Judge Tosses Suit Challenging Democratic Committee Membership

A Suffolk County Supreme Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by Rona Klopman, a member of the East Hampton Democratic Committee and candidate for chairwoman, seeking to determine the committee's "true current membership," which Ms. Klopman charged has been manipulated. She had demanded that election of a new leader be conducted on the basis of that membership.

After hearing oral arguments, Justice Joseph A. Santorelli denied Ms. Klopman's motion for an injunction and lifted a May 14 temporary restraining order forbidding the committee from conducting a vote before its June 20 meeting. The dismissal was announced Wednesday.

Ms. Klopman, whose attorney promised an appeal of the decision, had charged that Jeanne Frankl, the committee's present chairwoman, had improperly revised the list of current committee members, established in 2016. Ms. Frankl, she said, also moved committee members from one election district to another without their consent, the implication being an effort to manipulate the election by giving greater weight to some committee members' votes and less to others, based on the number of Democrats in each district who voted in the last gubernatorial election. Ms. Klopman further charged that Ms. Frankl had illegally terminated members from the committee, according to the action.

"We are gratified today that the court recognized the pettiness of the claims in this lawsuit and the procedural irregularities of the Klopman effort," Ms. Frankl said in a statement issued Wednesday. Ms. Klopman's arguments, she said, "were confused and overly general and did not acknowledge the reality of the East Hampton Democratic Committee."

"We were able to rebut their arguments on the facts and the law," Ms. Frankl said. "They didn't seem to know the rules well and we were able to submit letters of resignation and affidavits that disproved all their arguments."

The committee will notice a formal meeting for the selection of a new chair "shortly," according to the statement.

But Jonathan Wallace, Ms. Klopman's attorney, complained that the dismissal was premature, that the motion to dismiss "was not even pending . . . that it wasn't supposed to be before the judge until June 15. He replied, in so many words, that he did not care and was dismissing it anyway." Denying his client an opportunity to respond "indicated to me the judge was trying to get rid of the case by any means possible," he said.

"We are arguing that Jeanne Frankl, or any chair of the East Hampton Town Democratic Committee, does not have a right to call a member and say, 'You're out of this election district and in another,' or 'You're off the committee, and I might put you back on later.' "

Mr. Wallace suggested that an additional Article 78 action could be forthcoming. "I assume they will hold an election," he said of the committee. "If they do that and we feel the result is unfair, we will be right back in court challenging the membership list under which it was conducted."

Wednesday was a setback, he said, "but not a fair setback, and we will absolutely continue to exercise all rights, and continue pursuing this until we can reach some resolution in the committee that assures business will be conducted fairly. People will not be moved without consent, or fired without any kind of process."