By Adam Lisberg
Daily News (March 15, 2009)
Mayor Bloomberg has wriggled free of every force that tried to block his bid for a third term, but he still hasn't heard from one body he can't sweet talk, bulldoze or buy off.
The Departmetn of Justice's section for voting rights must decide by Tuesday whether the October term limits extension will hurt minority voters.
If it does, every two-term incumbent in the November elections would be suddenly ineligible - sending Bloomberg and a boatload of other politicians on a retirement cruise.
The city Law Department filed 1,789 pages with Justice to make sure that doesn't happen, saying that "term limits by definition affect all candidates and their constituencies in precisely the same manner" without any racial overtones.
Norman Siegel and Randy Mastro - lawyers on the other side of the issue - sent their own sheaf of paper to Justice pointing out what should be glaringly obvious to anyone who looks at the City Council: Without term limits, incumbents stay in their seats.
"Since 1993, no minority candidate has ever unseated a white incumbent for any municipal office in New York City," Mastro said. "It's a textbook case of a civil rights violation."
Granted, white challengers also have a hard time ousting white incumbents, which is why we have term limits in the first place. And Mastro has already lost a separate lawsuit to block the term limits law.
He may be on to something, though. Three of New York's representatives in Congress - Ed Towns and Gregory Meeks, who are black, and Nydia Velazquez, who is Hispanic - have written Justice to say the law is discriminatory.
The funny thing is nobody quite knows whether their political pressure will help or hurt.
Career lawyers in Justice's voting rights section mutinied when they felt pressured by the Bush administration to slant their decisions his way.
They now report to a Democratic President and an attorney general who believe Justice should still oversee changes that affect the Voting Rights Act.
Bloomberg, meanwhile, never showed President Obama much electoral love on the campaign trail - and he acknowledged last week that he hasn't spoken to the President since before the inauguration.
But Justice lawyers may also feel newly empowered to ignore political pressure from all sides, whether from a mayor with plenty of Washington tentacles or from Congress members who see minority voting rights being in peril.
"There's always political pressure, but historically, the Justice Department has fought that," said Joseph Rich, who headed Justice's voting rights section from 1999 to 2005. "It should make no difference. They should be looking at whether this third term hurts black voters."
Showing posts with label Justice Department. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Justice Department. Show all posts
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Mayoral Challenger: Judge Wrong in Portchester Voting Rights Case
By Theresa Juva The Journal News (March 15, 2009)
PORT CHESTER, NY - Republican mayoral candidate Bill Villanova believes a federal judge was wrong in ruling that the village needs a new voting system and says, as mayor, he would lead trustees to fight the U.S. Justice Department if cumulative voting isn't approved.
"Judges are not always right," the Rye town deputy supervisor said. "It's the judge's interpretation of the law."
Trustee elections have been halted since 2006 after the Justice Department and one-time trustee candidate Cesar Ruiz sued Port Chester for violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson ruled against the village last year and found that Hispanics had consistently backed certain candidates but failed to elect them in Port Chester's at-large voting system.
The Justice Department has pushed for a voting-district system, with six districts each represented by a trustee. Village officials have advocated cumulative voting, which would allow each voter to cast the same number of votes as open board seats, allowing them to vote multiple times for the same candidate.
Mayor Dennis Pilla and Villanova both support cumulative voting, but differ on how to handle the case if Robinson orders the village to create districts. Legal fees are reaching close to $1 million.
Villanova has said he would use private money to appeal both the remedy order and the original ruling.
"If you don't fight, you don't know if you are going to win," he said, adding that he doesn't think the village's at-large voting system violates the law.
Villanova argued that the political process has always been open to everyone, but that "political hacks" and "a few bad apples" corrupted it.
He also disagrees with how the village has been portrayed.
"The village of Port Chester is not a racist community," he said. "For the Department of Justice to think that the village of Port Chester is a racist community, that we don't embrace different cultures and religions ... the village of Port Chester is the snapshot of America."
Pilla said he respects the judge's original decision and doesn't favor appealing it. He accused Villanova of trying to attract "bigoted" voters to the polls.
"Basically, everybody who is an expert in the field agrees at this point that it is unwise to fight on liability," he said. "That's not to say I don't want to fight for the people of Port Chester. I think we deserve the remedy of our choice. I think we need to see how the judge rules."
Pilla also emphasized that elections need to resume as soon as possible.
"I'd rather avoid the six-district plan, but I don't want to hold up elections for three more years, and I don't want to drain the village coffers," he said.
The mayoral election is Wednesday.
PORT CHESTER, NY - Republican mayoral candidate Bill Villanova believes a federal judge was wrong in ruling that the village needs a new voting system and says, as mayor, he would lead trustees to fight the U.S. Justice Department if cumulative voting isn't approved.
"Judges are not always right," the Rye town deputy supervisor said. "It's the judge's interpretation of the law."
Trustee elections have been halted since 2006 after the Justice Department and one-time trustee candidate Cesar Ruiz sued Port Chester for violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965. U.S. District Judge Stephen C. Robinson ruled against the village last year and found that Hispanics had consistently backed certain candidates but failed to elect them in Port Chester's at-large voting system.
The Justice Department has pushed for a voting-district system, with six districts each represented by a trustee. Village officials have advocated cumulative voting, which would allow each voter to cast the same number of votes as open board seats, allowing them to vote multiple times for the same candidate.
Mayor Dennis Pilla and Villanova both support cumulative voting, but differ on how to handle the case if Robinson orders the village to create districts. Legal fees are reaching close to $1 million.
Villanova has said he would use private money to appeal both the remedy order and the original ruling.
"If you don't fight, you don't know if you are going to win," he said, adding that he doesn't think the village's at-large voting system violates the law.
Villanova argued that the political process has always been open to everyone, but that "political hacks" and "a few bad apples" corrupted it.
He also disagrees with how the village has been portrayed.
"The village of Port Chester is not a racist community," he said. "For the Department of Justice to think that the village of Port Chester is a racist community, that we don't embrace different cultures and religions ... the village of Port Chester is the snapshot of America."
Pilla said he respects the judge's original decision and doesn't favor appealing it. He accused Villanova of trying to attract "bigoted" voters to the polls.
"Basically, everybody who is an expert in the field agrees at this point that it is unwise to fight on liability," he said. "That's not to say I don't want to fight for the people of Port Chester. I think we deserve the remedy of our choice. I think we need to see how the judge rules."
Pilla also emphasized that elections need to resume as soon as possible.
"I'd rather avoid the six-district plan, but I don't want to hold up elections for three more years, and I don't want to drain the village coffers," he said.
The mayoral election is Wednesday.
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