On Brooklyn streets -on the other side of town- black folks have a saying: “God don’t like ugly”. This statement is often invoked, when the perception is that someone has done -or is doing- such egregious wrong(s), that eventually the powers that be, will catch up to them. And the belief is that when this happens, the wrath of God will descend heavily on the recalcitrant(s). Look, if in reality it does go down like this, then keep your eyes on the 56th AD folks: it is possible that strange things are about to take place.
I have already written columns on what’s been happening this year, to candidates challenging the county machines in both Brooklyn and Queens. I have even bemoaned the fact that the mainstream media seems to be paying very little attention, to the attempts to undermine and subvert democracy in both boroughs. Maybe it is because this crap has been going on for so damn long, that to the fourth estate there is no longer a responsibility to highlight this stuff anymore.
Yesterday on the witness stand, a woman brought in court by the attorney of incumbent assembly woman Annette Robinson (56AD) as a witness to candidate fraud, did something that is so outrageous, it behooves the Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, to step in before the case resumes tomorrow. This has really gotten out of hand.
Mrs. Robinson is trying to knock off her challenger Cenceria Edwards from the ballot, despite the fact that the Board of Elections had put her on a few weeks ago. Ms. Edwards is both an attorney and certified public accountant, who does business and also lives in the area. After the line by line challenge yielded more signatures for Ms. Edwards (664) than she initially got when the BOE ruled, the Robinson camp went to a ridiculous fraud trial. Note that the signature requirement for the assembly is 500; Ms. Edwards submitted close to 1400.
On the first day of the trial the Robinson camp didn’t bring in a single witness, and the stumbling bumbling presiding judge -who must be the twin brother of Inspector Clouseau- still allowed the plaintiffs to go fishing. Last Friday they kept Ms. Edwards on the witness stand for hours, basically asking the same questions over and over in circular ways; this yielded nothing. Then when court resumed yesterday (Monday) they brought in four witnesses that only made matters worse.
Two of the witnesses were a husband and wife team who claimed that they didn’t know or understand what they were signing; and yet they also claimed (at the same time) to have thought they were signing for Mrs. Robinson. LOL. Another witness was an old man who when given paper to sign his name a few times signed it differently near every time. Then when they looked at his Identification Card, even that signature there was different. Eventually he had to admit signing Ms. Edwards’s petition.
It seemed that the Robinson legal team was suggesting that the people who signed the sheets, thought they were signing a petition for Mrs. Robinson and not Ms. Edwards. How relevant this is, as to whether the signature requirement was attained by the challenger is still baffling to me: someone who has been in this game far too long.
Now before I go to the bombshell, let me give just a little background. I told you guys in previous articles that stones were thrown into Ms. Edwards’s home on two occasions, and I also told you about the human excrement left in on her property; well there is more. From the beginning of this process, people who were helping to collect signatures for the challenger have been harassed and threatened. Then there were attempts to bribe some of them, coerce others and menace a few. Some people who had green-sheets failed to turn them in for submission to the Board of Elections. Also attempts were made to intimidate others who signed the petitions, or who helped on the campaign in any which way. This is the USA; supposedly the country that holds up democracy (and free and fair elections) to the rest of the world. Why is this being allowed to happen? Where is the District Attorney?
Then yesterday one of Annette Robinson’s witnesses told the court under oath, that Ms. Cenceria Edwards (the candidate) came to her home and fraudulently misrepresented herself amongst other illegal acts, while collecting signatures on June 28th this year. The witness said that she was instructed by Ms. Edwards to sign the petition sheet for both herself and her mother (who wasn’t present). She also claimed that Ms. Edwards stated that the petitions being signed were being collected for Annette Robinson (the incumbent).
Then the lawyers presented this woman’s signatures on the petition sheet, entering it into evidence with the court; and sure enough it was 28th June, 2008. No matter how many questions she was asked by Ms. Edwards’s attorney the woman wouldn’t budge from her story, that the candidate -who she knows as a neighbor on the same street- was the person who did all this. She repeated that it was the candidate and her daughter, and that she was sure of the date, time, place, actions, dictates, etc.
Now, for those who do not understand the gravity of all this, let me explain further. What this witness testified to can be deemed candidate fraud; and if a candidate is found by the judge to have engaged in petition fraud, then the whole petition (and candidacy) can be thrown out. The candidate is then removed from the ballot. And in the case of Ms. Edwards, her law license (and CPA status) can be taken away. This is serious business folks; serious stuff: the kind of stuff that destroys people’s lives.
What was wrong with this testimony however was the truth: on June 28th 2008, the candidate Cenceria Edwards was in Argentina. She got there a few days before and stayed there for almost two weeks.
Remember I told you guys before that when the rocks were thrown through Ms. Edwards’s windows, one went into the bedroom of the younger of two daughters. I also told you that it was fortunate for all concerned that the kid was in Argentina representing the USA at the game called chess. Well guess what: her mother (the candidate) went with her; and on June 28th they were both in Argentina. This was easily proven with both passports and airline tickets. The proof was furnished to the judge and opposing legal team within hours. Let’s see if the judge calls in the DA.
The judge in this case has working knowledge of all that I have stated so far, and yet a show cause order was issued, that may force Ms. Edwards (the person being wronged here) to submit all her subscribing witnesses -and also her petition technicians- to come to court to testify. This is why so many people in the black community refuse to sign petitions. Too many people have been forced to take days off from their jobs, in order to come to court, just because they were helping some challenger get on the ballot.
The former district leader of the 43rd Assembly District (Crown Heights) complained about this for ages. Her name is Joan Gill; perennially she was the biggest challenger to former Kings County Dem. Political Leader Clarence Norman. Every time Joan ran for office, her subscribing witnesses and the people who signed her sheets were harassed. Some were dragged into court to testify; and this was all needlessly allowed, by judges who -some of us have come to suspect- ostensibly knew the tactics being employed by desperate incumbents were -to say the least- undemocratic.
The effect of all this is to discourage some folks from participating in the democratic process. The effect of all this is to discourage challenges to inept, uninspiring and unimaginative black incumbents like Annette Robinson. And her sidekick Al Vann would never publicly speak out against these tactics. Mr. Rip Vann Winkle (Al Vann) and his cronies in the Vanguard organization will never admit that stuff like this is not only wrong, unethical and immoral, but undemocratic too.
Even today folks like Robert Hunter and others will tell you stories about how they were corruptly knocked off the ballot, by lies, treachery, intimidation, fraud, deceit and the like. These are some of the many reasons why the black electeds have stayed in power for so long, much to the detriment of the black masses.
Stay tuned-in folks.