Pressure is mounting on Brooklyn Democratic Party leadership to cancel an executive committee vote planned for Tuesday night that could dramatically reshape the size and composition of that committee.
In a NY1 interview and a video on social media last week, Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn billed the changes as reforms to make the party more representative of Brooklyn’s more than 1 million registered Democrats. But reformers have slammed the move as an attempt to stack the executive committee so that Bichotte Hermelyn can maintain control of the party by adding new members loyal to her.
In June’s primary election, reform-oriented district leaders won a majority for the first time in nearly two decades of organizing against the county establishment, claiming enough seats to flip the leadership to district leader Julio Peña.
In the days since Bichotte Hermelyn unveiled her proposals, the chair of the state Democratic Party, Jay Jacobs, as well as New York State Attorney General Letitia James and U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries have all called on her to reconsider. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday afternoon joined their calls, saying, “Given the clear results of the June Democratic primary in Brooklyn, the party should not change the rules in the middle of the game.”
Reformers filed a lawsuit Monday, asking a judge to block Tuesday’s vote with a temporary restraining order, Hell Gate first reported. But the first judge assigned to the case recused themselves, saying they may seek renomination from the Brooklyn Democratic Party. A second judge declined to block the vote ahead of time, and reformers planned to refile the suit after Tuesday’s vote if it goes ahead.
‘It’s an Honorarium’
Brooklyn’s Democratic Party plays an outsize role in nominating and selecting judges, one of the areas reform-oriented district leaders had been hoping to tackle should they gain control of the party.
Bichotte Hermelyn and the Brooklyn Democratic Party have not returned requests for additional comment.
The executive committee is slated to vote on the proposed changes at a closed-door meeting Tuesday evening at the Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club in Mill Basin, run by Frank Seddio, the former Assemblymember and Brooklyn Democratic Party boss who still serves as a district leader in the 59th Assembly District, which spans parts of Canarsie, Flatlands, Mill Basin and Marine Park.
The City Reporter reviewed a copy of the proposed changes Bichotte Hermelyn sent to district leaders last week. The proposals would add more than two dozen members to the executive committee who could then vote on party leadership, followed by an additional representative from each Assembly district in the borough.
While these new executive committee members would technically be voted on by the larger county committee, reform-oriented district leaders say they fear Bichotte Hermelyn could easily consolidate proxy votes from the county committee and stack the executive committee with loyalists.
Another change would give former party chairs like Seddio a lifetime vote on Brooklyn Democratic Party leadership — even if they’re voted out as district leaders.
“It’s an honorarium,” Seddio said asked about the proposal, calling it a “very appropriate thing.”
“There ain’t much of my life left, so I don’t know if that’s gonna matter,” he said.
‘Naked Power Grab’
Seddio defended Bichotte Hermelyn’s proposed rule changes, though he said he understood the optics of them being introduced now, as she was poised to lose control of the party.
“I don’t see it as a grab for power. I see it as an opportunity to make us more progressive,” he said.
“I don’t know that she will stay in power as a result of those changes,” Seddio said. “Maybe its time has come. Is there ever a good time to make a change?”
On the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall on Monday afternoon, a cast of local elected officials and some district leaders aligned with the reform-oriented Brooklyn Can’t Wait slate rallied to call on Bichotte Hermelyn to abandon the proposed changes. Democratic nominee for Congress and former City Comptroller Brad Lander called the move a “naked power grab.”
“Changing the rules of the game to make sure you stay in power is a little bit fascist,” City Councilmember Alexa Avilés of Brooklyn said.
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