You had to know the courts would get involved in the battle for the Albany County Democratic Party elections commissioner.
As a preemptive strike, the current Board of Elections commissioner, Matt Clyne, filed a lawsuit in an effort to hold onto his job for at least another two years.
Essentially, he is asking a judge to uphold last month’s vote by the Democratic Party Committee that gave him another term, and for an injunction preventing the party from holding a vote tonight, Monday, Nov. 28, to recommend someone else for the job.
Word is the party is prepared to recommend Joshua Ehrlich, a long time attorney specializing in Election Law.
There is a hearing this morning, but I’m not sure in what court or in front of what judge. More information on that as it becomes available.
Just to recap:
Last month the party ousted chair Carolyn McLaughlin and replaced her with Jack Flynn, an Eighth Ward councilman, a relative by marriage to County Executive Dan McCoy and an ally of Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan.
Shortly after that vote, the committee, under Flynn’s leadership, tried to table a motion recommending Clyne to another two-year term at the BOE paying $90,000-plus a year. That vote failed, and Clyne thought he dodged a bullet.
Obviously Clyne wasn’t happy with the move and just so everyone else knew how unhappy he was, the following day he fire Flynn from his job at the BOE. Sheriff Craig Apple took care of Flynn, though, and created a new job for him at about the same $48,500 salary.
Everything seemed settled until last week when Flynn said Clyne’s recommendation was flawed because it didn’t go through a Candidate Review Committee. To rectify that error (real or imagined) he called on anyone else interested in the job to submit a resume by Friday, Nov. 25 and interview in front of the review committee the following Saturday.
He called a special meeting of the 400-something committee members tonight to vote on the committee’s recommendation. That recommendation would then be forwarded to the Albany County Legislature, which would then make the official appointment.
Clyne did not submit a resume or interview in front of the committee. It really didn’t take an advanced degree to know the fix was in and Flynn didn’t want him around any longer, so instead of spending his time interviewing Clyne filed the lawsuit.
