Mtr. of Wohl v. Rockland County Republican Comm.

2024 NY Slip Op 33715(U)

Opinion

Mtr of. Wohl v Rockland County Republican Comm.

2024 NY Slip Op 33715(U)

October 21, 2024

Supreme Court, Rockland County Docket Number: Index No. 036030/2024 Judge: Keith J. Cornell

Cases posted with a "30000" identifier, i.e., 2013 NY Slip Op 30001(U), are republished from various New York State and local government sources, including the New York State Unified Court System's eCourts Service. This opinion is uncorrected and not selected for official publication.

FILED: ROCKLAND COUNTY CLERK 10/21/2024 03:35 PM INDEX NO. 036030/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 16 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 10/21/2024

SUPREME COURT OF THE TATE OF EW YORK COUNTY OF ROCKLA D ------------------------------------------------------------------ X In the Matter of the Application of DECISION AND ORDER

LA RE MARIE WOHL, J MES FOLEY, JO P. Index No .: 036030/2024 VALE TINO, and AIDEi ROWA , Petitioners, (Motion # I & 2)

-against-

ROCKLAND COU 1 Y REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE

Respondent.

------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Hon. Keith J. Cornell, A.J.S.C.

Before the Court is the verified petition YSCEF # 1) of petitioners brought on by order to show cause (NYSC F #2) seeking an order (1) declaring null and void Section l 2(L) of the Rules and Re gulations of th Rockland County Republican Committee (the "Bylaws") for violating Election Law 2-l 12(b) by prohibiting an elected official from serving as chairperson, secretary, or treasurer, and (2) requiring that the Rockland County Republican Committee conduct its organizational meeting pursuant to Election Law 2-112 (b) and pe1mit any enrolled member of th Republican Paiiy to be nominated and stand for election to the offices of chair, ecretary, treasur , or any other executive board positions.

Respondent, Rockland County Republican Committee (the County Committee") opposes the petition and filed a motion to dismiss .

The following documents were r ad and considered:

NYSCEF Doc. os. 1-1 S.

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FILED: ROCKLAND COUNTY CLERK 10/21/2024 03:35 PM INDEX NO. 036030/2024 NYSCEF DOC. NO. 16 RECEIVED NYSCEF: 10/21/2024

TH E PETITION

The petition alleges that Petitioners LA URE MARIE WOHL, JO P. VALE TINO, AIDA ROWA and JAMES FOLEY are member of the Republican Party and that LAURE r MARIE WOHL, AIDA ROWA and JAMES FOLEY were elected at the June 2024 Primary Election to serve as members of the Respondent County Committee. Petitioner JO VALE TI 0 is an elected official currently serving on the Town Board Town of Clarkstown and is also the Republican nominee of the position of Town Board, Town of Clarkstown in the ovember 2024 general election. Petitioner LAURE MARJE WOHL is an el cted official, currently ervmg m th elected position of Town Clerk, Town of Clarkstown.

The County Committee is the duly constituted county committee for the Republican Party in Rock land County, pursuant to Election Law §2- 104(1 ). The petition alleges that the Bylaws were filed with the Rockland County Board of E lections on October 7, 1996 (NYSCEF #8).

Article II , Section 12 (L) 1 provides: "[e)lected officials may not serve on the Executive Committee" ("Section 12(L)") . Article II Section 6 (A) of the By laws provides, in pertinent part, that there " shall be an Executive Committee of the County Committee composed of the County Chairman two (2) Vice Chairmen, Secretary, Treasurer, Committee Person At-Large and Director of Fi nance of the County Committee ... "

The petition alleges that at the 2024 organizational meeting of the County Committee, Petitioner AIDAN ROWA intends to nominate Petitioners LAURE MARIE WOHL and JO VAL E T I O to the County Committee positions of Vice C hairman and Secretary, respectively.

