New York Supreme Court Orders Review of 24,000 Petition Signatures

August 10, 2009

New York Supreme Court Orders Review of 24,000 Petition Signatures Invalidated by New York City Clerk; Petition Calls for Local Commission to Investigate 9/11  New York City – This week a New York Supreme Court referee ordered a line-by-line review of petition signatures that were declared invalid by the New York City Clerk and Board of Elections.  The review is the next step in challenging the City Clerk’s rejection of the NYC CAN petition for a local independent commission to investigate 9/11 and comes after the group filed a Verified Petition/Order to Show Cause with the Supreme Court on July 29.  NYC CAN originally filed the petition containing 52,000 signatures at the City Clerk’s office on June 24.  At a meeting on Thursday the Referee allotted an initial two-week period from August 10 to August 24 for the signature recount and review process. NYC CAN has assembled a staff to begin recounting the already validated signatures and reviewing each of the 24,664 invalidated signatures against an April 2009 Board of Elections database of registered voters.  All disputed signatures will be made part of a Bill of Particulars and presented to the referee for review.

The NYC CAN petition was rejected by the City Clerk on Friday, July 24, who validated 26,003 signatures – 3,997 shy of the benchmark minimum of 30,000 signatures of qualified voters prescribed in the applicable Home Rule Law.  If the threshold of 30,000 qualified electors is reached as a result of the recount, lawyers for the petitioners and the City will argue the fine points of the Home Rule Law and Election Law in a later proceeding.  If the courts rule in favor of the petitioners and validates the Petition, the City Council is compelled to vote on whether to put the referendum before the voters this November.  If the Council votes against it, the Home Rule Law allows NYC CAN to submit another 15,000 signatures to move the question directly to the voters in November.  Paralleling the recount, NYC CAN is actively lobbying members of the City Council who can of their own volition independently work with the petition to establish the proposed independent commission. Each member of City Council will be presented with a copy of a documentary film, 9/11 Press for Truth, which tells the story of the 9/11 family members who were betrayed by the 9/11 Commission in its failure to answer most of the questions posed by the 9/11 families.  NYC CAN is calling upon its supporters to continue the flood of phone calls City Council has seen over the past two weeks.  “One day our elected officials will have to accept it is our right – not a privilege – to get a real investigation into the death of our loved ones”, said Donna Marsh O’Connor, mother of Vanessa Lang Langer, who died on September 11th.