Posted by GET NY on 08:36:04 06/16/05

ROPER'S LEGIONS

New York Press
Volume 18, Issue 24

Getting on the ballot in Brooklyn, arguably the most undemocratic county in the U.S., is akin to navigating a field of spiked bats swung by courthouse lawyers. It's an especially bloody affair if you're civil rights attorney Sandra Roper, who four years ago, in what was then an unthinkable act of defiance, challenged the reelection of the three-term incumbent Joe Hynes, known for his vengeful ways. The Roper rebellion of 2001 opened the gates to the unprecedented number of challengers facing Hynes in this year's race five at last count but it exacted a heavy price on Roper herself, who was indicted in 2003 on suspicious grand larceny charges vetted by Hynes' office.

The case was later dropped, but not before the shadow of criminality had effectively doomed Roper's campaign for DA this year. We are heartened, however, to see her taking up the standard for a run at the equally calcified office of the Brooklyn judiciary, where a seat in county Civil Court is open for challenge to whoever can get the 12,000 or so signatures needed to stay on the ballot.

Equally encouraging is that at least four insurgent candidates for City Council have made the ballsy decision to carry Roper on their petition sheets ballsy because support for Roper is a tacit spitball in the eye of Joe Hynes, who has a habit of indicting politicos who displease him.

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• ROPER'S LEGIONS

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