Even in the nutty world of New York politics, this is a case for the record books.
A candidate for state Senate filed a court petition Thursday asking to be tossed off the Sept. 13 Democratic primary ballot, saying the nominating petitions she herself submitted were unknowingly riddled with fraud.
But on Friday, she changed her mind.
Jasmine Robinson, who is challenging state Sen. Diane Savino in the 23rd district that covers parts of Staten island and south Brooklyn, initially said in court papers that numerous signatures on her nominating petitions supplied by paid canvassers were forgeries.
The scam came to light when Brian Laline, executive editor of the Staten Island Advance, emailed Robinson’s campaign to say that someone forged both his name and his wife’s name on the petitions.
Robinson’s lawyer, Arthur Schwartz, then notified the Board of Elections and the Staten Island DA that an examination turned up a witness named Elizabeth Reynolds who supplied “multiple versions” of her signature and “many of the signatures appear forged.”
He said 300 of 2,900 voter signatures were suspect.
Robinson missed the July 16 deadline to quit the race — so she needed a judge’s permission to get off the ballot.
Gwendolyn Robinson — the candidate’s mother — said in the filing that there’s no doubt someone committed fraud.
“After filing, a second and third review of the petitions indicated that several of the people who were paid to petition for her committed fraud. She is unsure now that she has a sufficient number of valid signatures to be on the ballot, a statement she made on the cover sheet. She is also concerned that a Court would rule that her petitions are `permeated with fraud.’ Although she was unaware, prior to filing, of the fraudulent activity, she does not want to proceed with the nomination under such circumstances,” she said.
But 24 hours later, the candidate decided she wanted to run after all.
“Jasmine changed her mind. I’ve withdrawn the petition,” said Schwartz.
Only 1,000 valid signatures are required to get on the ballot.
Schwartz said the petitions in question were provided by a paid petitioner connected to another law firm the candidate had fired.