Leirer v. Suffolk County Committee of Conservative Party

94 A.D.2d 797, 462 N.Y.S.2d 910, 1983 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 18266
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedMay 31, 1983
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 94 A.D.2d 797 (Leirer v. Suffolk County Committee of Conservative Party) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leirer v. Suffolk County Committee of Conservative Party, 94 A.D.2d 797, 462 N.Y.S.2d 910, 1983 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 18266 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

— In proceedings pursuant to article 16 of the Election Law to set aside the election of officers of the Executive Committee of the Suffolk County Committee of the Conservative Party of New York State, petitioners appeal, as limited by their brief, from so much of a judgment of the Supreme Court, Suffolk County (De Luca, J.), dated February 8,1983, as, upon consolidating said proceedings, denied the applications and dismissed the petitions. Judgment reversed insofar as appealed from, on the law and the facts, without costs or disbursements, and matter remitted to the Supreme Court, Suffolk County, for a hearing and determination of the matter based, inter alia, on the answers to the following questions: (1) which version of the amendments passed at the October 3, 1982 meeting represents the amendments actually presented for adoption; (2) when, if at all, were such amendments filed with the State and Suffolk County boards of elections and are either or both of the candidates disqualified from holding office thereunder; (3) does the final vote tally filed with the boards of elections in relation to the October 3, 1982 election for chairman accurately reflect the votes attributable to each election district and does a tally of the properly weighed vote show petitioner Leirer to be the winner; and (4) did respondent Greene fail to notify a number of committeemen sufficient to render the October 14,1982 meeting a nullity? On October 3, 1982 the Suffolk County Committee of the Conservative Party of New York State held an organizational meeting. After the filling of vacancies, two amendments to the “rules and regulations of the Suffolk county committee” were proposed and passed. Thereafter, respondent Neil Greene, who was temporary chairman of the organizational meeting, filed a “certification of adoption of rules and regulations” with the State and Suffolk County boards of elections. The amendments filed by Greene read as follows: “amendment i The county chairman, vice chairman, secretary, and treasurer cannot hold office if they hold an appointed or elected salaried position with town, county, state or federal government, “amendment ii A town leader or vice chairman holding an appointed or elected position in town, county, state or federal government, cannot vote on the executive board.” Petitioner Leirer, who served as assistant secretary at the meeting, contends that the foregoing [798]*798is an incorrect statement of the amendments actually adopted at the meeting and that the correct text of those amendments is contained in the sworn statement of the secretary of the county committee. The secretary’s version of the amendments reads as follows: “Section 3a (1) Article III All officers of the Suffolk County Conservative Party shall be prohibited from holding office if that individual holds any appointed or elected political position that is salaried. Section 3b (2) Article III Any voting member of the Executive Committee of the Suffolk County Conservative Party shall be prohibited from holding office if that person receives any remuneration from any Federal, State or Municipal Government or any sub-division thereof either appointed, elected or sub-contracted. This shall include referrals from any Court System or SubDivision thereof.” After it was announced that the amendments had passed, the election for chairman of the county committee was held. There were two declared candidates, petitioner Leirer and respondent Haar. The voting was by roll call based upon a weighted vote. After the names were called, it was noticed by a Brookhaven committeewoman that votes were being cast on behalf of committee persons who were no longer in attendance at the meeting. Those votes, which had all been cast in favor of respondent Haar, were challenged. The secretary asked that thereafter the committee person voting stand to be recognized before declaring his or her vote. Petitioner Leirer requested that the challenged votes be taken over again. Temporary chairman Greene stated that the votes would be taken over only if the final outcome was close. Thereafter the votes of three other committee persons, which had been cast in favor of respondent Haar, were challenged as fraudulent. After the voting was concluded, the tellers declared that 3,053 gubernatorial votes had been cast in favor of petitioner Leirer and 2,974 in favor of respondent Haar. Temporary chairman Greene noted that some of the election districts created since 1978 had no gubernatorial votes allocated to them on the charts and therefore the tally would have to be recalculated after obtaining the number of gubenatorial votes allocable to each of those districts from the board of elections. Three committee persons challenged the election and petitioner Leirer consulted the parliamentarian. The parliamentarian read that portion of Roberts’ Rules of Order that pertained to elections involving fraud and stated that, in his opinion, the vote should be retaken. At this point a quorum was not present and a motion was passed directing the county secretary to find a place to reconvene the meeting and to notify all committee persons of such reconvening. The sign in and vote count sheets were then placed in an envelope which was sealed and taken to a police station for safekeeping until it could be taken to the board of elections. Thereafter, temporary chairman Greene filed a statement with the State and Suffolk County boards of elections declaring that “as far as the numbers available to [him showed]” respondent Haar was the winner of the election for chairman of the county committee. It is alleged by petitioners that on or before October 8, 1982, the county secretary informed several town chairmen that the organizational meeting would be reconvened on November 1, 1982 at 7:30 p.m. at the Electricians’ Hall in Melville. It is further alleged that the county secretary so informed temporary chairman Greene and that Greene stated that he was going to send out his own notice to reconvene the meeting on October 14, 1982. On October 14, 1982 a meeting of the party was held pursuant to the notices sent out by respondent temporary chairman Greene. He reconvened the meeting, declared respondent Haar to be the newly elected chairman and turned the chair over to Haar. When two committeemen questioned whether a quorum was present, respondent Haar ruled that they were out of order and that since the meeting was a reconvening of the October 3, 1982 meeting, a quorum was not necessary. [799]*799Three vice-chairmen, a treasurer and a secretary were then elected by voice vote. The petitions in the consolidated proceedings seek, inter alia, (1) a declaration that the amendments to the rules and regulations filed with the county board of elections are null and void, (2) a declaration that the October 3, 1982 election is null and void or, in the alternative, a declaration that petitioner Leirer is the winner of said election, (3) a declaration that the elections held at the October 14, 1982 meeting are null and void, and (4) an award of compensatory damages for emotional and mental pain, stress and anguish in the amount of $50,000 and punitive damages in the amount of $200,000. Although Special Term’s dismissal of that portion of the consolidated petitions seeking an award of damages was proper, we hold that it was improper to dismiss the remaining portions of the consolidated petitions without a hearing on the matters raised therein. Subdivision 1 of section 2-112 of the Election Law provides that: “every county committee shall within twenty days after its election * * * meet and organize”. Subdivision 1 of section 2-114 of the Election Law provides that: “[e]ach committee may prepare rules for governing the party within its political unit.

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Related

Matter of Auerbach v. Suffolk County Comm. of the Conservative Party
2019 NY Slip Op 2515 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2019)
Brown v. DeBicki
275 A.D.2d 883 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 2000)

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Bluebook (online)
94 A.D.2d 797, 462 N.Y.S.2d 910, 1983 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 18266, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leirer-v-suffolk-county-committee-of-conservative-party-nyappdiv-1983.