Chuck Pohanka, the Working Families Party's renegade Suffolk chairman, has taken it on the chin again, this time in a state Supreme Court ruling Monday that the minor party's state committee, not the county leader, has the right to pick the candidate in the case of a tied primary election.
Nassau Supreme Court Justice Arthur Diamond said that state party rules, which give power to nominat and to break ties, belongs to the state party. Pohanka, who has lost a series of lawsuits against the union-based party, has maintained that his county committee it has elected local committee members, and party leaders who should be making the decision.
The ruling means that Democrats backed by the state party -- Sixth District legislative challenger Bryan Lilly and Southampton Town Justice challenger Andrea Schiavoni -- will get the minor party line after tie votes in the Sept. 18 Working Families primary. Pohanka had tried to give the nominations to Republican Legis. Daniel Losquadro of Wading River and to GOP Town Justice Edward D. Burke Sr.
Rick Brand
Comments (6)
what's the deal with Thrush and the hats?
Daniel Losquadro does not merit the WFP line. The State committee chose the right candidate.
Way to go WFP. The Dems need to dump Chuck and Donna.
Bryan Lilly should not have received the WFP support. he lacks any qualifications for the position. what a joke. What happened to our party actually reviewing each candidate's qualifications and making an informed and intelligent decision when choosing who to back.
Mr. Brand, you might want to check your facts on this. The appeal of Master v. Pohanka has been accepted by the New York State Court of Appeals.
I'm delighted that the court has accepted this appeal. WFP has subverted the rights of the county committee for far too long. I hope those who perpetrated the money making fraud known as the NY State Working Families Party are taken to task for their perversion of state election law. They have made a mockery of "one citizen, one vote."