Clyde Williams

Former DNC political director Clyde Williams faced two challenges to the 6,000 petition signatures he obtained to get on the ballot in the congressional race for Upper Manhattan's 13th district that he blamed on "associates" of the incumbent, Charlie Rangel. Those objections have expired and Mr. Williams said he's going to be on the ballot without issue.

"Thousands of residents who signed my petitions participated in the electoral process and now their voices will be heard. I will be on the ballot on June 26," Mr. Williams told The Politicker. "We now enter a new phase of the race and I look forward to continuing to engage voters and share ideas for the future of this community."

Last week, Mr. Williams posted a note on Facebook decrying the challenges to his petitions filed by Desiree Harris and Jerry Washington as "associates of Charlie Rangel" attempting "to block my access to the ballot." Ms. Harris and Mr. Washington also filed challenges to petitions obtained by two of the other candidates in the race, Craig Schley and Joyce Johnson.

"Some might say a petition challenge is the sincerest form of flattery. But in fact what my opponents are challenging is the right of the people to be heard – trying to silence the voices of change," Mr. Williams wrote.

Ms. Harris lives in the same apartment building as Mr. Rangel, whose campaign declined to comment on the issue last week.

Petition objections require a contact person and both Mr. Washington and Mr. Harris listed a man named Arthur Greig on their challenges. Mr. Greig was the Co-Law Chair of the New York County Democratic Party while Mr. Rangel's longtime ally, Assemblyman Herman "Denny" Farrell was chairman. He also worked a special counsel to the chairman of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee in the late 1998. Mr. Farrell has been chair of that committee since 1994. Mr. Greig also served as counsel to another ally of Mr. Rangel's, David Paterson while Mr. Paterson was minority leader in the State Senate.

Adriano Espaillat and Charlie Rangel. (Photo: Facebook)

On Monday, the five Democrats vying to represent the 13th District submitted petitions to get on the ballot. Today, objectors filed challenges to some of those petitions and former DNC head Clyde Williams accused the incumbent, Charlie Rangel, of "trying to  silence the voices of change."

"Last night, I learned that associates of Charlie Rangel intend to try to block my access to the ballot," Mr. Williams wrote on his Facebook page. "Some might say a petition challenge is the sincerest form of flattery. But in fact what my opponents are challenging is the right of the people to be heard - trying to silence the voices of change. I will fight this challenge because I - like so many District residents - share a the desire to change our fortunes and seize our future for the better."

Approximately 900 petitions were required to get on the ballot. All five candidates in the race exceeded that amount. According to State Senator Adriano Espaillat's campaign, he is leading the pack with about 10,000 signatures. Mr. Rangel's campaign said he obtained about 8,900 signatures in the Upper Manhattan portion of the district although they claimed not to know how many signatures they obtained in the Bronx. Mr. Williams' campaign said he got "roughly 6,105" signatures. Businesswoman Joyce Johnson acquired just under 4,000 signatures according to her campaign. Craig Schley, a former intern of Mr. Rangel's, said he collected approximately 3,000 signatures.

Mr. Rangel has spent more than four decades in Congress and has the support of the Harlem political machine he helped build so, in some ways, his second place finish is surprising. However, the congressman was out of commission for much of the last two months with what he described as a virus in his spine and he was unable to actively campaign.

Today, two people, Desiree Harris and Jerry Washington, filed objections to challenge signatures obtained by Mr. Williams, Ms. Johnson and Mr. Schley. Neither Ms. Harris nor Mr. Washington are directly affiliated with any of the campaigns, but Ms. Harris lives in the same apartment building as Mr. Rangel, which may have prompted Mr. Williams' accusation the challenges came from Mr. Rangel. Mr. Rangel's spokesman, Bob Liff, declined to comment on this story.

The three main Democratic candidates: Elizabeth Crowley, Rory Lancman, and Grace Meng

Last Monday night, candidates for congress in New York had to turn in signatures to get onto the ballot, setting the stage for rival candidates to object and contend that not enough valid signatures were gathered to earn ballot access. While most of these challenges around New York City totaled to only a handful of objections in each race, the campaign for an open congressional seat in Queens attracted no less than 27 objections.

And every candidate in the race, from the main ones to the also-rans and third party candidates, saw their signatures challenged. Some individuals who filed their objections did so against almost every candidate in the race, a likely frivolous move against the main candidates at least, who collected thousands more signatures than they needed to qualify.

However, some of the lesser-known candidates, who turned in far fewer signatures, could see their dream of getting onto the ballot thwarted depending on how diligent they were in their efforts. And there's always the unlikely chance that one of the top tier candidates slipped up in their efforts to get onto a third party line, as we've already seen alleged to have happened in a Staten Island Congressional race.

In that race, the Democratic challenger, Mark Murphy, is arguing that Republican Rep. Michael Grimm didn't clear the threshold for the Independence Party. Mr. Grimm has since filed an objection to Mr. Murphy's Working Families Party line.

All of the objections filed so far only vaguely signaled an intention to more substantively contest the signatures to the Board of Elections next week, when specifics will be required.

View the full slate of challenges here, courtesy of the New York Daily News' Celeste Katz.