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f o R t h e R e c o r d n e w s o f THE POLITICAL SCENES urrounded by frie n d s and su p p o rte rs at his v ic to ry party, incum D ent nep. M aior O w ens (12th C.D.) beam s w ith th e kno w le dg e th a t he had o ve rw h elm ingly de feated his D e m ocratic P rim ary o p p o n e n t, Roy Innis, Sept. 9. (P hoenix/Taylor Photo)V elm an ette M o n tg om e ry (center) is flanged by w e ll-w ishe rs at her cam paign headq u a rte rs as the good new s rolled in. Her s tro n g show ing put her over th e top th ro u g h o u t m ost o f the 22nd Senate D istrict. (P hoenix/K och Photo)A R eporter's N otebook Analysis O f Prim ary Voting:Primary Marred By Legal Battles And Low Voter TurnoutBY ROB TAYLORThe 22nd Senate District Race was subdued; the 12th Congressional District lost its spark; and legal action in the 52nd, 56th and 57th Assembly Districts kept a number of qualified candidates off the Democratic Primary ballot on Sept. 9. It was one of the lowest voter turnouts in New York History.But, away from the voting booths and outside the realm of the information that came to the attention of the public, was a primary election that raises some questions about the direction of Democratic politics both locally and statewide.For Brooklyn Borough President and county Democratic Chairman Howard Golden it%u2019s a decision over whether and how much to support the nominee of his party in the general election. He has to decide whether he should support the party nominees for State Assembly in the 56th and 57th Districts or throw his weight behind the Democratic incumbents, A1 Vann and Roger Green, both of whom were not even on the primary ballots.For the state, Governor Mario Cuomo must try to recover from the sour publicity generated by his successful battle to keep Abe Hirschfeld off the Lt. Governor Democratic Primary ballot.The chain of events that led to a paucity of Democratic primary challenges in Brooklyn began in the spring, when Golden sought to repair the county Democratic organization%u2019s relationships with the factions of the party in the borough.For Cuomo%u2019s part, with his eyes on the race for the White House, he needed to demonstrate to the nation that he had control of his own state Democratic party. Cuomo wanted a decisive victory in the Lt. Governor race for handpic ked running mate, Stan Lundine, and was determined to make sure the goal was realized.A cam paign w o rker fo r M on tg o m e ry w rite s the w in n in g news on a large to te board that grew in num bers over the evening. (P hoenix/K och Photo)in cu m b e n t Rep. M ajor O w ens (12th C ong re ssio n a l D is tric t) an nounces his vic to ry over in su rg e n t Roy Innis.A little-known Erie County State Supreme Court ruling in 1985, the Matter of Pecoraro vs. Mahoney, unraveled Golden%u2019s goals and may have contributed to the shattering of some of the image of dean political fair play that Cuomo is trying to create.The Erie County ruling, which invalidated a slate of three Conservative Party candidates because the cover sheet of their petitions failed to break down the number of signatures for each candidate on the combined nominating petition, was upheld by the State Court of Appeals last year. This year, the case was the legal precedent for the invalidation of scores of candidacies across New York State, including Assemblymembers A1 Vann from BedfordStuyvesant%u2019s 56th A.D. and Roger Green from Ft. Greene%u2019s 57th A.D.Much of the Democratic primary action thus turned to the courts and never reached the voters. The legal battles tied up the campaigning for weeks with candidates never having the chance to talk about issues or qualifications. In the 52nd Assembly District,stretching along the waterfront from Brooklyn Heights through Red Hook to Bay Ridge, two potential candidates running on a combined slate for Assembly and District Leader, Andy I .a Bella and Jeff Golkin, were officially on the ballot for only two days after a brief injunction against their ballot removal was issued by one Federal Court judge and then overruled by another.Abe Hirschfeld had similar problems with his bid for the statewide office. Hirschfeld did not include petition cover sheet information describing the number of signatures collected from each Congressional District in the state.Although the Pecoraro decision was not directly responsible for the State Supreme Court%u2019s invalidation of his candidacy, Governor Cuomo%u2019s inaction on election reform legislation passed this year by both houses of the