1The County Bylaw Table of Contents incorrectly denotes the relevant article as Article " l 1", Section 12

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Howev r, because of Secti on 12(L) of the Bylaws, when nominated, neither Petitioners LAURE MARIE WOHL or JO VALE TI O wi ll be able to serve as Vice Chajrman or S cretary of the County Committee. The petition further alleges that at the 2024 organization meeting of the County Committee, Petitioner JAMES FOLEY will second the nominations of Petitioners LAURE MARIE WOHL and JO VALE TI O and that, Petitioner LA UREN MARI WOHL wi ll second the nomination of JO1 VALE TINO for County Committee office of Secretary.

According to the petition when nominated, Petitioner JO VALE TI O wi ll accept the nomination of Secretary, but that d spite being qualified to hold the office of Secretary, Bylaw Section l 2(L) will prevent him from taking the position becaus he is curr ntly an elected official.

According to the petition, when nominated, Petitioner LAURE MARIE WOHL will accept the nomination of Vice Chai1man, but that despite being qualified to hold the office of Vice Chairman, Bylaw Section 12(L) wil l prevent her from taking the position because she is currently an elected official.

Further, the petition alleges that Section 12(L) has also prevented both Petitioners LAUREN MARI E WOHL and JON VALENTI O from campaigning for the County Committee positions because they are being told any nomination to the office is futile as they cannot serve.

The petiti on alleges that because Election Law 2- 112 requires the holding of the County Committee organizational meeting by October 6, 2024 2 there is real and immediate harm to the petitioners.

2The holding of the organizational me ting is cu1Tently enjoined from tak ing pl ace pursuant to th is Court's order dated October 2, 2024 ( YS CEF # 6)

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The petition further argues that Re pond nt County Committee has violated Election Law §2-1 12 by restricting who can serve on the executive committee. Petitioners cite Election Law §2- 112( 1) which states that "[e]very committee shall meet and organize by electing a chairman, a secretary, a treas urer and such other officers as they may pursuant to their rules." Petitioners argue that the only limitation on who can serve as an officer is that they must be " enrolled members of the party but need not be members of such committees" (Election Law §2-112[2]).

Petitioners argue that Section 12(L) providing that " [e]lected officials may not serve on the Executive Committee" is an illegal restriction upon who can be elected as the chairman, secretary and trea urer of the County Committee and they seek both injunctive relief and a declaratory judgm nt declaring 'ection I 2(L) illegal and null and void.

The County Committee seeks di missal based on res judicata. The County Committee co1Tectly point out that this Court dismi s ed an earl ier petition (Index# 035617/2024) due to a finding that there was no justiciable controversy. ln the previous litigation, while not necessarily inviting the petitioners to return, this Court did acknowledge the possibility that, upon a different set of fac ts , justiciability could be stablished. 1 he County Committee argues that the Petitioners are now seeking a second "bite at the apple" and should be precluded from doing so.

DISCU SSTO

Based upon this Courts reading of the allegations contained in this petition, the Petitioners have now establ ished a justiciable controversy. otwithstanding the County Committee's argument that the allegations do not allege a justiciable controversy, the Petitioners show that there is a legitimate and imminent threat to their rights to seek a party office because of ection 12(L).

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Under these circumstances, the alleged harm to the Petitioner is not theoretical or speculative. It is real and imminent. Given the time sensitivity of Election Law cases and, in this case, an intraparty skirmish, the Court is mindful of providing a prompt determination.

Now that there is a controversy ripe for judicial examination, it is apparent that whether ection 12(L) is violative of the Election Law is purely a legal question. There are no facts in dispute on that narrow questi on. Thus, no hearing is needed, as requested by the County Committee.

