SAMUEL H. SLOAN,
Plaintiff,
Complaint
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 alleges:
1. He is the plaintiff in the above entitled action. He is a candidate for election to the United States Congress from the 10th Congressional District, which is entirely in Brooklyn. The present incumbent is Edolphus Towns. Plaintiff resides at 920 Belmont Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11208. The telephone number of Plaintiff is (718) 277-6957.
2. Plaintiff is a registered voter with no party enrollment. Plaintiff is known as a blank voter, which means that he is registered to vote but is not a member of any recognized political party. However, on or about April 30, 2004, Plaintiff handed in a change of party enrollment form for the purpose of enrolling as a Republican. This change in enrollment will not be effective until after the November elections.
3. At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the King's County Republican Party on May 5, 2004, Plaintiff was nominated and seconded as a candidate for election to the United States Congress for the Tenth Congressional District. A quorum was present and the assembled body voted overwhelming in favor of Plaintiff, especially since there was no other previously announced candidate for this office. At the conclusion of that meeting, Plaintiff was informed by Aaron Maslow, the Chairman of the Meeting, that he had been granted a Wilson-Pakula, which gave him the right to petition for signatures and to run for election as a Republican. However, Diane Haslett Rudiano, who occupied multiple positions of being secretary and minute taker of the meeting plus is the Chief Clerk of the King's County Board of Elections, had said that she wanted to take a weighted telephone vote of the district leaders to determine who the candidate would be. This was because, during the meeting, Mariana Blume, a district leader, had suddenly and to everyone's surprise said that she would like to be a candidate for US Congress. Because of this last moment announcement from a long-established Republican Party member, it was decided to hold a telephone vote on who would be the candidate. It was decided that the telephone vote would be taken and counted by Diane Haslett Rudiano and would be concluded by Wednesday, May 12, 2004.
4. The Plaintiff, Samuel H. Sloan, won the subsequent telephone vote by a vote of 972.5 to 444. The only person who had voted for Mariana Blume was Mariana Blume herself. Her district has 888 voters who are enrolled as Republicans. As the female district leader she was entitled to vote half of these votes. She voted those 444 votes for herself, but nobody else voted for her and so the plaintiff, Samuel H. Sloan, won the nomination.
5. At a Republican Party meeting at "Giando of the Water" on the evening of May 12, 2004, with more than 200 Republican Party members present including almost all of the party's district leaders and candidates, Plaintiff (along with his wife and daughter) were introduced to the assembled crowd as the Republican Party Candidate for the Tenth Congressional District of Brooklyn. Diane Haslett Rudiano was present at the meeting and made no objection. Mariana Blume tried to object was but ignored by the chairman of the meeting. Later at the meeting, Mariana Blume complained to Plaintiff that they were trying to find a black woman, any black woman, to run for Congress rather than either of them.
6. Nevertheless, in spite of the fact that the plaintiff Samuel H. Sloan was the duly nominated candidate of the Republican Party for election to the Tenth Congressional District of Brooklyn, Diane Haslett Rudiano has ever since led a fight to stop Plaintiff from appearing on the ballot. This is a conflict of interest because Diane Haslett Rudiano is also the Chief Clerk of the King's County Board of Elections. Starting on the morning of Thursday May 13 (or possibly even on the night of May 12) Diane Haslett Rudiano started calling other officials of the King's County Republican Party to inform them that she had discovered on Plaintiff's website that he is a Muslim. She was assisted in this by Gladys Pemberton, who is also a district leader. By her statements that the Plaintiff is a Muslim, Diane Haslett Rudiano and Gladys Pemberton were able to stir up calumny and ridicule against the plaintiff. In addition, Diane Haslett Rudiano and Gladys Pemberton spent many hours reading the more than 3024 pages on Plaintiff's website and found many places in which Plaintiff expressed disagreement with the policy of the US President. Plaintiff had in fact fully disclosed his areas of disagreement with the policies of the US President in his candidate's statement which he had distributed to the members of the King's Country Republican Party Executive Committee on May 5. For example his candidates statement said, "I am opposed to government surveillance of our Internet communications, detentions without trial, national guardsmen in the subways and police barricades around Police Plaza, especially in view of the taxpayer expense of these activities. Right now, the federal income tax brings in $ 1.7 trillion, and yet we have deficit spending. This must be greatly reduced."
7. Anybody reading this would realize that Plaintiff was not adhering to the Official Republican Party Line. Nevertheless, in their campaign to remove Plaintiff from being the duly nominated candidate, Diane Haslett Rudiano and Gladys Pemberton used these statements as part of a campaign to subject Plaintiff to calumny and ridicule.
8. Because of these acts of Diane Haslett Rudiano and Gladys Pemberton, on the morning of May 13, 2004, Aaron Maslow announced that Adrienne Britton was the Republican Party candidate. This was entirely wrong because Adrienne Britton had not been nominated or seconded for this nomination.
