No Democrat in 142nd Assembly District race
July 30, 2008
No Democrat will appear on the November general election ballot in the 142nd Assembly District after an Albany judge ruled Monday that Dennis D. Cehulik had not been a state resident for five years, as required by the State Constitution.
State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi disqualified Cehulik, who was competing for the seat now occupied by Assemblyman Michael W. Cole, RAlden, because he did not meet the residency requirement, according to Bob Brehm, spokesman for the State Board of Elections.
Brehm also said the judge invalidated Cehulik’s designating petitions, meaning the board has no “instrument” with which to certify a Democratic candidate.
He said the board also invalidated Cehulik’s Conservative Party petitions, eliminating the possibility of a primary pitting Cehulik, a registered Conservative, against Jane L. Corwin, a Clarence Republican authorized by Erie County Conservatives as their candidate.
Adam D. Kramer, a spokesman for the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, said Cole’s campaign had filed the suit because, until recently, Cehulik had lived in Ohio.
“A candidate who has resided in Ohio for a number of years would go against the intent of our State’s Constitution,” he said. “That’s why Mr. Cehulik’s candidacy never made sense.
“The people of Erie and Niagara counties can now rest assured that they will have someone who is from here and understands their needs representing them in Albany,” Kramer added.
Cehulik, 51, a retired auto-worker who lives in the Town of Lockport, had not registered to vote in this state until May.
A Buffalo native, he graduated from Burgard Vocational High School and attended the University at Buffalo for two years.
For 31 years, Cehulik worked for General Motors, later Delphi Corp., in Buffalo, Lockport and, beginning in 2004, in Parma, Ohio, before retiring in May.
In addition to Cole and Corwin, the Sept. 9 Republican Party primary in the heavily Republican district involves two other candidates: Leonard
A. Roberto, an Alden businessman, and Jeffrey A. Bono of Newstead, a former Democrat who is now a Republican.
Source: Buffalo News
Related Articles
- Golisano backs NY Legislature candidates
- Alice Kryzan scores political upset in race for Reynolds’ congressional seat
- Democrats substitute Grear in Senate race
- State slaps city’s Board of Elections
- Democrat Davis confirms he’ll run again for Congress
Comment on this article
