As we have reported, candidates wishing to be considered for the one available New York County Civil Court slot must submit their applications to a Screening Panel (headed by Vilia Hayes, Esq. ) by Friday, June 6, 2008. (At some point thereafter, only three "qualified" candidates will be reported out by the Panel.)
Because the Panel may be unable to issue its report in enough time to allow these three people to begin petitioning to get on the ballot, the County Democratic Committee is recommending that all candidates begin the process "now." Of course, the risk is that some will expend the time and incur substantial expense only to learn -- in a few weeks from now -- they were not approved. (That may then induce those who do not come out of the Panel to "go for broke" and mount an insurgent campaign for the seat.)
This is all pretty bizarre, if you ask us.
Here's the text of an e-mail that is being circulated by counsel to the New York County Democratic Committee:
June 4, 2008
This year's Screening Panel is currently accepting applications from candidates for the Civil Court, County-Wide vacancy (Vacancy # 11) created by the elevation of JSC Shirley Kornreich. The deadline for panel applications is Friday, June 6, 2008.
In discussions with the panel administrator (Vilia Hayes), it has become clear that the panel may not be able to report out the three most highly qualified candidates for this vacancy until at least June 20th based on the large number of candidates, which may be approximately 10-15 candidates.
Since the deadline for filing the required number of valid signatures (Election Law Section 6-136, 4000 signatures) for a county-wide position is Thursday, July 10th, properly obtaining 4,000 valid signatures in the compressed time frame after the panel reports may present a problem for the eventual endorsed county Civil Court candidate and/or any one of the three panel approved candidates.
Under these circumstances, it is advisable that any current Civil Court candidate who has or will have an application before the panel, and who so desires, begin obtaining petition signatures now, prior to the panel reporting out, so that the eventual endorsed candidate (or any of the three panel approved candidates) will have sufficient valid signatures to appear on the primary ballot as a Democratic candidate for Civil Court Judge, Vacancy # 11.
* * * *
"And they're off!"
