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WPCNR COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. October 29, 2009:  As of 1:15 P.M., the City Clerk Office reports that no Special Meeting of the Common Council has been scheduled either tonight or Friday at this time, indicating that the Common Council despite their concerns, will not take a formal official vote to direct Commissioner of Public Safety Frank Straub to terminate the 12 and 24 hour work schedules for Police and Fire prior to Monday. Otherwise, the 12 and 24 schedules automatically become part of the union agreement.

The Council was under the assumption that their 5 expressions of opposition to making the rules permanent, instead of continuing on an “experimental” basis that were made by Councilpersons Boykin, Lecouona, Malmud, Power and Roach constituted a super majority that the Commissioner should follow, but it was not an official vote. The council would need to schedule two Special Meetings to take an official vote directing Straub to kill the work schedules and revert to the 8 hour schedules of the past.

There has no been no indication yet that Straub will decide on his own to terminate the schedules.

WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2009. By John F. Bailey. October 29, 2009: Nelson Kanter, attorney for Councilman Glen Hockley told WPCNR that the New York State Court of Appeals this morning declined to consider Mr. Hockley’s appeal of the Appellate Court, Second Judicial Department decision last week that removed Mr. Hockley’s name from the City Mayoral ballot in the citywide election next Tuesday.

Councilman Glen Hockley Permanently Removed from Mayoral Ballot by Court of Appeals today. Shown at Tuesday evening’s Common Council meeting.

Kanter said he was extremely dissappointed the court declined to review the case, in view of the inconsistencies on such procedural cases between the Third Department Appellate Court in Albany and the Second Department in Brooklyn. He said the Court of Appeals denying his client’s appeal did not “advance” the spirit of the 1992 Election Law, the intent of which, among many intents, was to prevent governments from denying the ballot based on procedural matters.

Mr. Hockley, Kanter said, is now reduced to a “write-in” campaign for Mayor.

Here is a brief history of Mr. Hockley’s political career to date, which ironically began and for all intents and purposes,  ended in the Court of Appeals today. Ironically the anniversary of the Great Crash of 1929, eighty years ago:

The decision, barring a successful write-in campaign, which is almost never heard of, effectively ends Mr. Hockley’s career where it began, in the Court of Appeals in Albany.

Mr. Hockley previously joined the Common Council through a Court of Appeals decision rejecting a Judge Francis Nicolai decision in 2001, when a jammed voting machine convinced Judge Nicolai that a Special Election in White Plains District 18 was needed to decide whether Mr. Hockley or his opponent, Larry Delgado should ascend to the Common Council. At the time, Hockley was represented by Adam Braddley

Previously, as readers of White Plains CitizeNetReporter will recall, Councilman Glen Hockley had learned that he was not going to be renominated by the Democratic Committee to run for his Common Council seat in November, due to his demonstrated support for Mayor Joseph Delfino’s policies on Open Space, the Station Square project, and other controversial development  and budget issues.

His support of Delfino initiatives with Councilman Arnold Bernstein, another Democratic councilman who was previously denied the opportunity to run again for his Common Council seat for supporting Delfino legislation, caused the Democratic City Committee to turn on Mr. Hockley and Mr. Hockley surmised he would not be nominated to run again even if he applied to run for the councilseat with the nominating committee, which Hockley did not do.

Hockley is the second elected incumbent to be removed from office de facto  by the Democratic City Committee, and not by the city electorate.

Mr. Bernstein when Milagros Lecouna was selected to run in his place in 2007, denying him virtually an automatic second term, primaried to contest her selection, as did a number of other persons in the 2007 Democratic primary. Bernstein lost and by losing the primary lost his seat. Lecouna, Benjamin Boykin and Dennis Power ran and won in the general election.

Seeing the fate of Bernstein’s primary effort, last year in 2008, Hockley attempted a different strategy, he nominated his own slate of candidates for District Leadership positions, in an attempt to either secure the Democrat nomination for Mayor or, at the least renomination for his Council Seat. The Democrat registered voters resoundingly defeated the Hockley slate, electing only one Hockley supporter.

This year, Mr. Hockley sought the Republican nomination for Mayor, but the Republican leadership refused to interview him for that position, but more mysteriously, failed to even nominate him for Common Council, deciding instead to endorse Adam Bradley for Mayor, and endorse Democrat Tom Roach for Common Council (a spot that could have gone to Mr. Hockley), and James Arndt and Leonard Lolis for the other two Council seats.

Hockley then mounted a campaign in June to run as an independent candidate for Mayor. He gathered the signatures, submitted his petitions on time, and did everything right. Almost. He for some inexplicable reason failed to sign a Certificate of Acceptance, accepting candidacy.

The Board of Elections pounced.

 By failing to sign a Certificate of Acceptance, the Commissioners of the Board of Elections(Reginald Lafayette and Carolee Sunderland) ruled Hockley could not be on the ballot, citing election law.

Hockley filed a law suit, claiming he had not been informed of the need to sign the Certificate since he was not running for any party, that he represented himself (and the Certificate language only asks that a person notificy the Board to decline a nomination).

In Supreme Court, Judge Francis Nicolai ruled in Mr. Hockley’s favor on September 10, directing the Board of Elections to put Mr. Hockley’s name on the November 3 ballot.

The Board of Elections appealed to the New York State Appellate Court in Brooklyn, Second Department,  which received the case October 20,  and upheld the Board of Elections original decision on October 22. Mr. Hockley decided to appeal to the Court of Appeals over last weekend and the case was filed at the Court of Appeals Tuesday. The bad news came today.

Hockley appealed to the state Court of Appeals on the grounds that the Third Appellate Court had made decisions striking down decisions that have excluded candidates from the ballot on procedural matters, asking the Court of Appeals to clarify its position in regard to strict versus liberal interpretation of procedural gaffes.

The Court of Appeals decided to make a decision by not making a decision, refusing to review the Hockley appeal matter today.