Yang and allies won a big legal fee payout in primary lawsuit: court records
The arguably moot presidential primary that Andrew Yang sued New York State to make, cost several million dollars to hold, but that wasn’t the only cost to taxpayers.
After winning a court battle to hold the Democratic primary, Yang and his allies raked in $220,000 worth of legal fees at taxpayers’ expense, court records show.
Now that additional outlay, which has not been reported previously, has political observers on edge over Yang.
“That’s ridiculous,” said Hazel Dukes, president of the NAACP New York State Conference. “It does not show fiscal responsibility. He should have got a pro bono attorney to do that.”
State Board of Elections officials announced on April 27 that they planned to cancel last year’s primary over concerns it would lead to the spread of COVID and after now-President Joe Biden secured enough delegates to win the Democratic Party nomination.
That same day, Team Yang sued, arguing in court papers that the primary should proceed because Yang met the ballot requirements.
“While I am no longer actively seeking the office of president of the United States, it is my belief that this arbitrary decision of the [state Board of Elections] disenfranchises both myself as a voter in the State of New York and a candidate for the office of president, but also those persons who met the requirements under the [state] election law to be delegates pledged to my candidacy,” he said in an affidavit, which was executed in upstate New Paltz, where Yang has a second home.
“Despite the seriousness of the ongoing pandemic and its threat to human health and safety, it is my belief that New York State should hold a Democratic presidential primary.”
Yang won the fight to hold the primary, which he then lost by a considerable margin.
According to statewide tallies, Yang placed sixth in the crowded field, trailing the likes of Biden, former Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, among others. The former entrepreneur did better in the Big Apple, but only slightly, placing fifth among city residents with only 13,268 votes.
But Yang won another battle, which is less well known.
His lawyers got paid. The state awarded Yang and his allies more than $220,000 to pay off the legal fees he and his co-litigants racked up with the primary case.
Those fees went to the law firms of Kurzon Kohen, Jonathan Wallace and Cohen Green, court records show.
With both the state and city in dire financial straits because of COVID, and the outbreak still claiming lives in June when the primary took place, health care experts contend that money and the approximately $5.6 million it cost to run the primary could have been better spent.
“I don’t think that’s how they should have spent that money at the time, given the position we were in,” said Anthony Feliciano, director of the Commission on the Public Health System. “It could have gone to securing the schools in a better way, getting them COVID ready.”
Yang may have lost the Empire State’s presidential primary, but it’s possible he did benefit from the move through more press coverage in the city where he would soon announce his mayoral bid.
“I’m sure he knew well into the campaign, even though he has ravenous supporters, that he wasn’t going to get the traction needed to be the nominee,” Fordham University political scientist Christina Greer said of his White House bid. “The New York State lawsuit seems like a logical pre-next step if you want to have New York bona fides. There was nothing on the campaign trail that linked him to New York City at all.”
Yang’s press secretary Jake Sporn noted that his boss didn’t reap any financial gain from the case.
“Well after ending his presidential campaign, Andrew Yang fought for every New York voter’s right to safely cast their ballot in the June presidential primary. Unlike other candidates in this race, Andrew was proud to hold the state accountable,” Sporn said. “Just like any case like this — where the Board of Elections attempts to unlawfully strip New Yorkers of their voting rights — the handful of attorneys who brought the successful action were reimbursed for their time and costs and nothing more.”
