More Stall Ball: Feiner To Appeal Court’s Ruling

Just when it looked like Edgemont citizens would finally get the chance to exercise their democratic rights and vote on incorporation, Paul Feiner decided to thwart that process once again. Today, Feiner announced that he would appeal the court’s ruling that dismissed his objection to Edgemont’s petition to incorporate. The 54-page ruling could not have been clearer in denying any legal basis that Feiner had for rejecting the petition.
 
But in Feiner World, legality doesn’t matter. Instead, he will go forward with a frivolous case—funded by our tax dollars—even while admitting in his press release that an election is inevitable. What’s more, in the same statement, he makes the case that he will stand up for Edgemont’s rights by challenging a ruling that claims absentee ballots cannot be used in an incorporation vote. How do you explain these conflicting statements? Simple—they all part of Feiner’s favorite tactic: stall ball.
 
By appealing the court’s decision, Feiner isn’t actually hoping to win a case in which he has no sound arguments. No, he just hopes to delay the vote once more, so he can continue to plant seeds of doubt in voters’ minds and wage a war in the press, as he did recently when he described Edgemont voters as elitists who “don’t want continue supporting programs that help the poor.”
 
That’s also why Feiner is pursuing this particular strategy with absentee ballots. At first glance, it almost seems like Feiner cares about the democratic process. But Feiner doesn't care about that, the will of the electorate, or absentee ballots -- he simply wants delay to keep control of Edgemont for as long as possible.

So, Feiner turned to his pal and button man, State Representative Tom Abinanti, to take the matter up with the New York State Legislature. Feiner pushed this same button last Father’s Day in his request for a home-rule bill that would have denied unincorporated Greenburgh—and only unincorporated Greenburgh—the right to vote on incorporation. 

Feiner knows that Abinanti will take this case through the legislature as slowly as possible. Astonishingly, and likely inadvertently, Abinanti went on record today and revealed the stall ball strategy: “This could give us enough time.”  And the longer the delay, the better.
 
Delaying Edgemont’s inevitable vote may be in his own personal interest, but it maintains uncertainty for taxpayers and employees. It is a selfish strategy that couldn’t be more transparent. We see you, Paul Feiner. We see what you stand for. And when we do—inevitably—go to the polls, we won’t forget it.
 
You can only stall for so long.