By:Joseph Kellard
A petition by Democrat Jerry Lamonica for a place on the Working Families Party line on the November ballot was disqualified last Thursday.
Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Thomas Phlen upheld a lawsuit filed by Thomas Pellegrino of Oceanside that challenged the petition because a date was missing from one of the two signatures Lamonica needed from party members to be considered for the party's endorsement.
Without having the date, Phlen stated, a reasonable determination cannot be made whether the signature was in fact available to sign on that date and eligible to sign the designating petition on that date. The petition is therefore invalid, Phlen ruled, adding that the defect was technical in nature.
To vie for a party's nomination, election law requires that a candidate must get a designating petition signed by at least 5 percent of the party's registered members who are eligible to vote for the office or position up for election, and signatures are required to be accompanied by a date. One of the two signatures Lamonica needed to validate his petition was undated.
Lamonica, who seeks to unseat incumbent Town Councilman Anthony Santino (R-East Rockaway) in November, described Pellegrino's suit as
