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WPCNR BACKROOM BULLETIN. By John F. Bailey. August 11, 2008: Richard Garfunkel of Tarrytown, a White Plains resident of 33 years, engineer of a similar reorganization of new blood in the White Plains Democratic Party in the late 1970s  and Glen Hockley, the Common Councilman announced a campaign to try to break what they described as a closed shop of district leaders in the White Plains Democratic City Committee doing the bidding of  County Legislator William Ryan and Assemblyman Adam Bradley in the selection of candidates and district leaders through party chair Elizabeth Shollenberger.

Hockley and his attorney blamed a judge’s instructions for their missing a deadline that cost them an opportunity in court to reinstate 10 of their challengers whom the Board of Elections had invalidated their politicians.

Richard Garfunkel, Councilman Glen Hockley, and Valentina Mancuso, one of the challengers for District Leader in District 14 at the Board of Elections in White Plains Monday evening

Garfunkel said  the party leaders tight rein on handpicked district leaders was taking away the ballot from voters, and “transparency” since fewer and fewer voters came out to vote because there was no competition due to the demise of the Republican Party in Westchester County. Garfunkel said primary turnout was going lower and lower, allowing primary voters, a distinct minority to choose the candidates presented to the electorate. He pointed to Adam Bradley’s “finessing” of  Democrat Assemblywoman Naomi Matusow in the Democratic Primary of 2002 which effectively won Bradley his present seat in the Assembly by 22 votes in that primary. He easily defeated the Republican opponent.  Bradley faces no opposition this year from the Republican side.

Bernstein Bump Off the Catalyst.

Garfunkel and then Hockley charged the party leadership use of proxy votes of inactive District leaders combined with a nucleus of 25 such district leaders who regularly meet,  cooperated  with  party leadership “cavalierly” to  “bump off” Councilman Arnold Bernstein from the 2007 council ticket.  who

The Bernstein bump-off blocked him from seeking reelection from the voters. Bernstein was replaced by Milagros Lecuona (a U.S. citizen for just two years at the time) on the ticket. Garfunkel said this “bumping off” of Bernstein (for a hertofore unknown favorite) got him involved in mounting the challenge in the September 9 primary coming up.

 “This is not democracy,” Hockley said, a refrain he repeated often in the sidewalk media event. Garfunkel said that Councilman Benjamin Boykin’s voting pattern was the same as Bernstein’s, and questioned why Boykin was not dumped for not being a real democrat. “When you’re elected you represent the entire town,” Garfunkel said, “and should not be judged based on party loyalty.”

Hockley and Garfunkel introduced two challengers from among the 52 petition-cleared White Plains residents contesting 29 of 42 White Plains Election Districts  saying they were mounting the challenge to remove present party leadership which they charged practiced undemocratic practices.

Takeover Target Not Clear

WPCNR asked  Garfunkel how many of the 52 challengers would have to win their districts for control to be equalized or seized from the powers that currently control the party. Garfunkel said it depended on which weighted districts were won. Asked what those weighted districts were, Garfunkel said he did not have that answer. All 42 Election Districts are assigned voter-weighting contingent upon how many voted in those districts in the last Gubernatorial election (2006), Garfunkel said.

WPCNR asked whether District Leaders would be assigned who actually lived in their districts if enough new leaders were elected. Garfunkel said the party could not change the statewide law, and could not dictate that requirement, but promised  district leaders should be actually from the election districts they represent and be active in their districts moving forward.

Some live in the Election Districts they are running. Some do not.

 One Hockley-Garfunkel candidate, Valentina Mancuso, of Lake Street (in District 23), with Rachel Eckhaus, residing on Longview Avenue (on the West side of Mamaroneck Avenue, out of Election District 14 where Ms. Eckhaus is running) against the spouse of the head of the City Democratic Nominating Committee, Barbara Schwarz who lives on Easton Avenue, and Councilperson Rita Malmud who lives on Seymour Place, both addresses in District 14.  Ms. Mancuso said she was running to serve the best interests of White Plains.

Another Hockley-Garfunkel District Leader candidate introduced was Lucas Simia, second from left,  who has just returned from a tour of duty in Iraq, and is finishing his degree in criminal justice. Mr. Simia lives on Prospect Street with his family and is running against Victor Avendano  of Oakwood Avenue and Eridania Camacho on Longview Avenue, both incumbent district leaders living in Election District 39.. Simia said he lives just around the corner from Oakwood on Prospect Street slightly out of the district.

More of an at-large system than a Ward System?

But it turns out that it is not unsual among District Leaders to live outside of the district they “District Lead.” Garfunkel said in order to be a District Leader, all you have to do is live within the Assembly District, either 88 or 89. This is the law statewide, according to Deputy Commissioner of the Board of Elections Jeanne Palazola who explained this to WPCNR Monday afternoon, you do not have to live in an Election District to be a “City Committee Member” as  district leaders are known as in Board of Election parlance. You just have to reside in the Assembly district.

 Henry Ferlauto, one of the Garfunkel-Hockley challengers said he planned to campaign door to door in the district he was running, (District 29) in which he lives, as does one of his district leader opponents, Monique Guidry. However, the other incumbent District Leader, Tony Pascal Offurum lives on South Lexington Avenue on the West side of town way cross town from District 29.

However, it is not unusual for District Leaders in White Plains to not live anywhere close to the Election Districts they supposedly represent. Nancy Yanofsky lives on New York Avenue deep in the White Plains Southend  enclave of Prospect Park(actually Election District 12, yet she is District leader in District 16 in the North End of town above Hamilton Avenue. Her companion District Leader, Rhoda Fidler lives at City Place—which is below Hamilton Avenue, actually in District 30, adjacent to District 16. Opposing Fidler and Yanofsky are Garfunkel Hockley challengers Stephen and Judith Ross who amazingly actually live in District 16.

