46 A.D.2d 645 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1974
In a proceeding to compel cancellation of an alleged designation by the executive committee of the Nassau County Conservative Party of appellant Levy as the candidate of said party in the general election to be held on November 5, 1974 for the public office of State Senator for the Eighth Senatorial District, the appeal is from a judgmént of the Supreme Court, Nassau County, entered August 14, 1974, which granted the petition. Judgment reversed, on the law, without costs, and petition dismissed. Norman J. Levy, the Republican Party candidate for State Senator from the Eighth Senatorial District, was designated as the candidate of the Conservative Party in the 1974 election based upon the filing with the appellant Board of Elections of designating petitions signed by 375 voters (12.3% of those eligible) and an authorization, required by section 137 of the Election Law, from the Conservative Party for Levy to be its candidate on its ballot line. The authorization was granted by unanimous vote of those present at a June 20, 1974 meeting of the executive committee of the Nassau County Committee of the Conservative Party. Petitioner, Richard Kessel, the Democratic Party candidate for the same office, challenges the designation on the ground that the authorization by the executive committee was invalid, because a quorum was not present at the June 20, 1974 meeting. If petitioner is correct there will be no name appearing on the Conservative Party ballot line for the office of State Senator for the Eighth Senatorial District. The rules and regulations of the Nassau County Conservative Party provide, inter alia, as follows: 1. The executive committee shall have 20 members* consisting of the chairman of the county committee, the executive vice-chairman, “all remaining Vice Chairman” (three), the secretary, the treasurer, the immediate past county chairman, and the “duly elected Assembly District Leaders” (12 assembly districts); 2. A quorum of the executive committee is stated to consist of “ a simple majority, namely 50% +1”; and 3. “A member of the Executive Committee who is