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Crowded SE Queens races thin out after challenges

By Betsy Scheinbart

With one month left until the primaries, many candidates are struggling to remain in the race for two of southeast Queens’ city council seats.

Some candidates were still in court this week fighting to remain on or to get back on the ballot after objections to their petitions were filed last month by their rivals and by the Queens County Democratic Party.

By Friday, six candidates had been knocked out of the contest to succeed City Councilman Thomas White (D-Jamaica) and two had been eliminated from the race for Juanita Watkins’ (D-Laurelton) seat.

In the third southeast Queens council race, the 10 candidates vying for Deputy Majority Leader Archie Spigner’s (D-St. Albans) seat remained on the ballot last week.

In the battle to replace White, Democrats Dwayne Kirkland, Patrick Jenkins, Rameshwar Jodha, Inderjit Singh, Michele Titus and Carolyn Younger were removed from the race by the Board of Elections.

Remaining in the race were Democrats Anthony Andrews, Jr., Imam Aziz Bilal, Allan Jennings, Garth Marchant and Trevor Rupnarain.

Candidates were ousted by the Board of Elections for a variety of reasons related to their petitions. Each candidate was required to file a minimum of 900 signatures from residents of their district and members of their political party.

The petitions could be deemed invalid because of unreadable or missing information, duplication of the same signature, similar handwriting in more than one signature or forgery, among many citations.

Jodha, Singh and Younger were hoping to be back in the contest to succeed White after they appear in court this week.

Jodha was pulled from the race after a supporter of one of his competitors, Trevor Rupnarain, filed an objection to his petitions. Younger was knocked off the ballot by Queens County Democratic machine.

“Even if I don’t get back on the ballot, I am still exposing to the public the manipulation in Queens County,” Younger said of the objections to her petitions.

Younger said she is waging her legal battle on behalf of the people who took the time to sign her petitions.

“That’s not fair to the voters,” she said of candidates who do not defend their petitioners. “That’s why people of color don’t vote. They think their vote doesn’t matter.”

Jenkins, who is an executive assistant to U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans) said the Queens Dem machine detected a valid problem with his petitions and he did not intent to go to court to get back on the ballot.

“It is frustrating, more from my campaign side of things,” Jenkins said, “but this is how it goes. I respect that that’s part of the process.”

White’s seat in District 28 covers Jamaica and Rochdale Village, where blacks are in the majority, and Richmond Hill, which has a large Indo-Guyananese community.

Rupnarain’s campaign supporters objected to petitions filed by Bilal, Jodha and Singh. Bilal was not removed from the ballot Friday, but was still set to appear in court this week.

In the contest to succeed Watkins in the 31st Council District, Democrats Renaldo Clarke and Sikiru Fadairo were taken out of the race by the Board of Elections, but Clarke was also due in court this week hoping got gain re-entry to the race.

Clarke said his opponent, James Sanders, improperly filed an objection to his petitions and therefore the objection should be thrown out.

Democrat Carol Howell was removed from the ballot last Thursday but got back on Friday after a complaint about one of her petition cover sheets was deemed invalid in court.

“It is very tedious and overwhelming,” Howell said of the legal battles. “I wouldn’t wish it on anyone.”

Howell is running in District 31 against Democrats James Blake, Amanda Clarke, Henrietta Fullard, David Hooks, Charlotte Jefferson, Edward Lewis and James Sanders. The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Everly Brown, Green Party candidate Francisco Pena and Independent Rosalind O’Neal in the general election.

The council seat covers Laurelton, Rosedale, Far Rockaway, Arverne, Edgemere, Bayswater, parts of Springfield Gardens, Cambria Heights South, and South Ozone Park.

Meanwhile, the 10 candidates vying for Spigner’s seat remain, although former Åssemblywoman Cynthia Jenkins was knocked off the Democratic line and is now running as an Independent.

The other Democrats in contention are Leroy Comrie, Jr., Helen Cooper-Gregory, Erica Ford, Stephen Jackson, Saundra Pope, Geraldine Morgan, Earl Simons and Larry Smith. The winner of the Democratic primary will face Republican Ishmael Morgan and Jenkins in the general election.

District 27 covers Jamaica, St. Albans, Hollis, Cambria Heights, Baisley Park, Addisleigh Park, Locust Manor, parts of Queens Village, Springfield Gardens and Rosedale.

Reach reporter Betsy Scheinbart by e-mail at [email protected] or call 229-0300 Ext. 138.