Did the leaders of Croton Democrats rig the vote that chose Ali Jaffery over Sam Watkins as the party's Village Justice candidate?

The initial vote by the nominating committee chose Watkins over Jaffery by 6-5. But then the committee's chair and co-chair instigated a maneuver in favor of Jaffery, sources say.

Michael Eisenkraft (chair) and Emiljana Ulaj (vice-chair) worked together to alter a vote that was initially in favor of Sam Watkins, sources claim.

Last February, the Chronicle reported on the apparent lack of transparency in the nominating process by which the Croton Democratic Committee (Croton Democrats) chose attorney Ali Jaffery over Judge Sam Watkins as their favored candidate for Village Justice in this coming November’s village elections.

In a followup article, we explored in detail whether Croton Dems had followed New York state law in the manner in which this decision was made. Nevertheless, Jaffery will be on the ballot as the Democratic Party candidate, while Watkins, who has been on the Croton bench for 20 years, opted to run for re-election on the Voice of Croton ticket.

We had originally reported that the vote for Jaffery was “close,” although those involved were very reticent to provide details, citing the need to maintain party unity and avoid divisiveness after the fact.

Nevertheless, some Croton Dems have remained very disturbed by a nominating process they feel was not democratic. We have now been told by multiple sources that in fact the initial vote went narrowly for Sam Watkins, but that this decision was overturned by a maneuver carried out by the chair of the Croton Democratic Committee, Michael Eisenkraft, and its co-chair, Emiljana Ulaj.

According to sources with first hand knowledge of events, the initial vote of the nominating committee was 6 to 5 in favor of Watkins. Then Ulaj, who had originally abstained, decided to change her vote and cast it for Jaffery; she was allowed to do so by Eisenkraft.

At that point, Eisenkraft, who had told the group that he would only vote if there was a tie, promptly broke the resulting “tie” by voting for Jaffery himself. Reportedly, no one else was given the opportunity to change their own vote, and Jaffery became the endorsee.

We have asked both Eisenkraft and Ulaj to comment on this version of events or make any other remarks they care to about the situation, and we have given them sufficient time to do so. As with our previous stories about the nominating process that led to Jaffery becoming the Croton Dems candidate, neither of the two top leaders of the local party responded in any way to our queries, despite repeated requests for comment, correction, or clarification of the story we were preparing.

Challenger Ali Jaffery (left) and incumbent Sam Watkins (right) will be on the November ballot for Croton Village Justice

Over the past months some Croton Dems have described to us a growing buyer’s remorse within the local party, as they have come to learn more about their official candidate for Village Justice.

Last March, for example, the Chronicle reported that Jaffery had been sanctioned the previous month for improper conduct by a federal magistrate overseeing a contentious case he was involved in. While Jaffery defended his conduct, some local attorneys told us privately that the episode raises questions about his potential judicial temperament.

More recently, Jaffery had to correct a serious misstatement about Watkins on his campaign Website, which misrepresented language in an endorsement he had been given by the Working Families Party.

Watkins has also come in for criticism, most notably in a piece written for the Chronicle by Jaffery’s former law partner, which sharply took the judge to task for setting an allegedly low bail in a local case. This Guest Editorial also suggested that Croton residents could “not sleep safely” as long as Watkins remained on the bench. While Watkins defended his application of New York’s reformed bail laws, it is possible that this question could become an issue in the campaign as it goes on.

(The Working Families Party, which has endorsed Jaffery, was a strong proponent of New York’s bail reform laws.)

The Chronicle does not endorse candidates for elected office, even as we strive to provide potential voters with information that might be relevant to their decisions. Both Jaffery and Watkins, and their supporters, will be provided multiple opportunities between now and November to make their cases in our “pages.”

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