A former state Senate candidate is suing what he called a “scam” political firm after they gathered about 1,000 signatures for his campaign — nearly all invalid.
Democrat John O’Hara contends he paid Sole Strategies – a progressive organization led by Zee Cohen-Sanchez, who worked on the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — roughly $20,000 to collect signatures to put him on the ballot in District 17, which covers Borough Park, Midwood and Sunset Park.
But the group barely delivered on their end of the contract, a Brooklyn Supreme Court lawsuit alleges. O’Hara was tossed off the ballot, as was his opponent Yu Lin. There was no primary, and remaining Democratic candidate Iwen Chu progressed to the general election against Republican Vito LaBella.
“Some of these signatures came from miles out of the district. A couple were from the Bronx, so these are just people [Sole Strategies] found on the street,” said O’Hara, who is seeking $125,000 in damages. “Some weren’t even registered Democrats.”
The lawsuit insists a city Board of Election report found four out every five signatures O’Hara submitted were from out of the district.
“This is one of the worst-run petition routes I’ve ever seen,” said O’Hara’s lawyer, Ezra Glazer. “Yes, it was a redistricting area, but the bottom line is these were collected in a completely bizarre, unprofessional, unmanageable way.”
The firm called O’Hara’s lawsuit defamatory: “John O’Hara’s project was completed accurately within the guidelines of the contract. He expressed to us how happy he was with the field captain assigned to him, and even extended and paid for a second project after completing the first one with us. Upon completion he never expressed any dissatisfaction, nor did he ever request for a refund.”
O’Hara gained notoriety in the 1990s as the first person convicted on felony voting in New York since Susan B. Anthony in 1872, when women didn’t have the right to vote. He voted in Sunset Park, about 12 blocks from where he actually lived, prosecutors alleged. A judge exonerated him in 2017.
