added that letting anyone collect signatures would allow those outside a district to work against a lawmaker." - New York Times, May 4, 2001
The law required that in each legislative district, anyone collecting signatures to get a candidate on a primary ballot must be a resident of that district. The provision made it hard for anyone who was not backed by the party establishment to circulate petitions, strengthening the control of party leaders.
Democrats can't chide Republicans for trying to block Senator McCain from the ballot, and then turn around and try to erect ballot roadblocks to candidates in their own parties," said Gene Russianoff, a lawyer with the New York Public Interest Research Group, which has asked the party not to adopt the rule.
Mr. Feldman said the rule was not meant to block candidates, and added that letting anyone collect signatures would allow those outside a district to work against a lawmaker." - New York Times, May 4, 2001
Wednesday, August 12, 1998
New York's Election Laws Are A Disgrace
"When challenges do cross party lines, they can have widespread political effects. "When it happens . . . we tend to literally become sort of Mafia-oriented," said Jeffrey Feldman, executive director of the Kings County Democratic County Committee. "You cross us, we'll make your life hell for a while."Hill, July 28, 1998
"The reason for the pagination requirement -- and similar rules -- is the state's assumption that candidates are often up to no good. Pagination diminishes the likelihood that people have removed pages from a petition or inserted pages in the petition after it's been filed, according to Jeffrey Feldman, executive director of the Kings County Democratic Committee. And pagination makes it easy to identify a challenged signature.
In New York, petitions also can be thrown out if signatures do not have a date next to them and if corrections are not initialed by a witness. Other rules require campaign workers or volunteers who collect signatures for petitions (called witnesses) to either be authorized to take an oath (a notary public, for example), or must themselves be registered to that party, live in the district and not have signed another petition for the same office. The sum and substance of these rules is to discourage maverick candidates who have failed to gain the imprimatur of the political bosses." - Hill, August 12, 1998
"The reason for the pagination requirement -- and similar rules -- is the state's assumption that candidates are often up to no good. Pagination diminishes the likelihood that people have removed pages from a petition or inserted pages in the petition after it's been filed, according to Jeffrey Feldman, executive director of the Kings County Democratic Committee. And pagination makes it easy to identify a challenged signature.
In New York, petitions also can be thrown out if signatures do not have a date next to them and if corrections are not initialed by a witness. Other rules require campaign workers or volunteers who collect signatures for petitions (called witnesses) to either be authorized to take an oath (a notary public, for example), or must themselves be registered to that party, live in the district and not have signed another petition for the same office. The sum and substance of these rules is to discourage maverick candidates who have failed to gain the imprimatur of the political bosses." - Hill, August 12, 1998
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