George Gonzalez, a 22 year veteran of the Board, who has held the $172,753 job only since mid-August 2009, narrowly averted being fired during a private session of the board last Friday, when three of the ten commissioners weren’t physically present. The three listened in on a telephone conference call while Gonzalez’s future was being hashed out, but couldn’t vote because the rules require members to be physically present to do so. Gonzalez was not invited to attend the private session, during which some board members openly called for his firing for incompetence, insubordination “or worse.”
A product of the Bronx Democratic party, Gonzalez is taking the rap for many of the screw-ups and embarrassments that have buffeted the board in recent weeks: from the problem-plagued Sept. 14 primary, to a snafu regarding voter instructions for marking the ovals on the paper ballots for Tuesday’s election to the suspicious shifting of the order of candidates’ names on the ballot for the special election for the late Tom White’s former City Council seat in Queens, to the ordering of expensive office furniture while crying poverty.
Today, the board came out after a 45-minute private meeting and announced that they fired Gonzalez in a vote with six commissioners in support and four abstaining. Board President Julie Dent stated, "The board has voted to terminate our executive director, George Gonzalez..We thank George for all the years of service..He's been with the board for 22 years, and again, we appreciate it."
With seven days to go before Election Day, current Deputy Director Dawn Sandow, a Bronx Republican, will become acting executive director.
The way the Board is constructed with five Democrats and five Republicans needs to be changed.
Statement of New York Public Interest Research Group on the Firing of Board of Elections Executive Director George Gonzalez
Today, the New York City Board of Elections fired its Executive Director, George Gonzalez. It is true that day to day operations at the Board are under the purview of the Executive Director. But the hiring or firing of any one individual on the very eve of the 2010 elections in New York City will not necessarily lead to meaningful improvements in the running of the city’s elections.
The voters of New York don’t need sacrificial lambs. What is needed, is a fundamental change in the administration of the Board.
To ensure meaningful improvements for the city’s voters, we call upon the Commissioners of the Board of Elections to break with their past practice of hiring party insiders worked out in deals between the city’s party leaders.
We call for the following reforms in the search for a new Executive Director. The Boar should:
- publish a written job description for the Executive Director Position.
- conduct a national search.
- break with past practice and refuse to hire anyone with past or present partisan Democratic or Republican ties.
- hire the new Executive Director for a set term.
- require an annual performance review for all top executives and borough chiefs.
- commit to hiring someone with a background in electoral administration.
- hire someone with a commitment to a transparency in Board decisions and operations.
We call upon the Mayor, Council and our elected representatives to join in the call for a new generation of leadership at the Board.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!
Michael H. Drucker
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