9. It happened by chance that Plaintiff knew Adrienne Britton and so called her. Adrienne Britton told plaintiff that she was not running for Congress, had no intention of running for Congress and this was the craziest thing she had ever heard of because nobody other than Plaintiff had even told her that she had been nominated for Congress. Adrienne Britton demanded that her name be removed for any petition.
10. Subsequently, Aaron Maslow announced that Isabella Jefferson was the Republican Party Candidate for Congress. Plaintiff attempted to contact Isabella Jefferson only to discover that she had left New York City in April to go to stay with her family in South Carolina and is not expected to return until September. Isabella Jefferson is 76 years old and had never run for federal office before. It is obvious that her name was put on just to fill up a space and to stop Plaintiff from running for and being elected to United States Congress.
11. Now, the King's County Republican Party under Aaron Maslow is circulating petitions for all the Republican Party Candidates including candidates for State Senate, State Legislature and Civil Court Judge and each of these petitions list Isabella Jefferson as the official Republican Party Candidate for US Congress. These petitions are fraudulent. Isabella Jefferson is not the Official Republican Party Candidate for Congress. Samuel H. Sloan is the official Republican Party Candidate for Congress.
12. It is submitted that all these petitions with Isabella Jefferson listed as the Republican Party Candidates for Congress be declared null and void and only petitions listing Samuel H. Sloan (or preferably simply "Sam Sloan" as the candidate be valid.
13. On May 12, 2004, the Executive Committee of the King's County Republican Party voted overwhelmingly to grant Plaintiff a "Wilson-Pakula". Since then, however, statements have appeared in the press that the leadership of the King's Country Republican Party now say that the Wilson-Pakula was not properly issued because of some defect in the procedure that was followed. This is all part of a conspiracy to stop Plaintiff from being elected to Congress. Plaintiff seeks a declaration that he is entitled to run as a Republican Party Candidate for Congress.
14. At the meeting on May 5, 2004, leaders of the King's County Republican Party recommended to Plaintiff that he seek the nominations of the Conservative Party and the Independence Party and they handed him a flyer giving him the telephone numbers to the relevant persons in those parties. Plaintiff contacted and appeared before the screening committees of both parties. Plaintiff was told by Jeffrey Kassar, Chairman of the King's County Conservative Party, that they would probably follow the Republican Party lead. Later, Jeffrey Kassar informed Plaintiff that he was rejected as a Conservative Party candidate because he had been rejected by the Republican Party because, according to Mr. Kassar, the Republican Party did not like Plaintiff's website.
15. This action is brought under 42 USC 1985 (3) and 42 USC 1983 and 42 USC 1973 and the Voting Rights Acts and Amendment XV of the Constitution of the United States and New York State Election Law. Federal Jurisdiction of this action in claimed under 28 USC 1331, 28 USC 1343 and 42 USC 1983. Venue lies in this district under 28 USC 1391 (b). (Note: Plaintiff would have no objection to a transfer of venue to Brooklyn if the court deems it appropriate. This court was selected because most of the related or relevant election law cases have been heard or are being heard in this district plus the New York City Board of Elections is located at 32 Broadway which is in this district. However, since plaintiff is running for Congress in a Congressional District which is located in Brooklyn, venue might lie there as well.)
16. In March, 2004, Plaintiff was asked by Gally Lim, a Republican Party political activist and the person who collected the most signatures of any person in both the Bloomberg campaign for Mayor and in the Pataki Campaigns, to become a candidate for US Congress, since the Republican Party had no candidate at that time. On Thursday, March 31, 2004, Gally Lim took Plaintiff and his baby to a cocktail party in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, featuring Mayor Bloomberg. Mayor Bloomberg held the baby, Sandra Sloan, aged 2, in his arms for a photo opportunity by the assembled news photographers.
17. Because of the support of Gally Lim, a prodigious collector of signatures, Plaintiff decided to run for election and so notified almost all of the leaders of the Republican Party in Brooklyn.
18. Because of the near impossibility of obtaining the 3500 signatures which a non-party member is required to obtain to get on the ballot, Plaintiff has sought the nomination of various political parties, including the Republican Party.
19. The Tenth Congressional District has the following numbers of registered voters: Republican 17636, Democratic 251608, Independence 5678, Conservative 849, Working Families 714, Blank 38,853. Total registered voters 318,387.
20. In order to get on the ballot as an Republican Party candidate, Plaintiff must obtain the signatures of 5% of the registered Republican Party members in his district, which is exactly 882 signatures. Plaintiff will experience great difficulty in obtaining these signatures because of the lack of help and the opposition of the Republican Party leadership.
21. The time for petitioning started on June 8 and finishes on July 15, 2004. It is a matter of great urgency that Plaintiff be allowed to start collecting signatures now and indeed it is almost too late.
