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: 2 knocked off ballot not enough signatures 
: Saturday, April 24, 2004
: By Ken Thorbourne
: Journal staff writer 
: In a blow to the efforts of Jersey City Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham to field a full slate of candidates for the June primary, two congressional candidates have been disqualified on the grounds that they didn't submit enough valid signatures to get on the ballot. 

: Administrative Law Judge Carol Cohen ruled yesterday that there were at least 95 invalid signatures on Sean Connors' nominating petitions in his bid to unseat 9th District Congressman Steve Rothman. That dropped him below the 200 needed to qualify. 

: Likewise, the Rev. Edward Allen failed to get 200 signatures of registered voters residing in the 10th District to get on the ballot in his quest to unseat U.S. Rep. Donald Payne. Judge Edith Klinger ruled Thursday that Allen submitted only 167 valid signatures. 

: Many of the signatures Allen submitted were thrown out because the people who collected them - including Allen himself - are not registered to vote in the 10th Congressional District. 

: Klinger found that while a candidate for Congress can live outside of the district, those collecting signatures on the candidate's behalf must be registered to vote within the district. 

: Allen lives in Jersey City but outside of the 10th District. His church in Newark - the Philemon Missionary Baptist Church, on Shephard Street - is inside the district. 

: Stan H. Eason, a spokesman for Cunningham, called the disqualifications disappointing and chalked them up to clerical mistakes. 

: "It was nothing premeditated or underhanded, just mistakes," Eason said. "The people who signed the petitions were legitimate. It was a case of the people collecting the petitions. 

: "It's unfortunate people won't have a choice instead of the same old leadership. Our focus has been to change the way the organization has been run, starting right at the top, with the puppet master Robert Menendez." 

: Menendez, who represents the 13th District, will face a challenge from Steven Fulop, who is running on the Cunningham-backed Hudson County Reform Democratic Committee slate. 

: Allen said he plans to appeal the judge's ruling. Eason said Cunningham would support any appeals filed by Allen or Connors. 

: "Mr. Payne's attitude is the best competition is no competition at all," Allen said. He is out of touch with the people of the 10th Congressional District. We certainly are going to appeal it. We submitted almost 400 signatures." 

: Allen argued that the signature collectors shouldn't have to reside in the district. 

: "The purpose of the (signature collector) is to affirm that the person who signs the petition is indeed that person," said Allen. "In my case, I am pastor of a church in the heart of the 10th District. I knew the people who were signing the petition." 

: For his part, Payne said he was pleased with the decision, "which reaffirms the principle that all candidates must comply with federal and state campaign laws." 

: Connors couldn't be reached for comment last night. 

: Rothman's office lashed out at Connors for not meeting the statutory requirements to become a candidate. 

: "The voters of the 9th Congressional District must be able to have confidence that a person whose name appears on the ballot has met the minimum legal requirements to be on that ballot," Rothman said in a prepared statement released by his office. 

: The disqualification of Allen and Connors means that three Cunningham-backed candidates have been booted from election ballots in recent weeks. 

: Jersey City school board candidate Carmen Mendiola, a Cunningham ally, was disqualified from running in Tuesday's election after a state Superior Court judge found she wasn't registered to vote in Jersey City at the time she filed to run. 

: State Sen. Bernard F. Kenny Jr., chairman of the Hudson County Democratic Organization, which is backing all the incumbents on the June 8 ballot, applauded the Klinger ruling. 

: "Today's court decision continues to demonstrate the irresponsible, illegal and fraudulent methods utilized by the so-called 'Reform' Democrats to place their candidates on the ballot," Kenny said. 

: Willie Flood, chairwoman of the HCRDC, said she hadn't heard Allen had been disqualified when she was reached for comment yesterday. 

: "I am really very surprised about this," Flood said. "We counted the number of signatures. It is something I didn't expect." 

: Klinger also found fault with Allen petitions she received from valid collectors. 

: On a petition circulated by Eric Gordon, Klinger ruled that eight out of the 60 signatures were invalid, either because the signer was not a registered voter or no verification of registration was possible. 

: In a petition circulated by Philip Flood on behalf of Allen, Klinger found four out 10 signatures to be invalid. 

: Allen also took some shots at Menendez, a political adversary of Cunningham's, charging that Menendez's congressional seat has been "gerrymandered to make sure Mr. Menendez has a base of Hispanic voters. 

: "I am opposed to the deliberate and capricious act Menendez has played to help bring about the gerrymandering of the (13th Congressional) District." 

: Nicholas Chiaravalloti, Menendez's campaign manager, said the boundaries of the 13th Congressional District were drawn before Menendez held federal office and was in fact an adoption of a Republican proposal. 

: In regard to Allen's problems getting on the ballot, Chiaravalloti said: "Getting 200 legitimate signatures is a minimal show of support, and Rev. Allen was not even able to accomplish that." 

: %%source%%Journal staff writer%%endsource%% Jeff Theodore contributed to this report 


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