Home »

03/15/2007

Dr. Mathieu Eugene gets a win in NYC Council Race ...and a do-over

At 1:30 in the afternoon, last Thursday, the city's Board of Elections certified the special election for City Council in the 40th Councilmanic District, declaring Dr. Mathieu Eugene the winner, with 2,076 of the 6,178 votes cast.

However, by 3 p.m. that same afternoon, Eugene - standing in front of City Hall - had called on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to schedule another special election for the district, his response to the furor surrounding his residency that erupted almost immediately after the February 20th election, and has not subsided since. Bloomberg responded the following day by scheduling a new special election for April 24th.

Eugene, one of 10 candidates in the election, had run using the address of his Canarsie home, which is outside the district, on his nominating petitions. Three other candidates also ran using addresses outside the district on their nominating petitions.

It is unclear when Eugene moved into the district, but an interpretation of the state's Public Officers Law by the office of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo indicated that he had to be a resident of the district on election day in order to be eligible to hold the seat.

It was after Cuomo's office conveyed this interpretation of the law to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and Quinn had said that winning candidates for City Council posts would have to sign affidavits attesting that they met all qualifications for holding office, that Eugene asked for the new election.

AOT 2007

Calling his victory “a clear mandate,” Eugene told supporters in a prepared statement that his election as the first Haitian-American city councilmember, “Should be a historical day for the city of New York, a historical day for the people of the 40th district and a historical day for people of Haitian and Caribbean descent, not only in this country, but all over the world.”

In making his speech, Eugene was surrounded by backers, including Patrick Gaspard, the political director of 1199, the Health Care Workers union, which was brought on board his campaign by Yvette and Una Clarke, whom Eugene hopes to succeed as councilmember, and who supported his candidacy.

Against the backdrop of City Hall, Eugene said his victory has been “shadowed” by the questions that have dogged him almost since the last vote was cast, and by the additional burdens placed on him as the victorious candidate.

“Never before,” Eugene charged, “has a clearly elected member of this body been asked to submit to such treatment. It will not happen on my watch or to my people. The people of my district deserve the right to have an election where all the rules are clear.” For this reason, he said, he wanted a new election.

“I will prevail again,” Eugene assured his listeners, ending his speech by telling the crowd, “My name is Mathieu Eugene, and I am a candidate for office in the 40th District.”

“A people united will never be defeated,” Eugene's supporters roared in response. “A people united will never be defeated.”

The second time around, residency should not be a problem for Eugene, who now has an Argyle Road apartment within the confines of the 40th C.D. Nonetheless, he is likely to face competition from some of the people who ran in the earlier special election, despite the fact that he garnered more than twice as many votes as the second place finisher, Jennifer James.

So far, Wellington Sharpe, the third place finisher; and Harry Schiffman, the fourth place finisher, have said they will be running. In addition, Joel Toney, who finished seventh and Mohammad Razvi, who came in sixth, both said they are considering running again.

Zenobia McNally, who finished ninth, said she was “most likely to sit this one out.” Jesse Hamilton, who came in fifth, Leithland “Rickie” Tulloch, the eighth place finisher, and Karlene Gordon, who came in 10th, all said that they would not run this time. In addition, Gerry Hopkins, who ran as a write-in candidate in the February 20th election, said he will not make the run at this time.

The remaining candidate, Jennifer James, did not respond to phone calls requesting comment by press time, though rumors have been circulating that she does not plan to run again at this time.

Petitioning began on March 9th, the day the mayor declared the election, with petitions due to be filed at the Board of Elections by midnight on March 21st.

Assemblymember Nick Perry, who showed up at the City Hall rally for Eugene, predicted that the February 20th victor would win again. “There will be no question as to his legitimacy this time,” Perry stressed, “and I look forward to working with him.”

Perry also said that Eugene's decision not to go to court over the matter was “conciliatory. Maybe, in the long run, that might work better for him,” the assemblymember remarked. “It really takes the pressure off the council speaker, and takes her off the hook.”

“He's going to win by a landslide,” agreed Rasglen Mahon, one of Eugene's supporters who was in City Hall Park to hear Eugene's remarks. Mahon noted that East Flatbush is not only, “Predominantly Caribbean,” but has large numbers of Jamaican and Haitian residents.

“The Haitian and Jamaican fusion is going to be the conglomerate which everyone will have to reckon with in order to gain office in the 40th and 45th,” he contended.

In the meantime, however, concern that the election and petitioning process had begun too abruptly have led one state legislator, Brooklyn Assemblymember James Brennan, to look at a bill that would reduce the number of petition signatures required to get on the ballot to 500 (the candidates had to submit 1,002 valid signatures for the February 20th election) and also add a week to the petitioning process under certain circumstances.

Such a bill, however, is unlikely to affect the current election, said John Keefe, a legislative aide to Brennan. “It's probably not going to happen quickly,” noted Keefe, pointing out that any change to the election law in New York City requires Department of Justice clearance because of the Voting Rights Act.