22. Defendant Diane Haslett Rudiano resides at 258 Schenck Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11207 and her office is at 345 Adams Street, Brooklyn NY 11201.
23. Defendant Peter S. Kosinski is the Executive Director of the New York State Board of Elections. Defendants Carol Berman, Neil W. Kellerher, Helena Moses Donohue and Evelyn J. Acquila are Commissioners of Elections, Constituting the New York State Board of Elections. They have participated in the above scheme by allowing the by-laws of the Republican Party to be filed with the Board of Elections which create the aforementioned unconstitutionally permitted classes. They should be ordered by the court to allow Plaintiff and other candidates like him to run for US Congress on the Republican Party Line.
24. Diane Haslett-Rudiano is the chief clerk of the King's County Board of Elections. She has embarked on an elaborate partisan campaign to stop Plaintiff from becoming a candidate for US Congress in her dual capacity of also being the Secretary of the King's County Republican Party.
25. Defendants include 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, and Stephen H. Weiner.
26. For the past three months Plaintiff has been seeking the Republican Party line in his campaign for US Congress from the 10th Congressional District, which is entirely in Brooklyn. He is a registered blank, meaning that he has no party registration. For this reason, he cannot run as a Republican or as a Democrat, for example, unless they grant him a Wilson-Pakula. New York Election Law Section 6-120(3), the "Wilson-Pakula" law, states:
"3. The members of the party committee representing the political subdivision of the office for which a designation or nomination is to be made, unless the rules of the party provide for another committee, in which case the members of such other committee ... may, by a majority vote of those present at such meeting provided a quorum is present, authorize the designation or nomination of a person as candidate for any office who is not enrolled as a member of such party as provided in this section. ... The certificate of authorization shall be filed not later than four days after the last day to file the designating petition ... to which such authorization relates. The certificate of authorization shall be signed and acknowledged by the presiding officer and the secretary of the meeting at which such authorization was given."
27. All of the above acts constituted violations of New York Election Law and the Constitutional and Statutory Rights of the Plaintiff as well as the by-laws of the Republican Party.
28. The Defendants are discriminating against the Plaintiff on the grounds of religion, Muslim, and race, White, and sex, male. They want a black Christian female, anyone will do. This is a violation of the civil rights of Plaintiff.
29. All of the aforementioned acts have damaged the Plaintiff by making it difficult and now nearly impossible for Plaintiff to run for election and be elected to the United States Congress. Accordingly, the defendants should be required to pay money damages to the Plaintiff, in addition to equitable relief.
WHEREFORE, for all of the reasons set forth above, the Plaintiff demands:
1. A preliminary and permanent injunction requiring that the Defendants grant to Plaintiff a Wilson-Pakula allowing him to petition for election as an Republican Party candidate or an order declaring that as a non-enrolled voter Plaintiff does not need a Wilson-Pakula to run as an Republican Party candidate.
2. A preliminary and permanent injunction requiring that the name of the Plaintiff be placed on the primary ballot as a candidate for Congress for the Tenth Congressional District (which means, if the election is uncontested as is presently the case that Plaintiff will be the Republican Party candidate in the general election in November).
3. A preliminary and permanent injunction requiring that the name of the Plaintiff be placed on the ballot in the General Election in November as a candidate for Congress from the 10th Congressional District.
4. A preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Diane Haslett Rudiano from acting as the Chief Clerk of the King's County Board of Elections and as the Secretary of the King's County Republican Party or any other position of that party on the grounds of conflict of interest in that she has used those multiple positions to stop Plaintiff from becoming a candidate for and being elected to United States Congress.
5. That damages be awarded to the plaintiff in the amount of Ten Million Dollars.
6. That this action be tried by jury.
7. Such other and further relief as may be just and equitable.
Dated: July 2, 2004
________________________
Samuel H. Sloan
920 Belmont Avenue
Brooklyn NY 11208
718-277-6957
917-507-7226
samsloan@samsloan.com
The other is a proceeding to put you back on the ballot after your opponents have filed an objection and had the Board of Elections kick you off the ballot. This is called a "Validating petition".
I was listed as a candidate on the New York City Board of Elections website until a few days ago when my name was taken off. This is because the Board of Elections kicked me off the ballot. Now, I have filed validating petitions with the Brooklyn Supreme Court. I expect to take this case up, possibly even to the highest court of New York State and then to the highest court of the United States. Many other candidates were kicked off the ballot but so far none of the others have filed an appeal. My appeal will apparently be the first. Of course, if I win, the other candidates who were kicked off the ballot for similar reasons will probably file appeals as well.
I have posted and will continue to post my court filings to my websites. This is for the convenience of other candidates who may want to copy and use them.
Here is what I hope to achieve from my petition.
Here are the petitions I have filed in the United States Supreme Court, in HTML Format: