White Plains CitizeNetReporter - Republican Picnic Honors Mayor; Delgado Has Date with AG, Sept. 26

WPCNR Afternoon Trib & Post. By John F. Bailey. September 16, 2002: Gardella Park was the scene of the annual Republican Party Picnic Sunday, in which Republicans honored Mayor Joseph Delfino with a sketch of himself drawn by Frank Becerra, for the Mayor’s achievements during his first term in office. In talking with Larry Delgado about the picnic, Mr. Delgado said he will meet with the Attorney General September 26 on his effort to get the Attorney General to start a court proceeding to return Mr. Delgado to the Common Council.

Larry Delgado, the deposed White Plains Common Councilman in last year’s disputed White Plains election, told WPCNR that Governor George Pataki’s daughter, Emily, attended the picnic, staying most of the threatening afternoon. (A canopy kept Republicans dry and convivial.)

Delgado said Emily is “very involved in her father’s campaign. It was heartwarming to see how White Plains seems to be shaping up that the city would attract the Governor’s daughter.”

Delgado reported that candidates for County Court, Irene Rattner and Tom Dickerson for Supreme Court were also in attendance.

Republicans Hype Billion Dollar Joe’s Achievements.

Mr. Delgado said that the Republicans honored Mayor Delfino “for the great work he’s done as Mayor, moving the city forward, getting movement on issues that have languished for years, and reinvigorating the downtown.”

After receiving the drawing of himself, Mayor Delfino, according to Delgado, said he was “very thankful. He thanked the city staff, (he always thanks the city staff and extends the credit), and praised the cooperation of the Common Council for their ability to reach a consensus and get things moving.”

Republican Agenda?

Delgado said there were no specific plans for strengthening the Republican Party numbers in White Plains in the immediate future, but said, it was not a majority that mattered, but the candidates that are presented.

The Councilman, awaiting the possibility of his being reinstated to the Common Council, pending an Attorney General investigation into last year’s jammed voting machine in District 18, in White Plains, said he did not know what Mayor Delfino’s new agenda for the next four years, but pointed out the Mayor has moved on all fronts: open space, development, public safety, and was confident the city would continue to grow under the next three years of the Mayor’s term.

Meanwhile, back in the Attorney General’s Office…

WPCNR asked Mr. Delgado how his request for the Attorney General Elliot Spitzer for a quo warranto proceeding to remove Glen Hockley from the Common Council was developing.

Delgado reports he has a meeting with the Attorney General in New York City on September 26, but he has no indication of whether a decision has been reached.

He said he was disappointed that “it has dragged on for so long, considering I sent a letter to the Attorney General February 22. But, the Attorney General’s investigation has been very thorough, and I thank them for the process. They have finished interviewing the Board of Elections officials and inspectors, the City Clerk, and all the people who said they voted for me that day. I submitted 104 sworn affidavits from people in the 18th White Plains Election District who said they voted for me that day, rather than the 39 that the machine recorded. With 87 votes or more, I win the seat.”

Delgado said, “I have the 1.) The Facts on my side, and 2.) The law on my side.”

Mr. Spitzer, in order to remove Mr. Hockley “as a usurper” of Mr. Delgado’s seat, should the Attorney General choose to do so, must do so in a court proceeding in Supreme Court, according to our understanding.

89th Assembly Matusow-Bradley Results “Bizarre,”: Delgado

Mr. Delgado said he found the closeness of the 89th Assembly District election between Naomi Matusow and Allan Bradley and the Board of Elections failure to impound the voting machines, and fluctuating official counts “bizarre.”

“It seems,” he said with a sense of humor and irony, “ With the latest technology in Florida creating problems, our machines creating problems, that we are concentrating not on who wins elections, but on how we count the votes, the process. Perhaps it’s time to go back to paper ballots instead of all this machinery.”

Delgado said, it was perhaps, in retrospect, a good thing the Common Council did not invest in new voting machines last spring when they were considering it, noting the problems that have developed with Florida’s new election machines.

Failure to Impound Strange.

He said that the Board of Elections failure to impound the voting machines as confirmed by all eight Town Clerk offices last week, “is corrosive to the public’s confidence in the integrity of election results.”

Delgado said that when he and his attorneys served their Impoundment Order ten months ago on Election night when they suspected their jammed machine problem in District 18 that his attorneys served both the Board of Elections and the Westchester County Police in Hawthorne. But, Delgado added, “If you can’t count on the Board of Elections who can you count on?”


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