BUFFALO (WBEN) - Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown can appear on the November ballot as an independent candidate after losing the Democratic primary in his reelection bid, a judge ruled Friday.
The four-term mayor of New York's second-largest city was knocked off the ballot when he lost the June primary to India Walton, a Socialist candidate in her first run for office.
His efforts to qualify for the independent Buffalo Party line initially fell short when the Erie County Board of Elections rejected a nominating petition because it was submitted after a state-imposed deadline.
On Friday, U.S. District Judge John Sinatra issued an order preventing the Board of Elections from enforcing the deadline and ordered the board to put Brown's name on the ballot.
Sinatra said the deadline, which the Legislature moved up by several weeks during the pandemic, “burdens plaintiffs' rights.”
The Board of Elections has scheduled a public hearing for Tuesday afternoon. In a statement, board officials say the session will be, "to consider action on the rulings handed down today in state and federal courts regarding the independent nominating petitions of Byron W. Brown."
"I'm certainly very happy that a judge issued a temporary restraining order, ordering the Erie County Board of Elections to add my name to the November 2nd ballot," said Brown Friday afternoon.
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Last week, Democratic Commissioner Jeremy Zellner argued that it would set a dangerous precedent to allow candidates to file past deadlines.
"If I have someone showing up tomorrow with petitions for every office in this county, we would have utter chaos here if we start to accept things past deadlines that are set by the New York State Legislature months in advance," said Zellner.
Democratic candidate India Walton, who defeated Brown in the June primary, also reacted to the news Friday afternoon, saying there was a clear conflict of interest in this case, as Judge Sinatra is the brother of Buffalo developer Nick Sinatra, who is a major donor to the Brown campaign.
"We are considering an immediate appeal to the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals," said Walton. "The hearing should have never proceeded with Judge John Sinatra presiding in the first place - Sinatra is the farthest thing from an impartial judge. He's the brother of Nick Sinatra, one of the most prominent downtown real estate developers, who has given at least $11,330 to Byron Brown's various campaigns, including at least $3,055 in this current election. Sinatra has obtained millions of dollars in subsidies through the 485-a program and privileged access to extremely valuable land for dirt cheap."
WBEN asked Brown if he is concerned about the optics in this case considering the Sinatra connection.
"I'm not worried about the optics at all - I don't question the integrity of the courts," Brown responded. "Going in, we had no idea of who the judges were going to be, but we knew the strengths of the legal argument; we knew that there was precedent for our argument, and we feel very good that a judge has issued a temporary restraining order..."
