Stating that, "I know in my heart that I have used my place on the Hempstead Town Board to bring minority concerns to local government and I also know that as a minority who is of the majority party, I have been able to bring more services and programs to minority areas than ever before," Hempstead Town Councilman Curtis E. Fisher requested that the Town Board of the Town of Hempstead appeal the recent ruling by the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals. Through conversations held individually with the remaining five members of the town board and with the town supervisor, they have agreed to support the councilman's request.

Referring to the ruling, Councilman Fisher went on to say, "I am very upset. This ruling fails to recognize that African-American residents already are represented by an African-American. It diminishes everything that I have been able to accomplish in my six years as a town board member. This ruling says that only African-Americans from the Democratic Party can represent the minority community. Well, my roots in the community are as deep as theirs.

"This lawsuit has always been about politics, never about minority representation," said Councilman Fisher. "You have Fred Brewington, the attorney for the plaintiffs who ran as a minority Democrat and failed. You have Dorothy Goosby, a plaintiff, who ran as a minority Democrat and failed. And then you have me, Curtis Fisher, a minority Republican who ran and won. There are minority Republicans at every level of government and in our judicial system. In this county, minorities can win, it's Democrats who don't."

Councilman Fisher pointed out that Dorothy Goosby has announced that she will run on the Democratic ticket for the Hempstead Town Board in this November's election. "Plain and simple, she wants my job. She couldn't get it through the ballot box so now she's asking the court to give it to her."

Councilman Fisher went on to say, "As a young boy I grew up in minority communities. Later, I became involved in civil rights causes with a goal to bring equality to everyone. As an educator in primarily minority schools, I wanted my students to have every benefit that students in other districts had and above all, I wanted them to live in an integrated world. This decision is counter to everything I believe. It turns back the hands of time by re-creating segregation and disenfranchising a whole group of people. It's just wrong."

The next step in the process will be a petition to the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals for a rehearing. Simultaneously, there will be a request that the case be referred "en banc" to the entire panel of judges within the Second Circuit for a rehearing.