Mr. Gary Nicholas Sinawski

October 29, 1946 - September 15, 2014

Brooklyn, NY Gary Nicholas Sinawski, 67 of Brooklyn, NY died recently at Brooklyn Hospital, following a brief illness. He was born in Claremont, NH on October 29, 1946, the son of Walden F. and Claudia (Kazura) Sinawski. He was a graduate of Stevens High School where he excelled in athletics and was also the captain of the Claremont Swim Team. Gary graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1968 and graduated from law school at the University of Michigan Law School in 1971. He was a pioneer in ballot access cases and one of the leading election reform attorney’s in the country. He was an unusually compassionate and gentle attorney. One of the secrets to his success in court was that he always displayed an open-minded, gentle, mature method of presenting his argument. He was counsel to the Libertarian Party national committee but he was also one of the nation’s most experienced and accomplished ballot access attorneys. Over the last thirty years he represented virtually every nationally-organized minor party that did constitutional ballot access litigation, and he won at least nine constitutional election law cases and many more other election law cases. Sinawski won a case in 1984 striking down Massachusetts’ May petition deadline for minor party and independent candidates; the state was forced to move it to July. To this day, that case, Serrette v Connolly, is the only instance of any minor party winning a constitutional ballot access lawsuit against Massachusetts ballot access laws. Massachusetts is a state in which both the federal judges and the state judges are very loath to ever rule in favor of minor party and independent candidates. In 1988, Sinawski won a decision in federal court in Michigan, Fulani v Austin, which established that when a state legislature adds petition hurdles in an election law as late as April, expecting a petitioning group to comply with such newly-enacted hurdles to participate in that year’s election violates due process. Sinawski also won a ruling in the 7th circuit in Fulani v Hogsett that a minor party presidential candidate does have standing to sue, if a state puts a major party nominee on the ballot even though the major party nominee did not comply with statutory deadlines. In 1991, representing the Libertarian Party for the first time, Sinawski won a case against three Kentucky ballot access laws: (1) the February petition deadline; (2) the requirement that petitions carry the social security number of each signer; (3) a requirement that only registered members of the party could sign these general election petitions. This was a landmark victory, because the Kentucky Libertarian Party had not tried to get on the ballot in the 1991 state election, and Sinawski had to defeat the state’s arguments that therefore the Libertarians didn’t have standing. To this day, Libertarian Party of Kentucky v Ehrler is a landmark for standing. In 1992, representing the Constitution, Natural Law, New Alliance, and Populist Parties, Sinawski won injunctive relief against Nevada’s June petition deadline for minor party petitions. This is one of only six instances nationwide when a June petition deadline was defeated in court. Nevada moved its deadlines to July, but years later moved them back to earlier months, and the Nevada deadline is again being litigated by the Green Party. In 1994, Sinawski won a New York case for the newly-formed Independence Party, over whether it was permitted to substitute a new gubernatorial nominee in place of its original nominee. Because he won the case, the party was permitted to run Thomas Golisano, who had such a large campaign that the party met the 50,000 vote test and became established. In 1996, Sinawski won a case for the Natural Law Party against South Carolina’s requirement that a newly-qualifying party must have had organizing meetings early in the year, even if the party hadn’t yet been in existence. Also in 1996, he won a case in the Fifth Circuit against the Texas requirement that independent candidate petitions had to include the voter registration number of each signer. In 2006, Sinawski won the Libertarian Party landmark case against Ohio, which resulted in Ohio being forced to put four minor parties on the ballot in each of the election years 2008 through 2014. The 2006 decision established that the Ohio petition deadline, November of the odd year before the election year, is unconstitutional. Although Sinawski did not do follow-up litigation against Ohio that resulted in four minor parties being on the ballot in each of the elections 2008 through 2014, it was Sinawski’s 2006 victory in the Sixth Circuit that made all the others possible. Members of his family include his mother, Claudia Sinawski, Claremont, NH, and many friends and colleagues. There will be no visiting hours. Graveside committal services will be private and held at the convenience of the family in Mountain View Cemetery in Claremont, NH. Arrangements have been entrusted to the Roy Funeral Home and Cremation Service, 93 Sullivan Street, Claremont, NH. You are invited SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015 @ 11 am 55 Christopher Street (at Sheridan Sq.- between 6th & 7th Avenue) to a gathering, a celebration, for our dearest friend and colleague Gary Sinawski Let’s share together the endless kindness, decency, mischievous humor, and brilliant spirit we were lucky enough to have known with him. Please join in a loving conversation to remember this remarkable man and all he gave to each of us and to the fight for democracy, free & fair elections, and to the rights and dignity of women and men across the country and the world. Bring your stories and remembrances of all kinds. If you’re unable to attend you’re invited to send a favorite memory or story by return email Feel free to forward this invitation to all whose lives he touched and anyone who would want to celebrate his life. With thanks and love, Judy Please RSVP ASAP by return email &/or to 917 886 6985 In lieu of flowers or to remember Gary, gifts may be sent to: ARTFUL THINKERS for the Gary Sinawski Scholarship & Fund for Democracy, Creativity and the Arts – 201 W. 89 St. Suite 9F, New York, NY 10024