4 MAY 28, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Quinn, Yin appeal decision to uphold cancellation
of Queens borough president special election
BY JACOB KAYE
JKAYE@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
One former candidate and
one current candidate for
Queens borough president
will continue their fight in court to
reverse Governor Andrew Cuomo’s
executive order that canceled the
special election for Queens borough
president.
The special election was originally
scheduled for March 24 and
rescheduled to June 23 before being
canceled outright. Jim Quinn and
Dao Yin, who both ran in the special
election prior to its cancellation,
separately filed an appeal earlier
this week against the court’s decision
to uphold the governor’s order.
The pair have argued in court that
the governor’s decision was unlawful.
While many of the candidates,
including Yin, remain on the ballot
for the June 23 primary, the decision
to cancel the special election
eliminated Quinn, who had only
petitioned for the special election,
from the ballot.
“We brought this case forward
in the name of democracy and the
rights of Queens voters,” Quinn
said. “The judge in the lower court
Photos courtesy of Jim Quinn’s campaign,
Offi ce of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, Dao Yin’s campaign
was in agreement with the merits of
our argument that Governor Cuomo
took extreme and unnecessary action
in canceling the election, which
makes his decision not granting us
relief even more disappointing and
confounding.”
Quinn said the decision to cancel
the special election after early
voting had already begun was an
act of disenfranchisement against
Republicans and conservatives, a
group whose support the former
Queens assistant district attorney
had garnered.
“The voters — thousands of whom
had already cast their ballot in the
special election — have a right to an
elected borough president before
January 2021,” Quinn said. “We
live in a democratic republic, not
a dictatorship, and I will not sit by
silently while the voters of Queens
are disenfranchised.”
Yin, who has jumped to Quinn’s
side, has made similar arguments
in court. “The Executive Order
canceling the special election is not
only unnecessary and unconstitutional,
but it is also dangerous in
that it establishes a precedent for
other politicians to overstep their
authority and interfere with a future
election under the guise of an
’emergency,’ real or perceived,” Yin’s
lawyers said in their appeal.
The appeal comes after a string of
unusual events that led to the cancellation
of the election. It began with
former Queens borough president
Melinda Katz’s election to Queens
district attorney in 2019.
The vacant seat was fi lled by her
deputy, Sharon Lee, who is currently
serving as the acting borough president.
A special election was scheduled
for March 23, the winner of which
would serve until January 2021.
Citing threats to public health,
Cuomo eventually canceled the election
outright, an act that allowed all
candidates in the special election
— except Quinn — to remain on the
ballot for the June 23 Democratic
primary. The winner of the primary
will face Republican Joann Ariola in
the November general election.
Councilmen Donovan Richards
and Costa Constantinides, former
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley,
retired NYPD Sergeant Anthony
Miranda and Yin will appear on
the ballot in the June Democratic
primary.
Cabán endorses González-Rojas for Assembly seat
BY JACOB KAYE
JKAYE@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Former candidate for Queens
District Attorney Tiff any Cabán
announced her support for Jessica
González-Rojas, a reproductive health
advocate and insurgent candidate in the
Democratic primary for State Assembly
District 34.
“In a district that is 88% people of color,
we need to elect community champions
who will fi ght these injustices — at the
root and with an unwavering commitment,”
Cabán said in a statement. “I’m
proud to announce my endorsement of
Jessica González-Rojas.”
González-Rojas, who is one of four candidates
challenging six-time incumbent
Michael DenDekker, said she was proud
to receive the endorsement.
“I’m thrilled, ecstatic, proud and
humbled to receive her endorsement,”
González-Rojas said. “She’s someone
I volunteered for and supported and I
believe in her vision. She’s changed the
narrative of how justice can be possible
in this state, city, borough and country.
We are very much value aligned.”
Cabán chose to endorse González-
Rojas over Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo, Joy
Chowdhury and Angel Cruz, the three
other challengers vying for the seat.
O’Doherty-Naranjo, who, along with
González-Rojas and Chowdhury, volunteered
on Cabán’s DA campaign, has
expressed disappointment in Cabán’s
endorsement. As a Manhattan prosecutor,
she said her support for Cabán
during the DA run, lent credence to the
reformer’s calls for changes to criminal
justice.
“It’s disingenuous for Cabán to endorse
González-Rojas because I feel
like I gave her legitimacy as a former
prosecutor,” O’Doherty-Naranjo said. “I
helped her make it work.”
Additionally, O’Doherty-Naranjo
accused González-Rojas of not being “a
local person.” González-Rojas has lived
in the district, which covers Jackson
Heights, Woodside and East Elmhurst,
since 1999. O’Doherty-Naranjo has lived
in the district since 2001.
“Although this is her residential address,
she’s not involved in local activities,”
O’Doherty-Naranjo said. “She was
in Washington doing great work, yes,
but she wasn’t here.”
González-Rojas, however, maintains
that while her work may have taken her
out of the district at times, it’s been for
the benefi t of her local community.
“I’ve worked both locally and nationally,”
said González-Rojas, who was the
founding member of several organizations
that serve the undocumented and
immigrant communities in her neighborhood.
“That just shows I’m able to do
both local organizing and make impact
at the state and national level.”
DennDekker, who was fi rst elected
in 2009, said that his primary concern
at the moment is helping his constituents
through the COVID-19 crisis.
“I am proud of my work for my neighbors
in Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst,
Woodside, and Corona, and I believe my
record outshines that of any other candidate,”
DenDekker said. “Right now, I am
primarily concentrating on helping my
constituents through the dangers and
troubles of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Additional reporting by Angélica
Acevedo.
Jessica González-Rojas (l.) and Tiff any Cabán. QNS fi le photos
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
link
link
link
