Lawrence trustee candidate petitions deemed valid

The candidate petitions of two Lawrence trustee nominees were determined to be valid by the Nassau County Board of Elections in a decision rendered on May 25.

Village resident J Lawrence Kolodny submitted objections to the Board of Election concerning the candidate petitions of incumbent trustee C. Simon Felder and first-time village board candidate Erwin Irving Langer on May 18.

Kolodny listed several objections to both Felder and Langer’s petitions. The objections focused on the improper listing of their names as registered voters on the county and village’s voter rolls.

He claimed that neither Felder nor Langer were registered to vote in the village. Based on that claim the Board of Elections was asked to invalidate “each and every signature contained on each and every page of each and every volume,” according to Kolodny’s petition challenge.

In addition, Kolodny’s objections also called into question the existence of a village resident who signed the petitions, and asked that all the signatures contained on those petition pages be invalidated. Then the signatures would be subtracted from the total number and the petitions would declared invalid because the legally required amount of signatures wasn’t obtained.

“They filed 392 signatures,” William T. Biamonte, the Democratic Board of Elections commissioner said about both candidate petitions. “One hundred are needed. Objections were upheld on 52 signatures leaving a balance of 340 signatures.”

That balance of 340 signatures ensures that Felder and Langer’s petitions met the legal requirement. There was also a claim that several of the signatures were forgeries, but Biamonte said that the redress for that allegation is found in State Supreme Court, where the signatures would be reviewed line by line.

Why Kolodny brought the objections forward wasn’t clear, but did say that he will seek legal advice about what action, if any, he should take now. “If as you say they rejected my request, I will review with counsel how to proceed,” Kolodny said.

Both Felder and Langer don’t know exactly why Kolodny would bring objections to their candidate petitions. “I heard about the objections by this fellow and they are without foundation,” Felder said. “Specifically to my name, C. Simon Felder, it’s my registered name with the Board of Elections.”

Langer said he has never met Kolodny. “I have absolutely no idea why he would bring objections,” Langer said. I guess he is a concerned citizen, whatever his reasons.”

Lawrence Mayor Martin Oliner thought that Kolodny’s actions just added up to what he called “negative energy” for the village. “I know who he is,” Oliner said. “I have never seen him at a village meeting or a Lawrence Association meeting. “ The Lawrence Association functions as the village’s civic group.