MANHATTAN — New York Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey H. Pearlman on Wednesday temporarily enjoined the New York City Board of Elections from placing the name of former independent mayoral candidate Jim Walden on the November mayoral ballot.
Walden, a noted attorney with Walden Macht Haran & Williams LLP and a former prosecutor, officially withdrew his candidacy on Friday, according to his legal filing, and applied to BOE to remove his name from the ballot. Certification of the mayoral ballot doesn’t take place until this Thursday, Walden noted.
Giving up his run was not easy, Walden told BOE at a hearing Monday. “I studied the election math with steely eyes and complete disinterest. I could not win. But I would take votes away from those that could, which would make me a spoiler. For months, I said I would not do that.”
BOE “preliminarily rejected” Walden’s application to remove his name from the ballot, however, saying he filed too late. Walden had vowed to file emergency litigation if BOE rejected his application, saying in a statement that having his name on the ballot would be confusing and “unfair to voters and the remaining candidates.”
“Nothing in the law prevents the board from removing my name before the ballot is certified,” Walden argued.
After Walden appeared at New York Supreme Court Wednesday morning to argue his case, Pearlman, the former counsel to Govs. Kathy Hochul and David Paterson, signed an Order to Show Cause, temporarily enjoining BOE from placing his name on the ballot. BOE has been ordered to appear at court Thursday morning to justify its position.
“This is a good sign from a straight-shooting judge,” Walden said in a statement. “I am driven by one concern: If my name remains on the ballot, voters will be misled and disenfranchised. No law commands this absurd result.”
In a video statement he released from the courthouse, Walden said, “I wish it wasn’t so hard, but welcome to our broken system, where reform is sorely needed.”
