Jannie Blackwell, Stephanie Singer’s Candidacies Challenged in Court

The bigger Council At-Large candidates emerged from Ballot Challenge Season unscathed.

City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell | Photo Credit: City Counicil's Flickr

City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell | Photo Credit: City Council’s Flickr

[Updated at 10:40 p.m.] Any candidate or voter who wanted to get a contender kicked off the May 19th primary ballot had to file a legal challenge by the end of Tuesday.

By the time the clock struck 5 p.m., the candidacies of City Commissioner Stephanie Singer, City Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell and mayoral candidate Milton Street had been challenged.

Other than that, there were few fireworks or last-minute surprises. None of the other mayoral candidates face challenges, nor do any of the better-known City Council At-Large contenders.

We assume Council At-Large candidates Sherrie Cohen, Allan Domb, Helen Gym, Paul Steinke and Isaiah Thomas are breathing a sigh of relief tonight.

The challenge against Singer, filed on behalf of “duly qualified electors” Daniel Bucher, Ronald Reiss and Patricia Saalfrank, said she lacked the 1,000 valid signatures on her nominating petitions that are needed to run.

“They are trying to beat me in a courthouse because they can’t do it in the ballot box,” said Singer. “I’m so proud of all the hard work we did in the snow to get these signatures.”

The challenge against Blackwell was filed by Tony Dphax King, who is running against her in the 3rd Councilmanic District race. King made a number of accusations, including that Blackwell omitted information on her statement of financial interests. Blackwell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The challenge against Street said he cannot run for mayor as a Democrat because he is a registered Independent who lives in New Jersey.

Council At-Large candidates Lillian Ford, Karen Gordon and Billy Ivery‘s candidacies were also challenged. So were the candidacies of King; Greg Paulmier, who is seeking to unseat Councilwoman Cindy Bass in the 8th Councilmanic District; Sabriya Bilal and S. Archye Leacock, who are running for the 9th Councilmanic District seat being vacated by Councilwoman Marian Tasco; Dennis Lee, a candidate for City Commissioner; and Larry King (yes, Larry King), a candidate for Sheriff.

Election attorney Adam Bonin was responsible for filing the challenges against Bilal and Gordon, while Charles Gibbs, also an election attorney, filed the challenges against Ford, Ivery and King.