Clarisa Alayeto, candidate for Council District 8 representing the South Bronx and East Harlem, has resumed her campaign after being disqualified by the Board of Elections in April following a court battle and a challenge from the Wall Street-funded group backing one of her opponents, attorney Wilfredo Lopez.
Alayeto, who chairs Bronx Community Board 1, is one of several candidates vying for the council seat, which will be vacated by the term-limited Deputy Speaker Diana Ayala.
The Board of Elections had removed Alayeto from the Democratic primary ballot in April, after the state Supreme Court ruled that her candidacy paperwork contained clerical errors that should disqualify her, including a misspelling of her name (“Claris” instead of “Clarisa”) and an incorrect home zip code.
But after Alayeto fixed the errors and appealed her removal, the ordeal ended with the Appellate Court ruling that the mistakes were an inconsequential “scrivener’s error,” “not fatal defects.”
In a video clip of the deliberations posted to Instagram, Alayeto captured a judge noting that the errors appeared “only on the cover sheet,” and that the petitions signed by actual voters always spelled her name correctly.
“There really can be no doubt here that the candidate is Clarisa,” said another judge.
Alayeto and campaign staffers celebrated the unanimous 5-0 decision, which came May 7.
“The mission hasn’t changed. This is a movement! Re-launching with purpose — LET’S GO!!!!” said Alayeto in a May 10 Instagram post.
The back-and-forth with the courts stemmed from a Board of Elections challenge not from Lopez himself but from Ending Homelessness and Building a Better NYC (EHBB NYC), an independent expenditure group endorsing Lopez and five other candidates for other council races throughout the city, including incumbent Pierina Sanchez for Bronx District 14.
In a statement emailed to the Bronx Times, EHBB spokesperson Michael Brady said that “several candidates knowingly submitted non-compliant petitions” to the Board of Elections. Records show that Raymond Santana and Nicholas Reyes were also challenged by EHBB but currently remain on the ballot.
“Our organization challenged every candidate that had credible and significant errors which violated the parameters of the Board of Elections including fraud,” Brady said in the emailed statement. “While we believe the Supreme Court and Board of Elections made the correct decision regarding the Alayeto petitions, the Appellate Court ruling reversed those judgments.”
Brady added that EHBB launched a program to train future candidates on the petitioning process.
As the Bronx Times has previously reported, EHBB NYC is an unusual entity solely funded by Wall Street investor Michael Jenkins, who has contributed $1.6 million, and led by CEO Tomas Ramos, who heads the Bronx-based nonprofit Oyate Group.
Records show that EHBB NYC — an independent group prohibited from coordinating with Lopez’s campaign in any way — has spent over $207,300 mainly on mailings, video and internet ads and merch on his behalf.
Amid the crowded CD8 race, Alayeto has emerged as one of the top fundraisers. City records show that Alayeto has raised just over $32,000 in contributions, nearly even with Lopez at $33,284 — but Lopez’s campaign has that huge spending boost from EHBB NYC.
Now, with Alayeto back on the ballot, she resumes her first-ever city council race, where she has billed herself as the only Bronx-based candidate and as victorious against big-money challengers.
“Let me be clear: they tried to take us out this race,” she said in an Instagram video. “We represent a campaign that can’t be bought.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
