Photo credit: Danielle Finkelstein (left); handout | Jack Martins and Craig Johnson.
The state's top judge issued a set of deadlines Thursday meant to wrap up any contested state Senate races before the upper house of the State Legislature reconvenes on Jan. 5th. Control of the Senate will depend on the outcome of three close races: one in Nassau, one in Westchester and one abutting Lake Erie that stretches from Erie County and part of Buffalo north into Niagara County and Niagara Falls.
Judge Jonathan Lippman said in an "administrative order," that court hearing and rulings in those three races be completed by Dec. 6, "absent extraordinary and unavoidable circumstances" - a phrase he did not explain further.
The order said the two Appellate Divisions handling the cases - the Second and the Fourth Departments - should finish work by Dec. 8 - "but in any event no later than December 15." The Court of Appeals would hear all cases by Dec. 20, but the order gave no timetable for the Court of Appeals to rule.
Lippman said the order was being issued because of "the importance of the timely hearing and resolution of" disputes in the three races.
Attorneys in the Nassau case said it was clear that Lippman and the Court of Appeals did not want to put themselves in the position of the Supreme Court in the landmark Bush v. Gore case a decade ago in which the high court, bound by time constraints, found itself unable to order any remedies without interfering with the inauguration of the president.
The attorney did not want to be identified because they might have to argue the Nassau case before the Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, the count of papers ballot in the tightly contested Seventh state Senate race in Nassau County was delayed for more than two hours Thursday morning because a Democratic lawyer was in court giving an update to the chief administrative judge for Nassau courts.
Attorney Steven Schlesinger, representing Democratic incumbent Craig Johnson, said after the session with Judge Anthony Marano that he had told Democratic workers not begin the count at 9 a.m. as scheduled because he had "an absolute right to be present at the count."
The doors to the counting room at the Board of Elections had opened a few minutes before 9 a.m. and workers entered as if to begin the seventh day of counting, but never got to work. They finally resumed at 11:20 a.m., about 20 minutes after the court session ended. Johnson trailed Republican challenger Jack Martins by 382 votes as of the lunch break Thursday. The votes totaled 42,409 for Martins and 42,027 for Johnson.
In Suffolk, Rep. Tim Bishop (D-Southampton) has narrowed Republican Randy Altschuler's lead to 280 votes, Bishop spokesman Jon Schneider said Thursday.
Officials have counted absentee ballots from all of Smithtown, Altschuler's home, and 39 of 42 election districts from Southampton, Schneider said. Counting is set to continue Thursday on absentee ballots from East Hampton and Southold.
Earlier, Altschuler spokesman Rob Ryan said he'd yet to receive an update Thursday from campaign officials at the Board of Elections in Yaphank.
"I'll hear from them at lunchtime," he said. "It's useless to do this play-by-play, because once you hear it, it all changes."
In Nassau, Marano told Democratic and Republican lawyers that he did not want to interfere in their work, but he wanted to make sure that the court system had time to handle any appeals in the case.
Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo wrote to Lippman Wednesday urging him to "proactively address" some of the pending court actions surrounding the election in three State Senate races: the 7th in Nassau, the 37th in Westchester and the 60th near Buffalo.
"In my view, a Senate in limbo is not only undesirable, but also unacceptable," Cuomo wrote. He said he feared the Senate might lack a working majority and, "That would complicate, if not render impossible, the conduct of day-to-day-business in the Senate chamber."
"I think everyone realizes how significant these three races will be and it has to be done competently, and everyone wants to get out front, making sure they're telling everyone else to get it right," William Biamonte, the Democratic elections commissioner for Nassau County, said of the meeting with Marano. John Ryan, counsel to acting Republican elections commissioner Carol Busketta, declined to comment.
With James T. Madore, Mitch Freedman and Reid J. Epstein
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