MESSAGE
| DATE | 2024-08-02 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Exactly what IS political corruption?
|
https://www.thecity.nyc/2024/08/02/brooklyn-democratic-party-bichotte-hermelyn-assembly-district/
I LOVE THIS LINE:
Markh was witness to the fallout in 2022 when his boss, Democratic
Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz, lost his southern Brooklyn seat to a
Republican challenger.
“We got nothing from the county party,” Markh said. Cymbrowitz was
trounced, losing to Republican challenger Michael Novakhov by thousands
of votes.
It was one of three seats ceded to Republicans after widespread warnings
from southern Brooklyn incumbents that the county party was not stepping
up to help them win — the Kings County Democrats’ first state
legislative losses in decades.
“I’m a county guy,” Markh said, using the term that insiders use to
refer to the Brooklyn Democratic Party. He pointed to his friendship
with former party boss Frank Seddio, who still serves as a district
leader in Mill Basin and Canarsie. “This just isn’t my county.”
Republican wins are "ceded" by Democrats. Everyone knows there are no
real Reupblicans in NYC and fewer know that South Brooklyn has been
flooded with Islamicists, and homeless shelter refugees in city
supported housing.
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Politics
Inside the Brooklyn Democratic Party’s Failed Struggle for Control of a
Single Houseboat
A Red Hook barge was briefly at the center of a political fight to keep
county leader Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn in power. Now, obscure
representatives of the houseboaters warn she’s handing seats to Republicans.
by Gwynne Hogan Aug. 2, 2024, 5:00 a.m.
Republish
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A Red Hook houseboat museum sits on a barge off the coast.
A Red Hook houseboat museum was the only Brooklyn part of Assembly
District 61, June 11, 2022. Credit: Gwynne Hogan/The CITY
Lenny Markh gained notoriety two years ago for one of the more audacious
moves in Brooklyn political history: registering himself alongside his
wife, Mariya, to represent four residents of a Red Hook houseboat.
Markh had discovered that the houseboaters were the sole Kings County
residents of a newly created state Assembly district, drawn through a
fluke of redistricting. The maneuver turned the couple into Democratic
Party district leaders — two among 44 men and women who select judges
and decide who chairs the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
Then Markh used his new power to cast a deciding vote to keep Brooklyn
Democratic party boss Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn in power when she last
ran in 2022.
Now as Bichotte Hermelyn runs for a third term as county leader amid
elections for Senate and Assembly — as well races for Congress and
president — Markh has joined a chorus of internal critics warning that
Bichotte Hermelyn’s tactics to hold on to her post are handing
Republicans state legislative seats long held by Democrats.
This time, despite diligent efforts by Markhs and others, the
houseboat’s humble residents want nothing to do with the pitched battle
for control of the Kings County Democratic Party.
Markh was witness to the fallout in 2022 when his boss, Democratic
Assemblymember Steven Cymbrowitz, lost his southern Brooklyn seat to a
Republican challenger.
“We got nothing from the county party,” Markh said. Cymbrowitz was
trounced, losing to Republican challenger Michael Novakhov by thousands
of votes.
It was one of three seats ceded to Republicans after widespread warnings
from southern Brooklyn incumbents that the county party was not stepping
up to help them win — the Kings County Democrats’ first state
legislative losses in decades.
“I’m a county guy,” Markh said, using the term that insiders use to
refer to the Brooklyn Democratic Party. He pointed to his friendship
with former party boss Frank Seddio, who still serves as a district
leader in Mill Basin and Canarsie. “This just isn’t my county.”
State Senate Race
Markh now works for State Sen. Iwen Chu, a Democrat who barely won
election in 2022 for a district covering Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights and
Sunset Park where voters have shown growing enthusiasm for Republican
candidates.
Her prospects this November are uncertain as she faces Steve Chan, a
Republican backed by the Brooklyn GOP county operation.
“This county organization under Rodneyse does not shy away from the
pettiest of fights, but will not lift a finger for actually helping
Democrats win in November,” Markh accused, pointing to the party
stripping opponent district leaders of their power to appoint poll
workers and efforts to oust district leaders.
Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn speaks at the opening of the
Eric Adams Bronx campaign office.Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte
Hermelyn speaks at the opening of the Eric Adams Bronx campaign office,
June 6, 2021. Credit: Steve Sanchez Photos/Shutterstoc
The party helped fund loyalist incumbents and challengers against
would-be opponents in at least seven district leader races, HellGate
reported, with its candidates triumphing in some of those.
