Again, Voters Are Asked To Replace Clarke
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
If voters in the City Council’s 40th district are experiencing déjà vu this week, they should be forgiven.
For the second time this year, the city is holding a special election in central Brooklyn to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Yvette Clarke. Also for the second time this year, voters could make history by electing the first Haitian candidate, Mathieu Eugene, to the council.
Dr. Eugene, who says he graduated from medical school in Mexico but has never been licensed to practice in America, won 2,076 of the 6,178 votes in the first special election in February, making him the clear winner in a field with 10 candidates. He was never sworn into office, however, after questions arose about whether he lived in the district as of Election Day, a requirement to hold office.
Dr. Eugene refused to cooperate with a council investigation into his residency status, and Mayor Bloomberg called for a second special election to be held, at an estimated cost to taxpayers of $380,000, plunging the city into what some political observers have called the most fascinating and bizarre local political story in recent memory.
Haiti’s ambassador to America, Raymond Joseph, who is also a contributing editor of The New York Sun, said many in the Haitian community were saddened that Dr. Eugene did not take the office after the first election and felt the election was “derailed.” Mr. Joseph said he thinks Dr. Eugene still has widespread support in the district, which covers parts of Flatbush and Crown Heights.
Haitians say, “We will have one of ours sitting at the table when things are being discussed about us,” Mr. Joseph said. “I tend to agree. They pay the taxes and it’s other people who are always discussing what’s going to be done for them. And no Haitian-born candidate has ever made it to the table.”
Dr. Eugene is running against two of the candidates from the February election, Harry Schiffman and Wellington Sharpe. Mr. Sharpe was removed from the ballot for not collecting enough signatures on his ballot petition, but on Thursday a federal judge, Nicholas Garaufis, ruled that he could appear on the ballot because his opponent, Dr. Eugene, had a head start against his would-be rivals because he knew he was planning to call for a second special election, the ruling states.