A county political committee "is a creature of statute subject to regulation under the Election Law [see, Election Law section 2- 104; Littig v. Democratic Committe of Queens County, 179 Misc. 520, 38 N.Y.S .2d 214 (Sup.Ct. Queens Cty.1 942); see also,Matter of Battipaglia v. Executive Comm. , 20 Misc.2d 226, 228 , 191 .Y.S.2d 288 (Sup.Ct. Queens Cty.1959); Matter of Casey v. N uttall, 62 Misc.2d 386,389, 308 N.Y. S.2d 957 (Sup.Ct. Rensselaer 'ty.1970) ]. Although political partie are afforded wide latitude in adopting rules for party governance , [i.nternal footnote omitted] such rules cannot conflict wi th statutory di rec ti ves (Kahler v. Mc ab, 48 . Y.2d 625 , 421 .Y.S.2d 53 , 396 .E.2d 200; Lugo v. Board of Elections, 123 Misc .2d 764, 474 1.Y.S.2d 9 10 (Sup.Ct.N.Y.Cty.1984)). Th us, a ru le adopted by a County Committee " imposing upon the eligibility of candidates for membership limitations more restrictive than the statutory provision is invalid" [Hammer v. Curran, 203 Misc. 417, 422, 118 .Y.S.2d 268 ( up.Ct. lbany Cty.1952) ]. By a parity of reasoning, rules restricting eligibility for party positions may also be invalid [Matter of McSweeney v. Rep . Cty. Committee, 61 Misc.2d 869 307 .Y. .2d 88 ( up.Ct. Bronx Cty.1970) ]. [internal footnote omitted]." (See Terenzi v. Westchester County Committee of the Conservative Party of New York, 171 Misc. 2d 93 ).

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Party rules that are more restrictive than the election law have been struck down in other contexts such as holding party position, McSweeney v. Republican County Committee, (1970) 6 1 M isc.2d 869, 307 . Y.S.2d 88. R ules of the various pmty comm ittees have long been held by ew York Courts to be superseded by the express provisions of the election law [see, B laikie v. Knott, 277 A.D. 461, 100 .Y. .2d 665 (1950)]. Section 12(L) imposes a restriction upon who may stand for nomination and election to the party offices of th County Committee. As the Court in Terenzi wrote:

The prov ision in Election Law 2- 112 that officers need not be members of uch a committee was clearly intended to prevent a monopolization of power by members of the County Co mmi ttee.

The singular requirement that the person be a member of the party was designed to ensure that any person who was a member could be elected to the position of officer. The amendments at bar contravene Election Law section 2- 112 by altering the eligibility requ irements for party offices. In addition , even if the amendments do not facially conflict with Election Law section 2- 112, in that it is theoretically possible for a person to be elected as an officer who is not a member of the County Committee the effect is clear-the amendments diminish the pool of eligible candidates for party of-fices.

T he Terenzi Court reasoned that any committee rul which is more restrictive than merely being a party member would violate the E lection Law. While Terenzi was not examining a prohibition against elect d officials ho lding a party office, the logic is the same. The Election Law has established on ly one require ment for holding a party office- that is, being an enrolled member of the party. Thus, any party member is eligible to hold a party office. Sectio n 12(L) wou ld prevent certain party members from holding a pmiy office. It is of no moment that such a restriction would only affect a small cadre of pot ntial party officer candidates. It is a restriction which imposes an el i.gibility requirement above and beyond that which Election Law 2- 112 exp licitly provides. Therefore, Section l 2(L) vio lates the Election Law and shall be deemed null and void and

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unenforceable. This determination does not enmesh the Court in the internal workings of a political party. Like the making of legislation and sausage the internal affairs of party conunittees are not always a pretty sight. Committees are free to manage their internal affairs provided that the requirements of applicable tate law ar met.

Based upon the foregoing, it is

ORDERED, that Section 12(L) of the County Committee's Bylaws is hereby declared illegal and shall be null and void and deemed stricken from the Bylaws and of no further fo rce and effect; and it is further,

ORDERED, that thi Court's order dated Octob r 2, 2024 establi shing the temporary restraint upon the conduct of the Respondent County Committee from noticing and holding its organizational meeting pursuant to Election Law 2-112 is hereby vacated in its entirety; and it is further,

ORDERED that the County Comm ittee shall duly conduct the statutori ly required organizational meeting ·o n or before thirty (30) days from the date hereof.

Th foregoing shall constitute the Decision and Order o

Dated: New City ew York

October 21, 2024

cting Justice of the Supreme Court

To : All Counsel via YSCEF

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