WPCNR WHITE PLAINS LAW JOURNAL. September 23, 2003: The saga of the Glen Hockley-Larry Delgado jammed voting machine election of 2001 has not ended. It continues with a court shelf life of its own. It resumed last Thursday in the Appellate Division, 2nd Circuit in Brooklyn when arguments were heard by Appellate judges in the move by Glen Hockley’s attorney, Thomas Abinanti, to dismiss the New York State Attorney General’s quo warranto action on behalf of former White Plains Councilman Larry Delgado, as having not been filed in a timely manner, and should be dismissed.
STILL GOING: The Day of Victory, March 14, 2002: When the Court of Appeals dismissed Judge Francis Nicolai's and the Appellate Court's call for a special election city wide as a remedy for the disputed 2001 election result due to a jammed voting machine in White Plains District 18, Glen Hockley, (left), with his attorney, Adam Bradley, was sworn in to the Common Council. Seven months later, in November 2002, the New York Attorney General's Office after an investigation, filed a quo warranto action in November on Mr. Delgado's behalf. After a series of motions to dismiss the quo warranto were filed, the case was put on the Appellate Division Calendar in late April, 2003. Last week, after Mr. Hockley has been in office 17 months, the motion to dismiss based on the quo warranto being filed too late was argued before the Appellate Court. WPCNR File Photo
Jeffery Binder, present Republican Candidate for Common Council, and attorney for Mr. Delgado with John Ciampoli throughout the Hockley-Delgado climb to the Court of Appeals, observed the action. Joel Graber argued for the Attorney General. Thomas Abinanti for Mr. Hockley’s side.
Binder said “It went very nicely. The court was somewhat unsympathetic towards Hockley’s case, judging by the tough questions they asked. They were very questioning of Mr. Abinanti’s argument that election disputes should be resolved in a short time frame. The court suggested why couldn’t it (the time to resolve the dispute) run to the end of the term of the office.”
Binder said he was optimistic, but “you never know.” He said he expected the Appellate Division to rule shortly. When asked why he thought the Hockley-Delgado matter had not been expedited on the Appellate Court calendar, Binder said he thought that it was because White Plains was not being deprived of representation since Hockley was in office.
Asked what might happen, Binder said that in either case, one side would appeal the Appellate Court decision and it would move back up to the Court of Appeals, which should be interested to see the case again.
THE PHANTOM COUNCILMAN: Larry Delgado addressing the White Plains Common Council where he used to sit. Delgado has been battling for 21 months to get his seat back by seeking a "remedy" for the jammed voting machine incident which cost him 103 votes in District 18. Those 103 votes would have given him the victory in 2001 had the machine not jammed, failing to record them. File Photo by WPCNR.
