A veteran state lawmaker from Queens withstood a challenge to her position on the Democratic primary ballot Thursday after a judge dismissed on procedural grounds a lawsuit from her opponent claiming her campaign submitted hundreds of forged signatures.<\/p>\n
The ruling means Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar\u2019s name will appear on the ballot in the June primary for a Queens district she has represented since 2021.<\/p>\n
Her opponent, David Orkin, is a lawyer endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America. He had sued<\/a> to disqualify her, claiming that his campaign had found forgeries<\/a> among the signatures she submitted to secure a ballot line.<\/p>\n New York election law requires candidates to submit at least 500 signatures from registered party voters living in the district they hope to represent in order to appear on the ballot for an Assembly primary.<\/p>\n Orkin said in his lawsuit that at least seven signature collectors had forged names on the forms and that, combined, those collectors had obtained about 70% of Rajkumar\u2019s signatures.<\/p>\n Queens Judge Denise Johnson did not rule on the merits of those claims and instead dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that Orkin and his attorneys had failed to properly serve the signature collectors and record those documents with the court.<\/p>\n In a written statement, Rajkumar praised the judge\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was an ugly attempt by the Democratic Socialists of America to disenfranchise Queens voters, especially minority voters, and to bully a team of young South Asian and minority canvassers who represent the future of our state,\u201d she said. \u201cThey failed.\u201d<\/p>\n Orkin and his lawyer Renee Paradis countered that he was railroaded by representatives of the Queens Democratic Party and did not get a chance to make their argument in court. Rajkumar\u2019s attorneys Frank Bolz and Gerard Sweeney are two partners in a law firm with enormous influence over the Queens Democratic Party and its picks for judicial candidates.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat you saw in there was the Democratic machine trying to crush a grassroots campaign,\u201d Orkin said immediately following the decision.<\/p>\n Orkin\u2019s lawyers had planned to question at least seven signature collectors in court. But Johnson\u2019s ruling allowed the canvassers to leave without testifying. None of them agreed to answer questions from Gothamist at the courthouse Thursday<\/p>\n Sweeney, one of Rajkumar\u2019s lawyers, told the judge that the claims were a \u201cfishing expedition\u201d and that Orkin\u2019s campaign had failed to properly record its subpoenas in order to \u201cambush\u201d Rajkumar and the campaign workers.<\/p>\n “They do not want us to know what they are going to do as if it\u2019s a state secret of the socialist party,\u201d Sweeney said.<\/p>\n