After losing a vote of the Westchester Board of Legislators in April that would have given him wide latitude to bring legal cases challenging the county executive, Chairman Ken Jenkins sought authorization Monday night to take to the courts five of the major disputes between the Democrats on the board and the Republican executive, Rob Astorino.
The Board’s Republicans postponed the votes, arguing the resolutions were introduced too late to be effectively vetted.
“These resolutions effectively give Chairman Jenkins authority to file suit and seek court rulings on five serious and important issues,” said Republican Minority Leader Jim Maisano in a statement. “To undertake litigation of this scope certainly requires more than a few hours of review and deliberation.”
The resolutions would have authorized Jenkins to seek declaratory judgement on additions by the county board to the capital projects plan, on a requirement that the county attorney get authorization before appealing a decision related to the county housing settlement, in a dispute regarding a bus route and regarding appointments.
The board and Astorino are already in the court over the fifth issue, changes to the county Board of Acquisition and Contract, but the resolution would allow Jenkins to use the board’s lawyers or hire outside counsel. A private attorney brought the case pro bono on behalf of the three Democratic leaders of the board.
In April two Democrats voted with Republicans to kill the broader measure, which would have authorized Jenkins to take action to enforce county laws if the executive refused to enforce them, basically giving him unilateral authorization to sue. The resolution was brought up again in committee Monday, in a version requiring a vote of the Rules Committee before the chairman could take action, but the five individual authorizations were voted out instead. The earlier version required consultation with the rules committee rather than an affirmative vote.
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Get rid of these County Democrats before they bankrupt each and every one of us! And that goes for Yonkers, too, with their chicken coops and bees. They’re ALL nuts!
Here is the Republican Caucus’ entire statement on these resolutions
Republican County Legislators Prevent Precipitous Vote on Five Resolutions
At the regular meeting of the Westchester County Board of Legislators on Monday night, the Republican Legislators deferred a vote on five resolutions that were hastily submitted by Board Chairman Ken Jenkins earlier in the day on Monday. The Republicans cited the flawed and confusing language of the documents as well as the lack of time to review them in delaying the vote.
Republican Caucus Leader, Legislator Jim Maisano (R-New Rochelle) said, “These resolutions effectively give Chairman Jenkins authority to file suit and seek court rulings on five serious and important issues. To undertake litigation of this scope certainly requires more than a few hours of review and deliberation. We will insist that all legislators conduct their diligence on these items, so that they can cast thoughtful votes. The fact that we are expected to review and vote on five resolutions with limited review is unacceptable, and our Board needs to implement controls to ensure all legislation is reviewed in detail.”
The five resolutions that Chairman Jenkins submitted for consideration would have given him the Board’s permission to take the County Executive to court. Jenkins’ stated objective in the resolutions is to seek a “Declaratory Judgment” from a court of law to settle disagreements between the Democrats and County Executive Astorino on a range of issues from how appointments to citizen advisory boards are made to who gets to approve changes to county bus routes, and even how the historic, federal fair and affordable housing settlement is fulfilled
Legislator Gordon Burrows, the Minority Whip and a practicing attorney said, “Because Chairman Jenkins surprised us with these resolutions just today, there has not been sufficient time to review them but my initial reaction to any request to drag the County Executive into court is, ‘have we done everything we can do to settle these issues through compromise between the two branches of government?’. Burrows went on to say, “When voters send us here to the Board of Legislators every two years, I assume that they expect us to undertake the difficult task of legislating and implementing that legislation through the mechanism of the County Charter. I am opposed to the Democrats recent approach of running to the nearest courthouse every time they don’t get what they want.”