Gordon Jenkins retains primary win, Supreme Court rules

MONTICELLO – Gordon C. Jenkins will run as the Democratic candidate for village of Monticello trustee, supreme court justice William McCarthy of Albany ruled on February 4th in Monticello. The court threw out a challenge filed by the primary's losing candidate last week which sought to have the January primary election overturned on technical grounds.

Jenkins took the primary election by a landslide of 113 to 41. Only Democrats could vote in the primary. The one-year trustee seat is the only slot open in Monticello's March 15 general election, for the unexpired term of Mary Jo Oppenheim who resigned and left the area.

Judge McCarthy ruled against Sternberg's request to toss aside the will of the voters because the Board of Elections published one legal notice advertising the primary while state law calls for two. The court also found that Sternberg failed to meet the deadline for filing of timely objections against Jenkins' Democratic nominating petitions, which Sternberg unsuccessfully argued were flawed.

"This is a victory for the citizens who supported me in the primary," said Jenkins. “I won't disappoint them. As a trustee I’ll offer a fresh approach and new ideas,” he said.

Jenkins, who some locals know as "G-Man" after his store on Broadway of similar name, said he will also run on an independent ballot line.
Sternberg represented himself, naming as defendants in his suit the Sullivan County Board of Elections, election commissioners Tim Hill and Fran Thalman, the entire Town of Thompson Democratic Committee, and committee chair Bill James – in addition to Jenkins.

Jenkins was represented by Ira Cohen of Jacobowitz & Gubitz, who answered Sternberg's suit and countered with eight affirmative defenses which ultimately prevailed. Cohen also asked the judge to order Sternberg to pay Jenkins’ legal costs.

The election commissioners were represented by the office of county attorney Sam Yasgur.

Thompson town attorney Michael Mednick appeared to defend Bill James.
Though the ruling means that Jenkins remains the Democratic candidate, Sternberg has indicated a plan to run as a spoiler candidate on a third party line, which Jenkins said will only cause him to work doubly hard to win public support.

"Let’s get on with the campaign! I’m looking forward to it,” said Jenkins.
“I'm hoping the voters of Monticello will come through for me on March 15th like the Democrats did in the primary. If they do, they can count on me to come through for them," he pledged.