[NYtenants-online] Primary Day; other candidates & other races

[Tenant]

Tomorrow, September 9th is the NYC Primary election for contested races. 
Because no statewide or citywide candidates are up, it is expected to be a 
low-turnout. Which is why it's so important that you pick yourself up and 
get to the polls.

The next time you end up in Housing Court, remember that the judges you 
elect for Civil Court may eventually end up in Supreme Court or the 
Appellate Division, making tenant law. If someone like Shlomo Hagler is 
elected in Manhattan, he could end up deciding on legal precedents for all 
tenants -- and that is not good.

So we urge you to call or email your friends, relatives and bowling buddies 
on the Lower East Side and tell them to take a few minutes to vote. You can 
vote in the LES Judicial race if you're a registered democrat and are in 
the district: 
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/judges/2nddist2003/judicial%20district%202nd%20map.jpg

Although there are many more City Council primaries, given that most 
incumbent council members and their challengers have as much substance as a 
Formica tabletop, we're not concentrating on City Council this time around.

We told you about Shlomo Hagler, but the old political adage that "you have 
to win with someone" holds true. If you don't vote for Hagler, then who 
should you vote for? In the 2nd Judicial District race, there is a choice, 
four choices. Read on...


BUT BEFORE WE GO THERE, WE DIGRESS.... (continue with Hagler's opponents below)

In BROOKLYN...

...a housing court judge and former landlord lawyer who used to be with the 
city's largest eviction mill, Borah Goldstein, Altschuler & Schwartz, is 
running for Civil Court. We've heard many things about Dawn Jimenez in the 
last month, most of which has not been complimentary. Some of it has been 
unverifiable.

Our colleagues at Rentwars have reported on this former landlord lawyer. Go to:
http://www.rentwars.com/discus/messages/136/255.html?1063018450

Rentwars states, ""Her entire legal career was spent evicting tenants, over 
90% of whom were pro se. Judge Jimenez brings her experience to bear 
against tenants. With her as judge it's as if the big money Slumlords have 
two legal teams against the tenant."

Jimenez apparently recently rediscovered her Latin roots, changing the 
pronunciation of her name to be more in line with potential Latino voters, 
also she also recently just moved to Brooklyn.

Jimenez is being portrayed as an independent unwilling to bow to the 
disgraced Clarence Norman-Vito Lopez political machine that allegedly is 
backing her opponent, Shawndya Simpson. But many reform political 
organizations are also backing Simpson. Brooklyn opbservers tell us that 
only Jimenez and the New York Sun actually believe the story about her 
opposing the Norman-Lopez machine. Even if true, it puts Brooklyn voters 
between a rock and a hard place. If one were to believe that Jimenez was so 
'independent,' it would be like buying the line "if I don't mug you, then 
I'm your friend."

We have little information on Simpson, but one tenant advocate described 
her as "smart and capable."

We do find it interesting that Jimenez' smoke and mirrors is being created 
by the same political consultant, Hank Sheinkopf, that is working for 
Shlomo Hagler. What is most appaling about Jimenez and her consultant is 
that in her latest literature she actually lied about getting the New York 
Times' endosement. Simpson actually got the endorsement, but readers of her 
literature would conclude otherwise.

Jimenez also claims to be 'merit selected." To see how much merit there was 
in her selection as a Housing Court judge, one only need look at the 
partners of her former law firm (eviction mill Borah, Goldstein, et al) who 
sit on the selection panel.

Seems like those real estate dollars do get around. To see the Jimenez 
campaign contributions, go to:
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/judges/Jimenez/Jimenezcontributions.pdf  She 
evens sorts it out so you can see all the landlords who have filled her war 
chest.


In the BRONX...

Housing Court Judge Larry Schachner is running for Civil Court. Some say 
his record is mixed, but one tenant attorney stated that Schachner was "the 
judge that ruled that a landlord has a cause of action to evict a tenant 
for overcharging a roommate. This is a terrible decision with horrible 
ramifications for tenants. Given that even DHCR said that the regulation 
was only intended to benefit roommates so that they could sue the tenants, 
this was a huge reach and a terrible result. he should be opposed."

