Officials unsure who sets special election date
When Ulster County Executive Michael Hein takes his new position in state government on Monday, the countdown clock will begin ticking for a special election for voters to elect his replacement.
There seems to be some confusion, however, about who is responsible to set the date for that election.
Under the county charter, a special election must be held within 90 days of Hein’s resignation.
Since Hein is resigning effective 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, the last date for the county to hold a special election is May 21.
County officials have said that because the charter is silent on who must call the special election, that duty falls to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
But a senior advisor in the governor’s office said that’s not true.
“It is not the governor that calls them, it is the county Legislature,” said Spokesman Rich Azzopardi. “Our reading of the law is that it is the county Legislature who sets the date.”
That analysis is contrary to that of County Attorney Mark Longtoe and the Board of Elections who say that because the county charter doesn’t specify who is to call the election, the duty falls to the governor to issue a proclamation establishing the date for a special election.
“With the charter being silent,
all the research I’ve seen so far is that it reverts to public officers law,” Longtoe said last week. He reiterated that belief on Friday, but said he expected to work with the governor’s office to resolve the issue.
“The important part of this is that this is such an unprecedented action,” said Longtoe. “In the history of the county we’ve never had this and we have a charter that is completely silent.
“This is completely uncharted waters here,” he said.
Longtoe said he will work with the governor’s office to decide what the appropriate action will be to schedule a special election. “There are clocks ticking so we’ll have to take action very quickly,” he said.
Legislature Chairman Tracey Bartels was surprised Friday to hear from this Freeman reporter of the governor’s reading of the issue.
“This is the first I’m hearing of it,” said Bartels, a non-enrolled voter from Gardiner who aligns with the Democrats.”
Bartels said she intended to research the matter further, but said “if it’s determined that it’s our responsibility, it’s our responsibility.”
Hein, a Democrat who’s been county executive for 10 years, will become acting county commissioner of the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance on Monday. Deputy County Executive Adele Reiter, Hein’s chief of staff, will succeed him as county executive until a special election can be held. The winner of that election will serve until the end of this year.
Cuomo nominated Hein to the state post in early January, but the state Senate has not yet voted to confirm him, so Cuomo appointed Hein acting commissioner, allowing Hein to begin work before the Senate acts.
Four people, all Democrats, have said they want to run for county executive in the special election: Jeff Moran, a former town of Woodstock supervisor; Marc Rider, a deputy county executive; Pat Ryan, who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in New York’s 19th Congressional District last year; and Pat Courtney Strong, who ran unsuccessfully for a state Senate seat last year. There are no declared Republican candidates for the job.
Because of the short amount of time between Hein’s departure and the special election, there will be no party primaries to choose candidates. Rather, party committees will decide who runs. There could be primaries in June, however, if multiple candidates from any party want to run for the seat in November.
The Ulster County Democratic Committee is scheduled to meet on Feb. 20 to select the party’s candidate for the special election and regular election in November. The Ulster County Republican Committee is slated to meet on Feb. 23.