Interestingly, Saul Yanofsky – also living on New York Avenue in District 12, Prospect Park (in the heart of a very posh Southend of town is district leader in District 21 (Fisher Hill) entirely on the other side of Post Road, not quite as tony as Prospect Park.  Yanofsky’s companion District Leader  Geoffrey D. Smith, living on Midland Avenue also represents District 21, yet  he actually lives there. Mr. Yanofsky and Mr. Smith are opposed by Fernando Cortes of Jefferson Avenue in Battle Hill (District 33) and Harris Lieber of Greenacres Avenue which is in District 21.

Ten Candidates Bumped for Following Court Instructions. Toss Fairness Questioned.

Mr. Hockley charged that ten of his petitioners were “undemocratically” prevented from running by a  technicality on their petitions by the Board of Elections. The failure to put the name of the township, instead putting the name of the town the witnesser of the petitions. He said this was not democratic.

Last year the Board of Elections tried a similar ploy to oust Candace Corcoran from the Ballot, but Corcoran pointed out to Reginald Lafayette, Democratic Commissioner of the Board of Elections, of the court decision that struck down just this kind of error as grounds for voiding petitions. Lafayette withdrew the Board of Elections objection to Corcoran’s petitions.l  It is conceivable that had Judge Nicolai not tossed the Garfunkel-Hockley suit, due to the missed deadline because he specified overnight mail delivery (which failed) courts might have upheld those 10 Hockley candidates on similar grounds. 

Hockley and his attorney, Jay Boyarsky of New York  contended that their suit in Supreme Court to overturn the Board of Election ruling tossing the Garfunkel Hockley 10  should not have been thrown out by Judge Francis Nicolai because though the Board of Elections was presented with a show cause order the day before the Board was supposed to get it and because they followed Judge Nicolai’s instructions to “overnight mail” the “response” to the 10 persons objecting to the 10 petitioners running, the show cause order was not received by the respondents until a day later.

Note judge’s instruction in handwriting, stating the response to the 10 protestors listed on the front page of the court document above should be “overnight”

 Subsequently, when the Garfunkel/Hockley papers arrived a day late, Judge Nicolai ruled that the Hockley challenge had missed the deadline to proceed with the court case, even though Mr. Boyarsky said they had followed the Judge’s instructions. Boyarsky said since they had followed the judge’s instructions, it was not their fault they were late in serving the respondents, citing grounds that he was late because he had followed the judge’s orders.

Anybody can be a district leader, City Committee Observer notes.

 Paul Schwarz, the head of the Democrat City Committee Nominating Committee, which came in for criticism from Mr. Hockley for appointing a member of the Nominating Committee to Vice Chair of the party, as being “not democracy,”  Schwarz scoffed at the notion of a district leader closed door policy, saying to WPCNR “all you have to do to be a district leader in the White Plains Democrat City Committee is walk in the door.”

Schwarz also charged that many of those running as challengers were former Republicans, implying they were not real Democrats.  However according to the ballot, they are all Democrats now.

WPCNR THE HOME FRONT. August 11, 2008: Furniture Sharehouse, Westchester’s Furniture Bank, an all-volunteer organization, is asking the community to donate gently used furniture to help families in need in Westchester county.  Over 320 families have been served by Furniture Sharehouse since it opened in April 2007 and its furniture inventory is always in need of replenishment.

Kate Bialo, Director of Furniture Sharehouse, second from left, and Marie Graham, Interior Decorator help a young woman and her mother select furniture from Sharehouse’s donated inventory.

One such family benefiting from this organization’s efforts visited Furniture Sharehouse with her case manager on August 7.  The young woman and her mother  from Peekskill, NY, called the opportunity to choose furniture from the aisles of Westchester’s furniture bank “a blessing” as she prepares to move herself and her three young children from a shelter into an apartment. 

The client was able to select a kitchen table, four chairs, a two-piece sectional sofa, coffee table, two dressers, and an assortment of smaller “bonus” items.  In addition, she qualified to receive three brand-new twin mattress sets for her children from Furniture Sharehouse’s “Mattresses for Moms” fund, for which the family was especially grateful, since they had been sleeping on cardboard boxes before they were approved to make a trip to Furniture Sharehouse.  

 “It’s nice to know that people are willing to help those who need help in this way especially now when times are tough,” the mother said, clearly relieved that her daughter and grandchildren were moving to a better place complete with furniture. 

Marie Graham, an interior decorator, who volunteers her time and talents to assist clients with their furniture selections, and Kate Bialo,  Director of Furniture Sharehouse.  Ms. Graham read about Furniture Sharehouse in an article and recently began volunteering at the warehouse.  “As a decorator, I have always believed in the power of one’s living space to transform one’s life.  I love working at Furniture Sharehouse because I can make a difference in a family’s life every time I volunteer,” says Graham.

Ms. Bialo is encouraging the public to donate their good-quality used furniture to Furniture Sharehouse.  “Unlike other organizations that accept used furniture, we give the furniture free of charge directly to those who need it the most, instead of selling it at prices our clients could never afford,” she says.

“We are especially in need of kitchen tables and very good-condition used mattresses and box springs (no stains please!) – we never have enough of these items,” Bialo says. “We also accept monetary donations to our “Mattresses for Moms” fund to help some of our neediest clients who are literally sleeping on the floor,” she added.

For information about how to make furniture or monetary donations, or how to volunteer in areas including client assistance, raising community awareness and fundraising, go to http://www.furnituresharehouse.org.