GUILDERLAND — Legal wrangling continues in the New York State Supreme Court over the nomination of Republican Warren Redlich to run as a Guilderland councilman in November.

In July, incumbent Councilman Michael Ricard, a Democrat, challenged Redlich’s nomination — substituting for a candidate who dropped out — and he brought a lawsuit against Redlich, the Albany County Republican Party, and the Albany County Board of election.

Ricard told The Enterprise at the time that he was not trying to block a potential candidate from running against him, but that Redlich did not follow New York State Election Law when he filed paperwork with the board of elections.

Redlich says that Ricard is trying to do exactly that — take the choice away from voters. (See letter to the editor.) And he says, that, since Ricard is not a Republican, he has no standing under the law to challenge a GOP nomination.

A closed-door meeting was held last Friday between the parties named in the suit and state Supreme Court Justice Roger McDonough who is hearing the case. McDonough listened to the arguments and collected documents during the hearing, which was not open to the public.

Oral arguments were scheduled to be heard on Aug. 31, but, according to Redlich, he withdrew his request.
"I wanted to have a hearing"and get Ricard on the record and ask him why he wants to take the choice away from the people," Redlich said on Monday. "The judge didn’t think that was necessary."

A decision by Judge McDonough will either allow Redlich to stay on the ballot and run against Ricard for Guilderland Town Board, or remove Redlich from the ballot.

No date is scheduled for Judge McDonough’s decision, but, according to Ricard’s attorney, Peter Barber, election cases take precedence over other cases and a decision is expected soon.

Barber, who is the current Guilderland zoning board chairman and former zoning board counsel, is representing Ricard in the case. He is a paid Guilderland employee who ran unsuccessfully on the Democratic ticket for Guilderland town judge in 2001.

Redlich is representing himself and pointed out that Barber works for the town.

Barber said he has previous experience with Election Law and sees no conflict of interest in representing Ricard. Barber is representing Ricard as a citizen and as a Democratic voter, not as a town board member, he said.
"The main argument is that the certificate of substitution on July 22"was not properly executed," Barber said on Tuesday. "The people who signed it were not authorized to fill a vacancy"A committee to fill vacancies is supposed to fill vacancies."

Redlich said that, during Friday’s meeting with the judge, Barber made it very clear that his and his client’s intention was to knock him off the ballot.
Barber denied this, saying that he stated, "The certificate that’s been filed should be invalidated. He conceded that the end result of his request, if he’s successful, will be that Redlich is removed from the ballot.

Getting on the ballot

Originally, Barbara Davis was running with Mark Grimm on the Republican ticket for the two open seats on the Guilderland Town Board against Democratic incumbents, Councilman Ricard and Councilman David Bosworth.

When Davis declined her party’s nomination and backed out of the race, Redlich, who was handing out campaign literature for both Davis and Grimm at the time, was substituted in her stead.

Barber said Redlich’s substitution certificate was signed by the Albany County Republican Party.
"That’s part of the problem. They are relying on people outside of the town for a town race," Barber said.

Saying Redlich used improper forms to get on the ballot, Barber said that is the only reason why his client, Ricard, brought the suit.
"In reviewing the application, we realized this almost immediately," said Barber.

In response, Redlich says his opponent is merely trying to block him with technicalities and that he has the right to run for an open seat on the board.
In a letter to the Albany County Board of elections on the matter, Redlich wrote, ""Mr. Ricard is not a member of the Republican Party. He has no standing under Election Law 6-154 (2) to make such objection" to his candidacy.

Barber said the decision will ultimately be left to the court and to the board of elections.
"It’s hard to be objective when you’re in the case"but I believe I should be on the ballot. In my mind, I should," Redlich told The Enterprise. "Redlich said before that he would debate me"about anything. The topic I want to debate him is about this"His phony lawsuit and his phony assessment."
Redlich is making a campaign issue out of what he calls unfair and improper assessment practices in the town of Guilderland and has repeatedly accused Ricard of having a "sweetheart deal" for his personal home assessment. (See letter to the editor.)
Ricard denies the claims, calling his claims "absolutely untrue." Town Assessor Carol Wysomski also said the claims were unfounded.

Having known both Ricard and Redlich because of their political histories in town, Barber criticized Redlich’s political past of running campaigns in the late 1990s on both the Democratic and Libertarian tickets, and now running as a Republican.
"He’s been a kind of a flavor of the month kind of guy," Barber said. "Why Mr. Redlich chose to use an improper form, I have no idea."