Vote New York

State Supreme Court Justice Edward Lehner has restored Councilman Alan Gerson to the Sept. 15 primary ballot, but the case isn’t over yet, as Gerson’s opponent, Pete Gleason, has already pledged to appeal the decision.

Gleason campaign spokesman Paul Newell confirmed that Lehner had indeed ruled in favor of Gerson, who would bounced from the ballot by the city Board of Elections due an error in his own home address on some nominating petitions.

In so doing, Lehner accepted the report of the special referee, Leslie Lowenstein, who said yesterday that the Board of Elections was “in error” when it invalidated Gerson’s petitions.

Gerson’s campaign said the mistake was made by the printer (an allegation that was backed up by the printer himself). Gleason’s campaign argued that Gerson and his petition carriers had engaged in fraud by seeking to correct the mistake after the signatures had already been collected.

Newell deemed Gerson’s victory “temporary” and said Gleason will “surely be appealing.” Among other things, Gleason’s attorney, Ray Dowd, intends to argue that he was denied the right to cross-examine Gerson and other witnesses during yesterday’s hearing before Lowenstein.

“That will surely be brought up,” said Newell, who said the case will be heard Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the appellate division.

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