Stanton tries to push Keeling off ballot

It’s been a week since City Council District 11 candidates filed paperwork to get on the ballot for the Democratic primary and two contenders are already bound for court.

On Monday, Shelley Keeling filed an order to show cause in the civil branch of the State Supreme Court in the Bronx asking officials to overturn a challenge to her petitions to get on the ballot, filed by Sheila Sanchez, a volunteer with Cliff Stanton’s campaign. She has requested that the court order the Board of Elections to print her name on the primary ballot.

In court documents filed Tuesday, Ms. Sanchez entreated the State Supreme Court in the Bronx to deem Ms. Keeling’s petitions null and void and forbid the BOE from placing her on the ballot.

Both candidates had to file orders to show cause before July 25, the date by which the BOE must make a determination on the objection to Ms. Keeling’s paperwork, if they want to ensure they can take their case to court should the board rule against them.

The dueling documents cap off a contentious week in the three-way race to emerge victorious from the Democratic primary on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

For months, Ms. Keeling, a track coach and businesswoman, and Mr. Stanton, a businessman and member of parent-teacher organizations, appeared to have an amicable relationship as they debated Andrew Cohen, an attorney and Community Board 8 member. While vying to replace term-limited Councilman Oliver Koppell, Mr. Stanton has griped about the political playing field being dominated by machine politics and described himself as an insurgent challenger to the powerhouse backing Mr. Cohen. Privately, Ms. Keeling said, he pledged not to challenge her filings.

But on July 15, his campaign did just that. Ms. Sanchez filed an objection to Ms. Keeling’s petitions, which listed Robert Giuffre – a petition consultant Mr. Stanton has paid nearly $1,120 – as the contact person.

In response, Ms. Keeling criticized him for asking her to fold her campaign and then breaking pledges not to try to knock her out of the race.

At Mr. Stanton’s request, he and Ms. Keeling met at a Dunkin’ Donuts just past the Yonkers border on June 28. He asked if she intended to stay in the race and Ms. Keeling said she replied, “Quitting is just not in my DNA.”

According to Ms. Keeling, Mr. Stanton told her that his campaign was fully funded ––meaning he had collected enough money to receive public financing.

Due to miscommunications between her staff and the BOE, Ms. Keeling said she wasn’t successfully enrolled in the public financing program. Regardless, the $4,645 she has collected fell short of the $5,000 threshold for receiving matching funds.

“He [Mr. Stanton] then said that if I would leave the race it would be very helpful for him and he would owe me a great debt. And I said, ‘No,’” Ms. Keeling said.

After the conversation, Ms. Keeling said Mr. Stanton continued to tell her he wouldn’t challenge her run.

When his actions proved otherwise, Ms. Keeling framed the challenge as an attempt to oust a minority candidate in an increasingly diverse district.

“He is challenging me – the only candidate that is Spanish speaking, is of color, is a female and is a senior,” Ms. Keeling said, noting that District 11, which encompasses Riverdale, Kingsbridge, Van Cortlandt Village, Wakefield, Woodlawn, Norwood and Bedford Park, now has more Latino and African-American residents than white inhabitants. “The more that people feel that they can identify with their representatives, the more they feel like part of the process. It’s like no representation without identification.”

Mr. Stanton said he didn’t ask Ms. Keeling to bow out, but rather inquired about how she felt about dropping out because their campaigns would only steal votes from one another, not from Mr. Cohen. A slew of unions, elected officials and political clubs have endorsed Mr. Cohen.

After looking at Ms. Keeling’s paperwork, Mr. Stanton said he was “insulted” by the number of errors on her petitions because he and his staff toiled over the submissions.

“If she would treat such an important step in the process so cavalierly and so sloppily, you really have to ask yourself if she’s cut out for this,” Mr. Stanton said.

His campaign maintains that it did not submit an order to show cause in response to Ms. Keeling’s court filing.

In her court papers, Ms. Sanchez accused Ms. Keeling of submitting petitions full of signatures from voters not registered with the Democratic Party, New Yorkers who live outside of District 11 and petitions containing forged and fraudulent signatures.

Ms. Keeling denied these allegations and reiterated that her paperwork met BOE standards.

“I want to shift the burden back on them. I don’t want to sit there and not strike,” Ms. Keeling said of the order to show cause she filed. “This is no time to be gracious.”

She wasn’t the only person to describe Mr. Stanton’s strategy as hypocritical.

Mr. Cohen said Mr. Stanton conspired to limit competition, despite publicly bemoaning the exclusiveness of local politics.

“The hypocrisy of Mr. Stanton aside, calling for greater participation and then seeking to knock a candidate off the ballot who has been campaigning for months and participated in debates, is wrong and highlights a clear choice for voters. Mr. Stanton has sought to portray himself as a reformer and yet at the first opportunity he seeks to silence discourse and limit voter choice,” Mr. Cohen said in a statement.