Michael Grant's Attempt to Run
Unopposed Fails in Court
August 3, 2011
Rita Louie, the current deputy
mayor of Pomona and a long-time
activist and advocate for good government in
Rockland decides she wants to run
for county legislature in her district. She and her team of supporters/petitioners gather and submit 426 signatures, well above
the required number of 281. Michael Grant, the incumbent legislator
in that district, and the choice of the Haverstraw machine, turns in
434 signatures.
Rita Louie looks
over Michael Grant's petitions, realizes they are most likely valid
and does not waste her own, the Board of Election’s, or Michael
Grant's time by filing specific objections to his petitions.
Michael Grant and Fred Miller, the chairman of the Haverstraw
Democratic Party, pour over Rita's petitions and
file lengthy specific objections to hundreds of signatures for
a whole host of bogus reasons. The Board of Elections, who are the
experts when it comes to ballots or designating petitions, checks
Rita's petitions. They deny Michael Grant’s challenge and rule
that Rita's petitions are valid.
Michael Grant and
Fred Miller's next move is to hire an attorney to file a massive, 2
inch thick boiler plate lawsuit consisting of a laundry list of
technical challenges listing any and every possible reason that any
generic petition might be invalid, They also claim that Rita's
petition carriers were illegitimate and or engaged in
dishonest behavior. The legal filing includes a catch all phrase
stating: The petition may also be invalid for reasons we have not yet
determined (it was a fishing expedition).
Rita Louie, who of
course never even considered filing a law suit against Michael
Grant, is then served with legal papers at 2:30 on Friday afternoon
ordering her to be in court at 9:30 Monday morning (Aug 1).
Rita and all of her
petition carriers jump through hoops to be absent from work on
Monday so they can be in court. The weekend is spent sorting through
a 2-inch thick lawsuit trying to make sense of the legalese. Lives
are disrupted, vacations are cancelled, families are inconvenienced.
Preserve
Ramapo hears about this abuse of the
legal system and attempt to turn the courts into a weapon against
decent innocent people who want to try and make a difference in our
community by supporting a candidate they believe in, and posts a
short story about the lawsuit on the PR website so the public will
know about it,
In looking over the
papers Rita realizes that Michael Grant's attorney did not serve her
the legal notice on time. She goes into court on Monday morning
without an attorney, but with many supporters, and explains to the
judge that she was not served properly. Michael Grant's attorney
argues that missing the service deadline is no big deal and provides
case law which he claims provides justification for the case against
Rita to proceed anyway.
Judge Jamison
dismisses the lawsuit.
The end
result: There will be a primary election on Sept 13th between Rita
Louie and Michael Grant, the people will have a choice, and the
incumbent will not run unopposed.
Michael Parietti |