Susman Files Suit, Gronowski, Matten, Skipper, Pinion Among Plaintiffs
By Dan Murphy
Twelve Yonkers residents have filed a lawsuit in Westchester County Supreme Court claiming that the actions of the Yonkers City Council on Nov. 22 extending term limits for the Mayor and Council members was illegal. The suit, filed by noted civil rights attorney Michael Sussman, asks the court to find that the vote by the council on the change to the term limits law, based on three causes of action.
1-“The local law extending the term limits for elected office in the city of yonkers which was supported by a member of the city council and signed into law by the Mayor, persons standing to directly benefit from the same, is null and void.”
2-“that the adoption of the amendment to the City Charter was adopted by persons violating said City Charter and is, therefore, contrary to law and must be annulled.”
3-if the court finds that the adoption of the law was lawful, “a declaratory judgement..requiring defendant City of Yonkers to schedule a mandatory referendum before said extension of term limits becomes effective.”
The suit claims cites Yonkers Ethics Code, C1-A-6 states, “A City officer or employee shall not use his or her official position or office, or take or fail to take any action, which he or she knows or has reason to know may result in a financial benefit (financial renumeration for another 4 or 8 years) for himself or herself.”
“By enacting a change which allows two currently sitting councilmembers to seek a fourth term, and the Mayor to do the same, defendants, Council President Lakisha Collins-Bellamy, Majority Leader Tasha Diaz, Minority Leader Mike Breen, Councilman John Rubbo, each of whom voted in favor of the extention of term limits for the offices they currently hold, and defendant Mike Spano, who signed the measure into law on Dec. 2, violated the terms of the City Charter.”
The suit continues to claim that the 12 plaintiffs, all residents of Yonkers, “is aggreived by the unlawful self-dealing which these defendants enganged in by extending term limits.”
The Council voted 4-3 to approve the change in the term limits law from three, 4 year terms, to four, 4-year terms. Council Minority Leader Mike Breen was one of the votes in favor of the change and the lawsuit said, “one member directly benefitted from this vote.”
The lawsuit also argues that because the change to the term limits law changed the City Charter, according to Section 23 of New York’s Municipal Home Rule law, “it is subject to a mandatory referendum.”
“Defendants have deprived each of the plaintiffs who oppose the change (to term limits) the opportunity to properly contest the amendment to the City Charter through a mandatory referendum.”
Plaintiffs request a declaratory judgement requiring City of Yonkers to hold a mandatory referendum pursuant to state law before the subject amendment to the charter becomes effective.”
This means that a Judge could order a Referendum be held in 2023, before Spano, Breen or anyone could run for a fourth term.
Notable plaintiffs in the lawsuit include former City Councilwoman Joan Gronowski, Joe Pinion, who ran last month as the republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Ron Matten, republican candidate for City Council President in 2021, and Kisha Skipper, Vice-Chair of the Yonkers NAACP.
Sussman has a storied history in Yonkers. He served as the lead attorney for the Yonkers NAACP in their desegregation lawsuit against the City of Yonkers in the 1980’s, memorialized in the HBO Miniseries Show Me A Hero.
We spoke to Sussman about the suit, which will be filed today, Dec. 12. “For a very long period of time in Yonkers, there has been a desire to take short cuts. Yes the Mayor is doing good things, but that’s not the issue. This issue is always for me equity and the rule of law. And there is a problem in making the changes without a mandatory referendum. The Charter says you can’t change it with your own vote. There is an obligation not to vote on something that will benefit you.”
When we asked Sussman why the legalities of changing the term limits law weren’t made four years ago, when the Council voted to extend from 8 years to 12 years, Sussman said, “Nobody called me four years ago. I’m not a roving Attorney General.”