For Schachner's money, go to: 
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/judges/Schachner/Schachnercontributions.pdf

Also in the BRONX, Housing Court Judge Julia Rodriguez has received 
negative comments.


SO IF NOT SHLOMO HAGLER, THEN WHO WOULD MAKE A GOOD JUDGE?

To update: in the last few days, Shlomo Hagler has filled the country's 
quota for junk mail; pity the poor Post Office workers and the voters on 
the Lower East Side. He's also created a huge graffiti problem with 
mountains of posters all over lampposts and the like.


He's now claiming he's the "friend of tenants" highlighting some alleged 
pro-tenant decisions. Well, it is true that any judge, sometime in their 
career, will rule for tenants. But with Hagler, there are few, very few. In 
those few cases we saw, the landlord's cases have been so weak that even 
George Pataki, Joe Bruno and Peter Vallone would have ruled against the 
landlord. Hagler's claim that an eighteen-year-old eviction warrant is no 
longer valid hardly expands tenants' rights. It's laughable.

His literature also has an alleged quote from the Lower East Side Voice 
claiming he has "expanded" rent protections. This publication, however, is 
an in-house organ of the United Jewish Council of the East Side, who some 
see as a fully-owned entity of Sheldon Silver. But more interestingly, it's 
president is Martin Shulman, himself a Civil Court Judge who before being 
elevated to the court was a landlord lawyer promoting harassment of 
tenants. Silver snuck Shulman in after he was defeated by LES voters in 1993.

And Hagler also has a quote from a John S. Rogers claiming to be a tenant 
lawyer. But no one on the tenant bar has ever heard of this guy and his 
Google reports shows he's active building passenger ships, not defending 
tenants.
It's another bogus Hagler claim.

So with Hagler, if he's so tenant-friendly, then why are landlord dollars 
pouring into his campaign war chest and why are 64% of his endorsers 
landlord lawyers?


OTHER CANDIDATES

There are three other candidates:

Arlene Bluth
Frank Nervo
Virginia Kolodny


ARLENE BLUTH

All candidates have at least one landlord firm as a contributor. Goldstein 
& Altschuler (a subset of the eviction mill Borah Goldstein Altschuler & 
Schwartz) apparently has given to all four candidates. But aside from 
Hagler, Arlene Bluth, whose actual litigation credentials seem almost 
non-existent, has the most landlord support.

Her landlord lawyer contributors and supporters include:

Greenberg Traurig
Rose & Rose
David Kaminsky
Goldstein & Altschuler
Joseph Burden
Warren Estis
Daniel Finkelstein (the 'dean' of NYC landlord lawyers is the Uncle of Bluth)
Robert Goldstein
Robert Silversmith

She also plunked down $50,000 of her own money. That's way above what the 
other candidates have spent on themselves and it reinforces a belief that 
Bluth, who lives in the East 40's, is merely trying to buy a judgeship in 
another neighborhood. Although she has the endorsement of Council member 
Marguerita Lopez, Lopez's political club, Coalition for a District 
Alternative (CODA) has instead endorsed Frank Nervo. The explanation is 
that Bluth apparently got the Lopez endorsement before Nervo entered the race.

Bluth is also a District Leader from Manhattan's East Side. In her zeal to 
be elected, Bluth has made a big deal about enforcing even the smallest 
infractions of the law. But Bluth herself may have violated the law when 
she failed to step down as District Leader (required for judicial 
candidates) and actually voted to have some of her potential opponents 
placed in the County-Wide race instead of the 2nd Judicial District race 
where she's running. In essence, she illegally narrowed her competition. 
See http://www.courts.state.ny.us/acoje/01-44.htm

Bluth also failed to file her list of campaign contributors when required 
although she did file her first report by the time the second report was 
due. See it at:
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/judges/2nddist2003/Bluth/Bluth%20financials%20030711.pdf

Bluth also created a flap in the last few days by publishing an 
unauthorized photograph with her and Council member Alan Gerson, who has 
not endorsed any of the candidates, creating the false impression that he 
had done so. Reportedly Gerson is now rushing around shaking hands with the 
other candidates in order to equalize the photo-op.

