Rochester, NY (July 20, 2010) -- On July 15th, candidates running for office in Monroe County were required to submit their designating petitions to the Btoard of Elections. All local offices -- from NYS Assemblymember or Senator, County Court Judge, town judgeships, even members of county party committees (yes, those are elected offices) -- require varying numbers of signatures by eligible voters to qualify that candidate for office.

Why does The Beacon cover this admittedly arcane part of the electoral process? Because some interesting stories come to light in this process -- stories that often reveal some deeper truth about how local political contenders operate. Plus, these details rarely get any coverage in mainstream media outlets -- making it all the more important that educated consumers of political information have an outlet to follow these stories.

On the Republican side -- clear paths to November

As is typical of Monroe County Republicans, there will be no primaries for state legislative offices this September: Senators Jim Alesi and Joe Robach and Assembly candidates Kenneth Kraus, Mark Scuderi, Bill Reilich and Mark Johns all submitted the only pettions for their respective offices on the Republican side. Barring someone filing an opportunity to ballot petition (which forces a primary to permit a person to write in a candidate), these will be the Republican slate for Albany in November. Missing from the list? A candidate to run in the 133rd Assembly Distict (currently represented by David Gantt). Republicans tend to be pragmatic in developing their candidates: why waste resources in the 133rd when no Republican can win there? Not exactly a show of respect for competitive democracy, but then again Republicans have never placed a high premium on such trifles.

On the Democratic side -- some family affairs to settle

In some ways, Democrats envy the relative peace of Republicans. Hardly a year passes where one Democrat is not challenging another in some race while party leaders wrong their hands and worry about the impact of such contests on the party. But one reason Democrats are more likely to primary is that in the city, the party is the only game in town. If you do not happen to be the party's choice, the only alternative is to contest the only election that counts: the September primary.

So, it probably comes as no suprise that there are some potential Democratic primaries shaping up this fall.

The most well-publicized one is in the 131st Assembly District. As expected, Harry Bronson, Willa Powell, Malik Evans and Harry Davis have all submitted petitions in that contest. As of this writing, Bronson will be on the ballot: the deadline for objecting to his petitions has passed, so he will be on. Powell's petitions have been generally challenged by the leader of her own 23rd LD Democratic Committee, Allan Richards. Richards has until Thursday to substantiate his objections with a more detailed filing explaining why he believes Powell's petitions are insufficient. Both Evans' and Davis' petitions were filed on the last day, meaning potential challenges to their petitions needed to be filed by 5:00 pm Monday (a follow-up article will report on the status of these filings). The Richards challenge -- and almost certain challenges of the Evans and Davis petitions should not be surprising: the Monroe County Democratic Committee has designated Bronson in this race, so they -- or any voter -- has the right to challenge the petiions of the other candidates. Obviously, the party has a heightened incentive to do so: they want to clear the field for Bronson and also discourage Democrats from making a habit of forcing primaries.

In the 132nd District, represented by County Chair Joe Morelle, a bit of a surprise: despite interest by some activists keen to challenge Morelle, no candidate (other than Morelle himself) filed Democratic petitions. Since the deadline to challenge Morelle has passed, he will be on the November ballot, facing his Republican opponent, Mark Scuderi.

The 133rd District features the challenge of incumbent Assemblymember David Gantt by School Board Commissioner Van H. White. White, who is claiming residency in the 133rd District (a NYS Constitutional requirement), is likely to find his petitions challenged on that basis (and perhaps others). Those interested in starting that process were required to file their initial objections by 5:00 pm on Monday. Gantt's petitions have already been challenged. Michael Mason, a former candidate for School Board, filed general objections to the Gantt petitions on July 16th and has until Thursday to file a more specific complaint.

Monroe County's other Assembly Districts -- the 134th (represented by Republican County Chair Bill Reilich) and the 135th (represented by Democrat David Koon) drew uncontested democratic candidates: David Zimmerman challenging Reilich and Koon running to retain his seat. The Senate Districts -- Jim Alesi's 55th and Joe Robach's 56th -- will be contested by Democrats Mary Wilmot and Robin Wilt, respectively. Neither Wilmot nor Wilt will face a primary challenge.

