Political insiders credit councilman Eric Ulrich with having come up with a plan for he and fellow republican members to...
Councilman Eric Ulrich is being named as the political mastermind of a “Board of Elections coup” where a short list of Republican councilman have installed two loyal Republicans as the election commissioners for Brooklyn and Queens.
Ulrich’s long-standing war with Republican county leadership is believed to be the fire starter in this “stroke of political genius” as it was reportedly termed by one political insider.
Motivation to clean up the BOE is arguably a justified battleground for Ulrich. A botched move to block his run against Joe Addabbo for state senate was launched by Queens County GOP leaders when they put Juan Reyes up against him in a primary. But the councilman avoided any obstacle presented and trounced him at the polls.
But while he won the primary, Ulrich’s true opponent in the senate bid turned out to be the BOE. Most agree that the devastated polling sites combined with storm ravaged communities and a dysfunctional BOE brought about a loss for Ulrich in Novembers election.
But at the helm of plans to change things at the board, Ulrich and his Republican council colleagues got this one done.
And whether or not it was Ulrich that actually stumbled on the law or whether the alert to the existence of Section 3-204 was supplied by an election law guru in the shadows, it’s the final outcome that brings the rewards back to the Republican side of the room at the BOE.
After reviewing the obscure provisions of 3-204, which essentially say if county leaders fall asleep at the wheel and forget to file the expiring term of a commissioner at the BOE, then the local legislative body, in this case the city council, has the option to fill the slots.
So with all their ducks in order the quartet of Republicans, Ulrich, Minority leader James Oddo, Vincent Ignizio and Dan Halloran seized the chance to fill the spots on their own by using the rarely used provision of state law.
Their successful exploitation has now given the councilmen great opportunities at the board in terms of who gets hired and fired at the agency that has an extremely high yield of patronage jobs.
Minority leader James Oddo said the move was definitely targeted at the overall improvement at the BOE, which has been plagued with problem and continual insinuations of impropriety. The latest display of ineptitude, a word that is increasingly used in most references to the BOE, was in plain sight on the last Election Day fraught with infinitely long lines, displaced voters and equipment breakdowns.
The “fab” four installed Michael Michel, head of Christ the King High School and a member of the GOP county dissidents into the Queens commissioners seat.
The Queens BOE has 55 permanent jobs and 66 temporary jobs of the total 333 permanent and 358 temporary positions available.
By Patricia Adams
