Appellate court looks at McGrath petitions

Brian S. McGrath is betting his whole state Assembly candidacy that there's a sympathetic panel of appellate judges in Albany.

A state Supreme Court judge ruled Friday that Mr. McGrath's Democratic petitions were invalid because he had failed to note properly on his petition which office he was seeking.

The neophyte politician had written "New York State Assembly - 122nd District," which lawyers for Republican opponent Kenneth D. Blankenbush successfully argued was a political subdivision, not a political office.

Mr. McGrath called that argument "absurd," saying that a bipartisan state elections panel had ruled his petitions valid and that Mr. Blankenbush had not found a single person who was confused about what he or she was signing.

"To me, a campaign is based on putting forward a candidate's ideas, and letting the voters decide who will best represent them," Mr. McGrath said in a news release. "Mr. Blankenbush apparently believes a campaign should be decided by legal tricks and Albany judges."

A response sent Friday from the Blankenbush campaign did not address Mr. McGrath's charges.

Mr. McGrath had made a similar notation about his intended office on his Independence Party petitions, but a judge in that separate case had not released a ruling as of late Friday afternoon.

The state Appellate Court is expected to hear Mr. McGrath's case to be reinstated on the Democratic line on Aug. 18. The candidate said he will not circulate an independent petition if he loses one or both of the lines.

"We have faith that the Appellate Division recognizes than an argument that 'New York State Assembly - 122nd Assembly District' does not fully state the office I intend to run for is patently absurd," he said. "This is an argument that only a career politician guided by Albany bosses would try to make."

Meanwhile, Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, 118th District, is going to lose a ballot line without a further fight. Her Independence Party petitions were ruled invalid after she failed, by one signature, to meet the minimum number needed to appear on the third party line.

Lawyers for Republican opponent David W. Forsythe successfully proved that a signature ruled valid by the state Board of Elections had appeared on their candidate's petition first. Mrs. Russell, D-Theresa, submitted 187 signatures, of which 18 were tossed in an earlier state Elections Board hearing. She needed 169 valid signatures.

Mark A. Pacilio, Mrs. Russell's chief of staff, said his boss will likely let the ruling stand.

"We did collect an appropriate number for Working Families and Democratic tickets," he said. "We're grateful for all who signed her petitions and we continue to move forward on those two."

Vince Casale, a spokesman for Mr. Forsythe, said only: "We're pleased the petition process is over. David Forsythe will now focus on his campaign and getting his message out to the people of the 118th Assembly District on how he will fight to create more jobs and lower taxes."