Perhaps the most intriguing primary of all on the Democratic side is one that might emerge for a seat on the County Democratic Committee. Members of the County Committee sometimes do not even realize they ar elected officials, potentially subject to a primary election -- but in fact, they are. In the 23rd LD, election District 20, the party's slate of candidates consists of  Sean Hart (MCDC Communications Director), Patrick Malgieri (longtime Democratic strategist and parliamentarian -- husband of Deputy Mayor Patty Malgieri), and School Board Commissioner Willa Powell and her husband, Donald.  But a second slate of four committee members has been submitted for that district, consisting of the Powell couple, Maragaret Powell and Sarah Partner. The first slate of candidates has been objected to by Willa Powell; the second set has been objected to by Patrick Malgieri.

A cursory review of the petitions submitted in this situation shed some light on the nature of this challenge: The party's slate consisted of a single page of 10 signatures submitted by Sean Hart. The signatures were collected on June 23rd. An additional sheet of 7 signatures were submitted by Thomas Hasman -- but those signatures were dated July 14th (for all practical purposes, the last day to collect signatures). By contrast, the Powell slate of challengers (the slate challenged by Patrick Malgieri), consisted of 4 pages of signatures, totalling 59. Many of these signatures were collected at the outset of petition season: June 11-13.

Here's what it appears is going on (an inquiry to Powell has ths far gone unanswered): Powell, already running for the 131st Assembly District, got out early to collect signatures. Perhaps to thumb her nose at the party -- or perhaps for more substantial reasons -- she carried an alternate slate of committee members in her home election district. Because she was out early, her signatures are more likely to hold up in a challenge: that is, if Sean Hart collected signatures from some of the same people as Powell, but collected them later, his signatures would be invalid.

Indeed, at least 2 of Hart's 10 signatures appear to be duplicates of Powell's -- and in both cases, the Powell signatures were earlier. This, then, explains the late effort by Mr. Hasman. Board of Elections records show that Powell filed her petitions on July 13th. Hasman, no doubt alerted to the alternate slate by party insiders, was pressed into service to help collect extra signatures to keep the party's committee slate on the ballot.

If neither slate is declared ineligible, voters in the 23rd LD, 20th ED will have the rare opportunity to vote directly for the people they wish to represent them on the Monroe County Democratic Committee. If the Powell-led alternate slate triumphs, two prominent committee members, Sean Hart and Patrick Malgieri, will have suffered an embarrassing -- but not substantively important -- defeat. 

Why don't Republicans enjoy this kind of fun?

Third Parties -- some interesting contests

In the Independence Party, there appears to be a battle royale to gain that party's line for County Court Judge and Family Court Judge. All three Democrats and all three Republicans running for County Court Judge have filed papers for the Independence line -- and all have generated challenges. Likewise, the Democrat and Republican running for Family Court have also sought the Independence line and have also both been challenged.

Perhaps more intriguing: Jim Alesi, Republican state Senator from the 55th District, has filed papers to run on the Conservative line. Despite the fact that no other candidate is challenging Alesi on that line, two voters have filed general objections to Alesi's petitions. Perhaps Alesi is not considered "conservative" enough for the party? Or perhaps Democrats see an opportunity to deprive Alesi of an additional ballot line in November. Specific objections in that case are due Thursday.

Why do petitions matter?

So, what is the relevance of all of the above? Well, first of all, collecting valid petition signatures is an importan tpart of running for office. Already, one can see which candidates merely talked about running and which ones followed through with shoe leather to get on the ballot. As to the challenges, these are the mechanisms by which voters can keep candidates honest. If a petition is not challenged, it is assumed to be valid. Challenging an opponent's petitions is not a sign of disrespect or contempt -- it is a requirement to ensure that all candidates are playing by the same rules.

Follow-up to this story will include a more detailed examination of the petitions submitted to gauge which candidates have marshalled a corps of loyal volunteers and which candidates have worked hard for their own candidacies. And within days, some candidates might find their September dreams dashed by faulty petition work.

Stay tuned.