Bronx Assembly Candidate Finally Gets Day In Court

Maxi Rivera with Bishop Roberto Gonzalez (via maxiforassembly.com)

Maxi Rivera finally had his day in court. Rivera’s attorney disputed his election defeat to Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo based on charges that she was illegally electioneering at polling stations and Board of Elections workers were telling voters in the 84th Assembly district who to vote for.

After an Appellate Court hearing Tuesday afternoon, Rivera’s attorney, Don Dunn, was confident the judges would rule favorably and send his case to the Bronx Supreme Court later this week.

“Three [yes votes from the judges] is a win, so if any of them have a good conscience, we need three of them,” Dunn said.

Outside the court house, Rivera, a former tenant organizer and retired postal worker, noted that the Board of Elections attorney, Stephen Kitzinger, had only one argument—that Rivera’s attorney did not file his petition on time, and that the judges were not especially responsive to those claims, a characterization that Rivera said was untrue.

“[The Board of Elections] don’t have a case, they’re bringing up a technicality,” Rivera said. “We did everything according to law. We filed within ten days, so their argument is not valid.” Several calls to Arroyo were not returned.