voting place

A civic leader in Lackawanna's Yemeni-American community, who last year was elected to the City Council, is looking to fight an appeals court ruling that bars him from serving in the position because he previously pleaded guilty to illegally transferring more than $3.5 million to Yemen.

An Appellate Division, Fourth Department, panel decided recently that Mohamed Albanna's 2006 federal conviction, for which he served several years in prison, amounted to a crime of moral turpitude and that, therefore, under the Lackawanna City Charter, he is ineligible to hold the City Council seat.

Albanna has in turn asked for leave to appeal with New York state's highest court.

The unanimous appeals panel's ruling was another major development in a fierce battle between Lackawanna's mayor, Geoffrey Szymanski, and Albanna, a longtime Lackawanna resident who is also well-known as an area businessman who started a charter school. After Albanna received the majority of votes in an election for a 1st Ward councilman position in November, Szymanski and the city of Lackawanna quickly filed suit in Erie County Supreme Court in an effort to block him from taking the seat. Lackawanna, which is located just south of Buffalo, is a city of more than 18,000.

Szymanski's legal contention has hinged on Section 14.9 of the city charter, which states that “[a] person convicted of a crime or offense involving moral turpitude shall be ineligible to assume or continue in any city office, position or employment.”