Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Democratic County Committee

Democratic County Committee

  • To Build a More Inclusive New York, We Need to Reform County Parties

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    New Yorkers (photo: John McCarten/City Council)


    As Governor Andrew Cuomo continues to face a barrage of scandals, from sexual harassment accusations to his catastrophic mishandling of the state’s nursing homes during the darkest days of the pandemic, many New Yorkers rightly wonder how the governor and his confidantes have managed to amass so much power in the first place. It’s long been a “best-kept secret” in New York politics that the Democratic establishment, including Governor Cuomo, controls our city’s and state’s politics with an iron

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  • Toward a Binary Free NYC

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    Emilia Decaudin, the author


    For nearly 100 years, Democrats in the State of New York have elected one man and one woman per Assembly District to serve in the Democratic Party’s governing body, the State Committee. A rule change passed last month means that after 2020, this will no longer be the case.

    Eleanor Roosevelt and the League of Women Voters pushed for gendered seats for party offices, which include State Committee,

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  • Manhattan Democrats Just Elected New County Party Reps, But Their Voices May Not Be Heard Until 2021

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    (photo: Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office)


    This past Thursday, the Manhattan Democratic Party announced its bi-annual “Organization Meeting” for this coming Thursday, October 3. This gathering of the party’s over 2,000 County Committee members is a critical moment when those newly elected representatives of Democratic voters set the course for the Democratic Party going into 2020.

    Or so everyone thought.

    Disregarding the exceedingly short notice, which is sent by mail and won’t reach most County Committee members

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  • In Keeping Stranglehold, Brooklyn Democratic Party Bosses Further Sow Seeds of Their Demise

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    Kings County Democratic Committee meeting (photo: James Boo, New Kings Democrats)


    This summer I collected signatures from neighbors to represent my election district, an area of a few blocks, as a member of the Kings County Democratic Committee (KCDC), the Brooklyn denomination of the New York State Democratic Party.

    I had signed up with the #RepYourBlock campaign, convened by New Kings Democrats (NKD), one-and-a-half years earlier for this purpose. I handed in my petitions in June and a few months later I received a postcard informing me of KCDC’s bi-annual rules

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  • Discouraged But Determined; Queens County Committee Will Change

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    Queens County Democratic leader Joe Crowley (photo: @repjoecrowley)


    This summer, the New York Times reported that candidates to become Democratic committee members in Queens were unaware that they were running for office and would be on the September 13 ballot. Queens Democratic Party bosses were nominating candidates without their consent for County Committee membership. You read that right.

    Those party bosses, long-term

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  • Reimagining the Brooklyn Democratic Party

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    (photo: Gotham Gazette)


    The New York Times recently published a story about the Queens Democratic Party and how it stacked its Democratic County Committee with at least 21 people who had no idea that they were running for the position. One of the “candidates” actually lived in Florida. The Times article said, in part: “it is not entirely clear why the party would want to populate the committee with people who did not know they were on

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  • Change the Political Status Quo: Run for County Committee

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    (photo: NYC Mayor's Office)


    Today, throughout Kings County, aka Brooklyn, there are many low-income tenants, working class people, and people of color in desperate need of and clamoring for true progressive political representation in their Democratic Party and from their state representatives. Leaders throughout a number of communities are critically looking at our elected officials -- especially state-level politicians running in primary elections this year -- and asking if those officials truly represent their views.

    Locally-focused, civic-minded

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  • Squadron Departure Spotlights Importance of County Committee

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    Former state Sen. Daniel Squadron (photo: @DanielSquadron)


    Since Daniel Squadron announced his resignation from the New York State Senate last week, there has been a lot of conversation about “County Committee.” The vacancy in Squadron’s seat will be filled in a special election in November, and state law requires that the Democratic nominee for the seat be selected by the Democratic Party, as opposed to being decided in a primary election.

    This means that, in all likelihood, the next State Senator for the 26th District, which includes parts of Brooklyn and

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  • Special Elections Deserve Democratic Deliberation, Not Backroom Deals

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    former State Sen. Dan Squadron, right, with other officials (photo: @LtGovHochulNY)


    When Daniel Squadron released his statement resigning as a New York State Senator, many of us were surprised and disappointed to see a legislator committed to progressive reforms go. In particular, Sen. Squadron fought the LLC loophole allowing corporations to exceed donation limits by contributing through multiple entities treated as individuals, and Squadron cited the dysfunction of Albany as one cause for his decision to step down.

    With a district that

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  • Democratic Club Calls On Wright To Choose Between Party Leadership & Lobbying Job

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    Manhattan Democratic Party Chair Keith Wright (photo: Governor's Office/Flickr)


    A Manhattan Democratic club is calling on Assemblymember-turned-lobbyist Keith Wright to either resign from his role as chair of the Manhattan Democratic Party or give up his lucrative job at the lobbying firm Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP, arguing that the dual role creates a conflict at the “very top of our County Democratic Party.”

    A letter sent last month by the Village Independent Democrats (VID),

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  • Special Election Shows Need for Democratization

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    Charles Youn, executive director of KALCA, speaks at a press conference


    Any good democracy should reflect a society’s diversity in its leadership. The undemocratic way in which the 65th Assembly District special election is unfolding should galvanize all communities, particularly underrepresented ones, to push for reforms and encourage underrepresented New Yorkers to be more civically engaged.

    America does not always have accurate and inclusive representation in government. This is especially true in state legislatures. A few weeks ago...