Ruling on Takeover of Spring Valley Democratic Committee

The Rockland County Board of Elections has sustained objections and annulled the takeover of the Spring Valley Democratic Committee by proxies.

A reorganizational meeting was held Feb. 20 and the results were filed with the Board of Elections Feb. 21. Objections were filed Feb. 23 by Spring Valley Democratic Committee Members Betty Carmand and Steven White.

The Board of Elections ruled the meeting invalid due to lack of timely notification, in addition to many other violations of the County and Spring Valley Committee Bylaws.

Much of the problem stems from the fact that the committee has not been active — at least, hasn't filed notice of elected officers — since 2006, according to the elections board.

According to White, Ramapo Town Chair Mona Montal recently used her power to appoint 25 people to the Democratic Committee in Spring Valley Election Districts. Patch reached out to Montal for comment but had not received a response at time of publication.

One of these appointees, Vilair Fonvil, called a reorganization meeting and made himself chair. The other committee member at the meeting, Zach Clerina, was appointed clerk of the reorganization meeting. Another 16 proxy votes were carried by non-committee members.

Notice of that meeting wasn't sent out until four days before, on Presidents Day weekend. Most of the duly appointed committee members didn't receive it until after it had taken place.

According to White, almost all the Committee members appointed by Mona Montal were ultra-Orthodox or Hasidic, which converted the makeup of the Spring Valley committee from mostly people of color.

Montal's ultra-Orthodox and Hasidic appointees did not even bother showing up to the meeting; their votes were cast by proxies rounded up by Fonvil, White said.

According to the minutes of the invalid meeting Feb. 20, the call of the roll recorded a quorum in this way:

• Esther Bransdorfer, proxy held by Jason Belis;
• Judah Bransdorfer, proxy held by Gerard Bellevue Jr;
• Leonard Chin, proxy held by Velton Blacknall;
• Ephraim Eisenberg, proxy held by Ann-Chevealle Brown;
• Mindy Eisenberg, proxy held by Zach Clerina;
• Feiga Felderbaum, proxy held by Sharon Darling;
• Miriam Fleischman, proxy held by Jermika S. Depas;
• Yochonon Fleischman, proxy held by Vilair Fonvil;
• Mordechai Feldman, proxy held by Francois Georges;
• Mordechai Glatzer, proxy held by Alexandra Joachim;
• Moshe Glatzer, proxy held by Evoria Jones;
• Raizel Glatzer, proxy held by Sherry McGill;
• Rivka Glatzer, proxy held by Gerald Miceus;
• Moshe Hopstein, proxy held by Rosalyn D. Smith;
• Rivky Hopstein, proxy held by John Welch;
• Yisroel Klein, proxy held by Marie Williams

At the meeting, the proxy voters, including Fonvil, Clerina, Williams and McGill, elected the following officers.

• Chairman - Vilair Fonvil
• First Vice Chairwoman - Sherry McGill
• Second Vice Chairman - Moshe Hopstein
• Treasurer - Marie Williams
• Secretary - Zach Clerina

The proxy voters also approved the appointment of Lawrence A. Weissmann as Law Chair to the Village Democratic Committee.

On March 2 the Rockland Board of Elections ruled the entire meeting was improper and cannot be upheld. However, the commissioners noted that while it is unusual it is not improper to have proxies account for 88 percent of a quorum.

"it is the determination by the Board of Elections that the filing of officers, minutes, and revised bylaws for the Village of Spring Valley Democratic Committee is invalid," wrote Election Commissioners Kristen Zebrowski Stavisky and Patricia A. Giblin.