As a result of the county organization’s scorched-earth tactics, a
district that overlaps with Chu’s will not have a Democrat on the ballot
for Assembly this fall, after election lawyers successfully challenged
ballot petitions that included district leaders who had mounted a
challenge to Bichotte Hermelyn’s control.
That will leave Republican incumbent Lester Chang, who dislodged
longtime Democratic incumbent Peter Abbate in 2022, likely unopposed in
November.
Asked by THE CITY about her county organization’s efforts to help
Democrats defeat Republicans in state legislative races or regain seats
lost to the GOP, Bichotte Hermelyn responded in an email describing, a
“re-energized base of Democratic voters,” that “we keep mobilizing to
elect Democratic candidates and unseat Republicans.”
Bichotte Hermelyn cited two candidates the party is championing: Joey
Saban, “a lifelong community advocate with massive grassroots support,”
who is running to wrest the former Cymbrowitz seat back from Novakhov.
The other is City Council member Kalman Yeger, who she said is running
for retiring Democrat Helene Weinstein’s Midwood Assembly seat “to keep
that district Blue.” Yeger has no opponent in the general election in
the Assembly race, and the Brooklyn Democratic Party supported an
opponent during his primary.
The statement made no mention of Chu, or of Chris McCreight, who is
running to reclaim a Coney Island Assembly seat from Republican
incumbent Alec Brook-Krasny. Both are allies of Democratic Councilmember
Justin Brannan, who has a long-simmering feud with Bichotte Hermelyn.
Asked about those two races specifically, Bichotte Hermelyn sent a
follow-up statement that again did not mention either Chu or McCreight.
Neither campaign responded to a request for comment immediately.
“Those were just a few examples, not an encompassing list of everyone
we’re supporting,” she said. “We are all Democrats, and we are
supporting our Party candidates in the General Election across the borough.”
‘It Required the Houseboat’
When Bichotte Hermelyn ran for her second term as county leader
following a scandal-plagued first two years, Lenny and Mariya Markhs had
to decide whether to wield their houseboat votes for Bichotte Hermelyn
or for opposition candidate Tori Kelly, who united progressive Democrats
from west and central Brooklyn with white centrists from southern Brooklyn.
“At one point they thought they had the votes but it required the
houseboat,” said Howard Graubard, a longtime election lawyer who works
with insurgent candidates. But Kelly withdrew her candidacy at the last
moment, with just a razor-thin edge over her opponent, said Graubard and
others familiar with the closed door conversations.
“They really did not want to take out a Black woman for a white woman,
as on the basis of two votes that represented four people in a
houseboat,” Graubard said. “They didn’t have the stomach for it.”
Kelly declined to comment.
After Kelly dropped out, Lenny voted for Bichotte Hermelyn while Mariya
abstained.
With Cymbrowitz’ difficult re-election campaign underway, Lenny Markh
recounted, he was still hopeful they could bury the hatchet.
“I was naive enough to think this county organization would still
provide that kind of support to a Democratic campaign,” he said.
But while Cymbrowitz lost handily, after receiving limited support from
county, Bichotte Hermelyn had already secured another two-year term
leading the Brooklyn Democratic Party — squeaking by with 23 of the 44
votes.
Circus Comes to Red Hook
Allies and opponents who spoke with THE CITY agree that Bichotte
Hermelyn has likely pushed and pulled enough supporters into her corner
now to win another two-year term as county party leader next month.
This time around, Lenny Markh was not the only one knocking on the door
of the houseboat, which also serves as the Waterfront Museum, asking for
petition signatures. But David Sharps, a former cruise ship clown and
juggler who has lived with his family on the refurbished barge and
museum for three decades, wanted no part of this year’s Brooklyn
Democratic political circus.
He refused to sign petitions when Markh and his wife visited, Markh said.
“They wanted to protect the integrity of their nonprofit from the
controversy of the issues,” Markh said.
Sharps wouldn’t sign anyone else’s petitions either.
“People all got the same idea,” attorney Graubard said. “They all think
they’re as clever as Lenny.”
A spokesperson for the Brooklyn Democratic Party didn’t respond to an
inquiry from THE CITY about whether they had tried to secure Sharps’
signature, and Sharps would not comment on how many aspiring district
leaders had made the trip to the houseboat to collect his signature this
year.
He initially declined to comment at all when THE CITY paid a visit to
the boat Assembly district on a recent afternoon and later sent a text
message clarifying his stance.
“We support the democratic process in New York City, but we are not
comfortable with the redistricting. As a result, we have not
participated,” Sharps said. “I didn’t fully understand the situation in
2022. I do now.”
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
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http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
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