Lonegan’s Challenge Of Eck’s Petitions Fails
Administrative Law Judge Edward J. Delanoy, Jr rejected the Steve Lonegan for Senate campaign’s challenge to Dr. Alieta Eck’s nominating petitions for the August 13, 2013 Special Republican Senate Primary this afternoon. Barring an appeal by the Lonegan campaign, Eck will be on the primary ballot. Delanoy’s order can be downloaded here.
Dr. Alieta Eck is on the GOP Special Senate Primary Ballot.
At the conclusion of the hearing on the matter yesterday, Lonegan’s attorney, F. Michael Daily, withdrew his challenge based up a failure to collect 1000 signatures from registered Republican or unaffiliated voters, leaving the challenge only to the veracity of Eck’s witnessing of the petitions.
Delanoy found that Eck may have failed to physically witness approximately 50 of the 371 signatures she collected on June 9 at her church in Somerset, but that even if she did not physically witness them, she had a right to cure the defect in her petition books. He further ruled that curing the defect was not necessary because, even if she had not verified all 371 signatures collected at the church, she still had more than the 1000 signatures necessary to qualify for the ballot.
Delanoy found that Eck acted in good faith and that Daily presented no evidence of fraud or wrongdoing on Eck’s part.
Lonegan’s spokeswoman, Nachama Soloveichik said, “We had serious concerns about the origin, collection, and notarization of Dr. Eck’s petitions and those concerns continue.”
Soloveichik did not know if Lonegan plans to appeal Delanoy’s ruling. The Star Ledger is reporting that Eck’s attorney Ted Maciag said that Lonegan is appealing the decision to Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, the New Jersey Secretary of State.
There was a Monmouth County twist to Delanoy’s ruling. He cited the case of Scudiery vs. Falzone from 2010 when then Monmouth County Chairman Victor Scudiery challenged Mark Falzone’s primary petitions for a bid against Congressman Frank Pallone.
Posted: June 18th, 2013 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: 2013 Election, Senate Special Election | Tags: Administrative Law Judge Edward Delanoy, Dr. Alieta Eck, F. Michael Daily, Mark Falzone, Steve Lonegan, Ted Maciag, Victory Scudiery | 10 Comments »