| Sam Sloan 2004-10-25, 9:45 am |
| UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
_______________________________________________________________
SAMUEL H. SLOAN,
Plaintiff,
Affidavit in Support
of Order to Show Cause
No. 04 Civ. 2791 (DGT)
-against-
DIANE HASLETT RUDIANO, GLADYS PEMBERTON, AARON
MASLOW, HY SINGER, KING'S COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY,
ISABELLA JEFFERSON, BROOKLYN REPUBLICANS UNITED
FOR NEW LEADERSHIP, NEW YORK REPUBLICAN STATE
COMMITTEE, SANDY TREADWELL, PETER S. KOSINSKI, and
CAROL BERMAN, NEIL W. KELLERHER, HELENA MOSES
DONOHUE and EVELYN J. ACQUILA, Commissioners of Elections,
Constituting the New York State Board of Elections, and New York
City Commissioners of Elections NERO GRAHAM, FREDERIC M.
UMANE, WEYMAN A. CAREY, MICHAEL J. CILMI, MARK B.
HERMAN, DOUGLAS A. KELLNER, TERRENCE C. O'CONNOR,
NANCY MOTTOLA-SCHACHER, STEPHAN H. WEINER,
Defendants.
_______________________________________________________________
Samuel H. Sloan, being duly sworn, states:
1. I make this affidavit in support of my motion to have my name
placed on the ballot as a candidate for Congress for the Tenth
Congressional District of New York in the General Election to be held
on November 2, 2004. As more fully explained in an accompanying
affidavit I have styled as "Affidavit in Opposition to the Affidavit
of Aaron Maslow", I was nominated by the Republican Party as a
candidate for US Congress for the Tenth Congressional District. The
main reason I was nominated was that they had no other candidate. If
they had had another candidate, any candidate at all, they would
almost certainly have nominated that candidate instead of me.
2. Thereafter, Diane Rudiano, who is BOTH Chief Clerk of the King's
County Board of Elections and the Secretary and Vice-Chairman of the
King's County Republican Party, started a campaign to deprive me of my
place on the ballot.
3. Diane Rudiano stated that she wanted to search for an alternative
candidate, even though all candidates were supposed to be decided at a
meeting held on "candidatees night". She wanted more time, which
Aaron Maslow, the Chairman of the meeting, was unwilling to give her.
Marianna Blume suddenly jumped up and said that she would like to be a
candidate. Then Diane Rudiano said that she wanted to take a telephone
vote (which would include among the voters those who were not present
at the meeting and therefore did not get the opportunity to see the
candidates). This was obviously objectionable, because the rules of
the King's County Republican Party do not allow for any such telephone
vote and everybody who had shown an interest in voting was already at
the meeting. The subsequent events are described in my affidavit in
opposition to the affidavit of Aaron Maslow, the end result being that
I was kicked off the ballot.
4. Since then, even though when all this started they did not have
anybody else willing to run, they have been scrambling madly to find
somebody, anybody to run. Anybody will do, as long as it is not me.
Over a dozen newspaper articles have appeared in the mainstream media
about this. Last week, it was reported by the Courier Life chain of
newspapers that their latest candidate, Harvey Clarke, is ineligible
to serve in US Congress because he just recently became a citizen.
Article I Section 2 of the US Constitution requires that in other to
serve as a Congressman one must be a citizen for seven years. Harvey
Clarke does not meet that requirement. Still, his name has not been
taken off the ballot.
5. I wish to explain the process by which one gets on the ballot in
New York City, which is different from the process not only in other
states but in other parts of New York State. This no doubt is affected
by the fact that most parts of New York City are overwhelmingly
Democratic. Another factor is that petition gatherers face special
problems perhaps unique to New York City. Most voters in Brooklyn work
in Manhattan and so it is difficult to find them to collect their
signatures. On the other hand, most people on the street in Manhattan
either live in other counties or are from out-of-town, so their
signatures are useless in any petition drive in Manhattan.
6. The result is that by agreement the New York City Board of
Elections does not count the signatures. In most cases, petitions
which are submitted are passed through, unless somebody, usually the
opponent, objects.
7. When a petition is submitted to the New York City Board of
Elections, it is subjected to what they call a "weight testh. (They
really call it that). This means that somebody simply picks up the
petitions and if they appear to weigh enough so that they might
contain enough signatures, they pass through that stage. If they fail
the weight test, they are rejected. Otherwise they pass. For example,
if somebody submits a petition of ten sheets where 1200 signatures are
required, it would probably fail the weight test, but if somebody
submits what appears to be about 100 sheets, then it would pass. The
sheets are required to be numbered. Beyond this, the Board of
Elections only looks at the cover sheet to see if it contains any
errors. This is in their rules, which are worth reading to understand
this process better.
