Nicholas LaLota, Photo Courtesy of NewsdayNew York’s highest court says it will not hear a case in which an appellate court booted a Republican candidate from the ballot in a race over a Long Island state Senate seat.
The state’s Appellate Division, Second Judicial Department, ordered the state Board of Elections to remove Nicholas LaLota’s name from the ballot. LaLota had been running to represent New York’s 8th state Senate district, which covers a portion of Long Island.
The state’s Court of Appeals this week declined to hear the case.
The appellate court weighed in on Election Law §3-200(6), which says an election commissioner shall not be a candidate for elective office, unless he or she has “ceased by resignation or otherwise, to be commissioner prior to his [or her] nomination or designation therefor,” according to the ruling.
LaLota served as a commissioner for the Suffolk County elections board, but issued a memorandum saying that he anticipated being a candidate for state Senate and would be taking a leave of absence, according to the ruling.
The memorandum said LaLota would resign as commissioner if he were elected to the state Senate and the leave would continue until he revoked it in writing, according to the ruling.
The ruling noted that LaLota took his personal possessions from the office and stopped visiting the county elections board.
LaLota taking a leave of absence did not mean he had ceased to be a commissioner, the appellate court ruled. He remained in the role of commissioner, the court said, even if he “temporarily absented” from using the powers of the office.
“The plain text of Election Law §3-200(6) disqualifies an election commissioner from being a candidate for public office unless that commissioner resigns or otherwise ceases to be an election commissioner,” according to the ruling.
The ruling said state law addressed whether someone was “in fact” an election commissioner, not whether someone was “performing actions” in that role.
The appellate court also pointed to LaLota’s memorandum, which said his absence would go on until he revoked it in writing.
“By reserving the right to unilaterally revoke the leave of absence at any time, LaLota implicitly acknowledged that he has retained his authority as Commissioner,” the appellate court ruled.
John Ciampoli, LaLota’s attorney, said he is “incredibly disappointed” by the Court of Appeals not taking up the case.
Ciampoli argued that LaLota did not just take a leave of absence as commissioner, but totally recused himself from the role and acted in good faith to comply with the law.
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