And in yesterday's NY Post (page Six)

"Now even an election for Manhattan Civil Court is marred by trickery. 
Arlene Bluth has about as much to do with Martin Luther King Jr. as the 
rest of us. Bluth, who's running for a judgeship from the East Village, has 
sent out an expensive campaign brochure with King's face and words on the 
cover: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." The 
appropriation of King's likeness is said to be the work of her campaign 
consultant Micah Lasher, who was also linked - while working for [Mark] 
Green's mayoral bid - to the well-circulated leaflet of the Sean Delonas 
cartoon showing Freddie Ferrer kissing Al Sharpton's derriere. Meanwhile, 
Bluth's opponent is running as Shlomo Hagler in Jewish neighborhoods but 
"S. Hagler" in gentile ones. Hagler's consultant is Hank Sheinkopf, who, 
when he worked for Green, was blamed for bogus Ferrer-Sharpton posters that 
popped up in white areas of Brooklyn."

Given Bluth's considerable landlord support, her lack of litigation (a 
Lexus search only came up with one Bluth case where she represented a 
landlord) and questionable community involvement, we cannot recommend a 
vote for Arlene Bluth.


VIRGINIA KOLODNY

Virginia Kolodny, a court attorney, does not have a lot of negatives 
compared to Shlomo Hagler, but she does have a fair amount of landlord 
lawyer support.

See her financials at: 
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/judges/2nddist2003/Kolodny/Kolodny%20financials%20030711.pdf

Where her landlord support includes:

Goldstein & Altschuler
Rosenberg & Estis
Finkelstein Newman
Silversmith & Veraja
Greenberg-Traurig
A. J. Clarke Real Estate
Chung Lee Realty Co.
C&C Realty
Yuen Fa Realty

But Kolodny isn't out campaigning in force and many observers question why 
she is even running. No one knows.


FRANK NERVO

Frank Nervo seems to be most in touch with the communities below 14th 
Street. He is a past president of the Village Independent Democrats. VID 
has endorsed him as has the LES group Coalition for a District 2 
Alternative (the Lower East Side hybrid political club).

Nervo was the only candidate to be reported out of the County-Wide 
Democratic Screening Panel (which Hagler avoided) being rated "Most Highly 
Qualified." The Asian American Bar Association also rated him "Qualified."
According to his information, while President of VID, Nervo provided pro 
bono consultations for tenants and expanded the VID weekly tenant clinic.

Nervo has also been endorsed by The Villager:

"In addition, Nervo has the kind of track record that indicates he would be 
effective, insightful and compassionate if elected to the bench. He put 
himself through law school while working as a court stenographer. He has 
broad experience prosecuting malpractice and personal injury cases. As 
president of V.I.D. he expanded the club's free tenants legal clinic to 
help tenants keep their apartments. In our dealings with him over the 
years, he's shown himself to be a levelheaded, no-nonsense and genuine 
individual."

Nervo's campaign contributors are at:
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/judges/2nddist2003/Nervo/Nervo%20filings%20071103%20080403%20combined.pdf

His landlord contributors are only one -- Goldstein & Altschuler, who gave 
to all candidates.

Other material we've obtained on Frank Nervo:
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/judges/2nddist2003/Nervo/Nervo%20Backgrounder.txt
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/judges/2nddist2003/Nervo/nervo%20-%20resume.txt
http://www.tenant.net/Alerts/judges/2nddist2003/Nervo/Nervo%20street%20flyer.pdf

Compared to the other candidates from a tenant perspective, Frank Nervo 
seems to have a pro-tenant history and virtually no landlord support.

THE BOTTOM LINE

If you don't want Shlomo hagler, and we hope our newsletters have given 
some insight, then a LES voter must choose between three other candidates. 
There's a lot of smoke and mirrors in these races and we hope you will 
consider the choices for tomorrow's ballot carefully.

And remember -- call or email your LES contacts.
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Information from TenantNet is from experienced non-attorney tenant
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