We, the Affiliated Organizations of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the Irish American community, demand that Quinnipiac University, Dr. John Lahey, NBC and Frank Comerford cease and desist from their: 1) hostile takeover of the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade Corporation; 2) ongoing violations of the Parade Corporation’s bylaws; 3) attempts to brand and turn it into a commodity; and (4) to return the Parade back to the Irish-American community.

Dr. Lahey and Mr. Comerford have confused the Board’s role as a “steward” of the Parade with their false belief that they “own” the Parade after they hijacked it through a hostile takeover of the Parade Corporation in 2015. Since then, they have blatantly ignored the bylaws and stacked the Parade Board to consolidate power for their own interests.

The Parade Board was established by the Irish-American community to act as trustees of the parade and to administer the parade through the advice and consent of the Affiliated Organizations through the duly elected Parade Committee. However, since October 2015, Dr. Lahey and Mr. Comerford attempted to stage a coupe to remove the voice of the Irish-American community as expressed through the Affiliated Organizations and the Parade Committee.

Dr. Lahey and Mr. Comerford have shown utter contempt for the bylaws of the Parade by (i) stacking the board with individuals ineligible to serve under those bylaws; (ii) denigrated the services of two women who have faithfully served the Parade for several decades by eliminating the positions of Secretary and Treasurer of the Corporation; and (iii) finally, and most significantly, they have failed to recognize the members of the Parade Committee duly elected by the members of the affiliated organizations.

They have also disregarded their fiduciary duties to the Parade when they ignored their own internal auditor’s recommendation to place the television contract out for competitive bidding and locked the Parade into paying $525,000 in fees to NBC and $600,000 in production costs over next three years. Other television stations, including WPIX, offered to broadcast the Parade at terms more favorable to the Parade. Now, Dr. Lahey, Mr. Comerford and the St. Patrick’s Day Foundation seek to “rebrand” the Parade to be more pleasing for sponsors to sell and promote Quinnipiac, Guinness, Ford and the Tourist Board of a foreign government and to use the Parade as a “platform to promote different causes.”

The affiliated organizations continue to hope that the Supreme Court will intervene to enforce the Bylaws until resolution of the litigation. However, the case continues to languish since the Court has not rendered a decision. Since justice delayed is justice denied, if Dr. Lahey and his loyalist are allowed to flagrantly disregard the By-Laws and the rule of law, then this not only threatens the continuation of a 254-year-old tradition of the Parade, but also sets a dangerous precedent whereby any board for a not-for-profit corporation can betray the trust of the community they serve for their own personal ends.

We, the undersigned, representing the Affiliated Organizations and the Irish-American community of New York, demand that Dr. Lahey, Quinnipiac University, Mr. Comerford and

Petition of the Affiliated Organizations of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade
NBC immediately honor the bylaws of the NYC St. Patrick’s Day Parade and more specifically return it to the Irish-American community by immediately recognizing the voice of the affiliated organizations through the duly elected Parade Committee.

Please join us in lifting our united voice against the attempt by Dr. Lahey, Quinnipiac University, Frank Comerford and NBC to hijack the Parade from the Irish-American community.