State Legislature that would have limited the penalties, but not have removed the candidates from the ballot, came to light as no appellate court would reverse the lowercourt%u2019s decision.By primary election day, few voters hadany reason to show up at the polls. With twoDemocratic races being waged by Black candidates in Central Brooklyn %u2014 12th DistrictCongresman Major Owens was beingchallenged by Roy Innis, the chairman of theCongress of Racial Equality, and StateSenator Velmanette Montgomery was beingchallenged by the same candidate shedefeated in 1984 in the 22nd S.D., Anna Jefferson %u2014 voters in most districts were surprisedto only see the names of two candidates onthe polling machines, Mark Green and JohnDyson, both running for the Democraticnomination for New York%u2019s UJS. Senate seat.Green's victory in that race demonstratesthat with all the calculating, all the moneyand all the support Cuomo might have givenA District-By-District Rundown O f The General Election LineupBY ROB TAYLORDemocratic voters may have been surprised to find out they were not part of the process for picking their party%u2019s candidates %u2014 and in most cases the ultimate winners %u2014 when the Democratic Primary Elections were held Sept. 9. On most ballots, the only race that required tallying was being waged between Mark Green and John Dyson for party nomination to the U.S. Senate.The following is a brief run-down of Democratic Party caididates who will stand in the November general election:SSth Congressional District - Incumbent Hep. Chuck Schumer had no primary opposition and will stand as the Democratic and Liberal Party candidate.11th Congressional District - IncumbentR p n RM T n w n t! hnrf n n n r im n r v n n n n citin nand is the Democratic/Liberal candidate.12th Congressional District - Incumbent Rep. Major Owens overwhelmingly beat Roy Innis in the Democratic primary with unofficial returns showing a seven to twomargin, 14,000 to 3,914 votes.13th Congressional District - Incumbent Rep. Steve Solarz had no primary opposition. He is also the liberal Party selection.22nd Senate District - Incumbent State Senator Velmanette Montgomery beat challenger Anna Jefferson by a two to one margin to be renominated. She is also the Liberal candidate. Unofficial election returns showed Montgomery with 7,141 votes to Jefferson%u2019s 3,343.23rd Senate District - Joe Montalto is the nominee of the Democratic and Liberal Parties. This is the one Republican Senate seat in Brooklyn, held by Chris Mega, who beat Montalto in 1984.25th Senate District - Incumbent Senator Martin Connor is both the Democratic and I jheral Partv nominee. He had no oooosition in the primary.44th Assembly District - Incumbent Mel Miller is both the Democratic and Liberal Party candidate and had no primary opposition. Incumbent Democratic DistrictLeaders Joni Yoswein and Jacob Gold had no challenges for a new term.50th Assembly District - Incumbent Joe Lentol had no Democratic primary opposition. Incumbent Democratic District Leaders Steve Cohen and Linda Minucci had no opposition for a new term.51si Assembly District - Incumbent Jim Brennan had no Democratic primary opposition and is also the Liberal candidate. Incumbent Democratic District Leaders Richard Guay and Louise Finney were unchallenged for a new term.52nd Assembly District - Incumbent Eileen Dugan was unchallenged on the ballot and is also the Liberal nomination. A Dugan challenger, Andy LaBeila, was off the ballot, then back on, then off again in iust a few days before the election. Incumbent Democratic District Leaders Joan Mitiman was unopposed for re-election. Her running mate, John McElhinney, had been challenged by Jeff Golkin, but the challenger was knocked off the ballot withLaBeila.56th Assembly District - Stanley Frere won the Democratic nomination without a fight after incumbent Roger Green was removed from the ballot before election day. Green, however, is the candidate of the Liberal Party and he has his own independent ballot line. Incumbent Democratic District Leaders Ruby Nottage and Eld Hightower won a new term with no primary opposition.57tfa Assembly District - Robert Hunter is the Democratic Party candidate after incumbent A1 Vann was removed from the primary ballot. Vann faces Hunter as the liberal Party candidate in November Two new Democratic District Leaders, Sylvia Fuel and Richard Taylor, automatically took office with the election after incumbent leaders A1 Vann and Annette Robinson were removed from the ballot for these posts as well.September 18, 1986, THE PHOENIX, Page 31