By Dee Richard
The deadline was midnight July 10. The deadline we are referring to is the one the city Elections Board established as the last date and time designating petitions had to be received for those wishing to complete the first step in running for public office.
For designating petitions filed July 10, the window of opportunity for filing general objections must be filed by midnight July 14. If you filed general objections July 14, you have until midnight July 21 to file your specifications.
The last day to submit proof of service of specifications is the day after specifications are filed. The last day to institute judicial proceedings is July 24. If a weekend falls within that period, you have three business days, with regard to the designating petitions after the Elections Board hearing where the petitions have been invalidated.
This is a complicated process, which is why many candidates feel it is necessary to hire an election law attorney to make sure they get everything right. Can you imagine surviving gathering the necessary amount of signatures for your designating petitions and then losing out because you filed the wrong form, filled out the right one incorrectly or did not file it in a timely manor?
If you manage to achieve above requirements, this will only get you to the Sept. 9 primary. The lucky ones are those who have no opposition and therefore do not have to contend with the primary requirements to survive. Survival is dependant upon getting more votes than your rival. If you survive that contest, you must face the winner or winners of the opposing party or parties.
At that point, the candidates must campaign 24/7 and the fund-raising begins in earnest. It is expensive to conduct a campaign, although next year the City Council and other city candidates who sign up for the Campaign Finance Program will get a break.
That program, however, with its money assistance, is not available to state candidates. Many would like to see the same benefits accrue to state elections as well; the price would be term limits. Many voters feel this idea's time has come.
Of course, being the political junkie that I am, I drove into Manhattan to the Elections Board headquarters at 32 Broadway to check out what was going on. I felt like it was homecoming week, as mostly everyone I ran into seemed to be from Queens.
The 16th State Senate District seems one of the most interesting to watch. Republican candidate Peter Koo, CEO of Flushing's Starside Drugs, was there to file his designating petitions. We did not get the exact number, but it seemed to be a rather thick volume. He was accompanied with an entourage, including Mai Lin Tan's son Oliver, apparently Koo's campaign manager; Koo's wife and daughter; and numerous other supporters.
Longtime Beechhurst resident and incumbent state Sen. Toby Stavisky (D-Whitestone) was not present while we were there, but according to the grapevine she filed somewhere close to 8,000 signatures.
Democratic challenger Robert Schwartz, retired CEO and a Forest Hills resident, managed to file more than 4,000 signatures. Schwartz's petitions were filed by his campaign manager, Jose Fernandez.
All three candidates believe they are best qualified to serve the district. The number of signatures all three gathered was impressive. I was not aware that that many registered voters in that district cared enough to vote in a primary, let alone sign a petition.
If you do not vote in a primary and only vote in the general election, it makes it quite impossible for your choice candidate to be elected. Signatures and primary votes are important, as without them you cannot hope to achieve ballot status. Support your candidate by voting in the primary. See you at the polls.
That's it for this week.
I like receiving voice mail at 718-767-6484, faxes at 718-746-0066 and e-mail at deerrichard@aol.com.
Till next week, Dee.