8. Assuming that the petitions pass the weight test, as they almost
always do, the petitions are filed and logged into a book and then the
Board of Elections waits three days for objections. If nobody objects,
the candidate's name gets placed on the ballot. In practice, most
petitions do not receive objections. As a result, there are many, many
instances of candidates whose names are on the ballot even though they
did not get nearly enough signatures. This is especially helpful to
Republicans, because the Republicans have a much harder time
collecting enough signatures to get on the ballot, as the city is in
vast majority Democrats. Some Republicans have told me in confidence
that they got on the ballot with less than half of the required
signatures.
9. These problems tend to be resolved at the ballot box. The fact that
a lot of Republicans get on the ballot without having enough
signatures does not matter in the long run because in Brooklyn the
Republicans never win. Only in Staten Island and in some parts of
Queens do the Republicans have much of a chance to win election.
10. This process can be seen to be somewhat loose. Candidates get on
the ballot who do not belong there. For example, I have been told that
in this election a candidate got on the ballot without even being a
registered voter, because nobody bothered to check. I think that a
past candidate for governor got on the ballot without even being a
registered voter. On the other hand, the looseness of this system
enables them to kick off the ballot a candidate such as me who belongs
on the ballot.
11. For this reason, I am demanding a hearing on these issues. In my
case, the only objector is Bibi Khan of 100 Hill Street. I want this
person to be ordered produced to testify in court because I believe
that there is no such person. There are many people named Bibi Khan,
perhaps more than a million in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. My own
Pakistani wife Honzagool was named Bibi. It is a sort of generic
female name over there. However, there is no such person named Bibi
Khan residing at 100 Hill Street. I live near there have been there a
dozen times trying to find her. That is why I want her produced. They
will not be able to produce her. If there is no Bibi Khan at 100 Hill
Street, then my name must be restored to the ballot, because she was
the only objector. I have four signatures of Bibi Khan and there are
enough differences between them to question whether the same person
signed all of them. Attached is the green certified mail receipt for
the certified mail I sent her, which shows a completely different
signature.
12. I want Diane Rudiano produced in court. In her case, she exists.
She is the fat lady over at the Board of Elections. I know her well,
now. However, she does not live at 258 Schenck Avenue in Brooklyn. Her
claim to live there is simply a lie. She probably does not even reside
in Brooklyn. Why else would she falsify her address? In addition, she
claims to represent the 54th Assembly District. However, 258 Schenck
Avenue is not in the 54th Assembly District. It is in the 55th
Assembly District. Please look it up. If the defendants are ordered to
produce Diane Rudiano, they will not produce her. They will concede
this case and restore me to the ballot, because they know that if
Diane Rudiano is brought into court she will wind up in jail for
perjury. It is important to note that one must reside in the same
Assembly District they represent. This, however, is not true of
Congressional candidates.
13. Another person I want ordered produced is Marianna Blume. She
claims to represent the 58th Assembly District but she does not live
there either. She lives in the 44th Assembly District. Marianna Blume
is running for election in the Tenth Congressional District, but she
does not reside there either. She resides in the 11th Congressional
District. However, she is in the clear on that one, because a
Congressional Candidate does not need to reside in the Congressional
District, only in the same state.
14. Harvey R. Clarke should be ordered to be produced in court. He was
given my place on the ballot as Republican Party Candidate for US
Congress. However, Courier Life has reported last week that Harvey
Clarke only became a US Citizen earlier this year and therefore is not
eligible to serve in Congress, because Article I Section 2 of the US
Constitution states that to serve in Congress one must have been a
citizen for seven years. So far, Harvey Clarke has neither admitted
nor denied this and his name is still on the ballot.
15. Thus, the defendants should be ordered to produce Diane Rudiano,
Bibi Khan, Marianna Blume and Harvey Clark to testify at a hearing. I
can guarantee that none of them are going to be willing to testify,
because I have demonstrably proven that all of them have falsified
their status to keep me off the ballot. Diane Rudiano and Bibi Khan
are already defendants to this case and I wish to add Harvey Clarke as
a defendant.
16. Attached hereto are papers and pleadings I have filed in the state
court proceedings in this matter, to avoid repeating what I have
already stated in other courts previously.
WHEREFORE, for these reasons, a temporary restraining order and a
preliminary and permanent injunction should be granted providing the
following:
1. Ordering the defendants to produce Diane Rudiano, Bibi Khan,
Marianna Blume and Harvey Clark to testify at a hearing on this
matter.
2. Requiring that the name of the Plaintiff be placed on the ballot in
the General Election to be held on November 2, 2004 as a candidate for
Congress from the 10th Congressional District.
3. Directing, requiring and commanding the Board of Elections in the
City of New York to place and print the name of the petitioner herein
on the ballot as a candidate for election to the United States
Congress from the Tenth Congressional District in the General Election
to be held on November 2, 2004.
4. Enjoining and restraining the said Board of Elections in the City
of New York from printing, issuing or distributing for use during said
General Election in the Tenth Congressional District any official
ballot upon which the name of the petitioner does not appear as a
candidate for election to the United States Congress.
5. Such other and further relief as may be just and equitable.
________________________
Samuel H. Sloan
Sworn to Before me this 22nd
Day of October 2004
_________________________
NOTARY PUBLIC
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