One More Thing Simcha Felder Wants To Block: His Primary Challenger

Sen. George Amedore Jr., R-Rotterdam, left, and Sen. Terrence Murphy, R-Carmel, right, tape Sen. Simcha Felder, D-Brooklyn to his chair as a joke while waiting for the start of a session in the Senate Chamber at the state Capitol during the last scheduled day of the legislative session, in Albany

State Senator Simcha Felder is a Democrat from Brooklyn who gives Senate Republicans their one-seat majority. Felder, who has stymied New York City’s plastic bag fee, the New York Dream Act, and most recently the city’s school zone speed cameras, is now trying to block his opponent in the Democratic primary, attorney Blake Morris.

On Thursday, Felder filed a legal challenge against Morris's campaign, claiming that his opponent shouldn’t be on the Democratic ballot at all, because Blake’s legal first name is Lawrence.

“Blake’s my middle name,” Morris told Gothamist/WNYC. “I’ve been going with Blake my whole life.”

Morris said that the suit showed “[Felder] was desperate because he knows he’s going to lose the Democratic primary.”

Not so, said Felder’s Attorney Aaron Maslow.

“The law is clear. The name of the candidate has got to be there. Not the nickname,” Maslow said. He argued Morris had used Lawrence on official documents in the past, like when he ran for a seat on the Democratic county committee. “Just because you're known informally by close friends in a small part of the district, that does not justify using that name on a petition in a district wide office.”

Maslow admitted that there are exceptions to the rule, but they don’t apply in this case. “The case law says an alternate name is acceptable if it’s a variance on the person’s first name,” Maslow said, pointing to former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. “Another area where it is acceptable is when a candidate drops Junior or Senior,” Maslow added.

In court on Thursday, Morris said he brought thirty witnesses to convince Judge Edgar Walker that Blake was his real name, not just a nickname.

First, he dumped out the entire contents of his wallet “pulling out my credit cards and social membership cards, showing how I hold myself out to the community as Blake Morris.”

Then Blake said his wife took the stand, “Testifying how when she met me she only knew me as Blake, and she only knew Blake wasn’t my first name when she met my parents.”

“After five witnesses, the judge was basically like, 'I get it,'" he added.

Morris’s appearance on the ballot will be decided on Tuesday morning at the Kings County Supreme Court, one day before local primary ballots are finalized.

The State Board of Elections did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Morris is Felder’s first primary challenger since he was elected to serve the 17th district in 2012, and City & State has called the race a “wild card.”