Brooklyn Democratic Party

{{Further|Elections in New York City#Electoral system}}

The New York Election Law defines the structure of political parties and requires each party to have county committees.Election Law article 2{{Cite book|last=Zimmerman|first=Joseph F.|title=The Government and Politics of New York State|edition=2nd|publisher=SUNY Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-7914-7435-8|url=http://www.sunypress.edu/p-4596-the-government-and-politics-of-.aspx}}{{sfn|Zimmerman|2008|p=55}} County committees are composed of at least two members elected from each election district as well as two members elected from each assembly district within the county (assembly district leaders).{{sfn|Zimmerman|2008|p=55}} Leadership of the party is held by the Chairman of the Executive Committee, voted on by the State Committee members (who collectively form the Executive Committee). Chairmen are known colloquially as "Brooklyn Boss" or "Party Boss."

As of 2005, Brooklyn was home to 929,459 enrolled Democrats.{{cite news|title=Democratic Leader's Demise Followed His Organization's Slide|first1=Sam|last1=Roberts|first2=Jonathan P.|last2=Hicks|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 2, 2005|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/nyregion/02norman.html?_r=1&fta=y&pagewanted=all}} There are approximately 10,000 seats on the County Committee, nearly half of which are typically unfilled. There are forty-two elected State Committee members (who also function as assembly district leaders[http://www.newkingsdemocrats.com/county_committee_rules Rules for the Government of the Kings County Democratic County Committee], Article V, § 11), a male and female for each assembly district in the county, two of each in more populous districts. The Executive Committee is composed of the State Committee members from Brooklyn along with the elected officers of the County Committee.[http://www.newkingsdemocrats.com/county_committee_rules Rules for the Government of the Kings County Democratic County Committee], Article V, § 1

File:2014 Kings County Democratic County Committee Meeting (15094902479).jpg

A 2005 study by the Grassroots Initiative found that in New York City more than 50% of all county committee seats were vacant and that 98% of committee member elections were uncontested.{{Cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of New York State Government and Politics|first=Gerald|last=Benjamin|editor1-first=Gerald|editor1-last=Benjamin|year=2012|page=55|isbn=978-0-19-538723-0|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195387230.001.0001}}

Although New York's judicial nominating conventions have been criticized as opaque, brief and dominated by county party leaders,{{cite news|title=A better way to pick New York judges|first=Milton L.|last=Williams|date=19 September 2012|newspaper=New York Daily News|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/better-pick-new-york-judges-article-1.1162436}} critics claim that in heavily Democratic Brooklyn, party control is extreme.{{cite news|title=In Brooklyn, fixing a 'corrupt' court system|first=Alexandra|last=Marks|date=12 August 2003|newspaper=The Christian Science Monitor|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0812/p02s01-usju.html}} While voters choose delegates to the judicial nominating conventions which pick New York Supreme Court judges, the powerful Democratic machine usually controls the delegates, which critics say gives the party almost virtual control over judge selection.

In 2016 a campaign titled #[https://www.repyourblock.com/ RepYourBlock] was led by New Kings Democrats, in collaboration with other Brooklyn political clubs, local progressive politicians and candidates, and everyday citizens, to help reform-minded Democratic voters run for County Committee.{{Cite web|url=http://www.repyourblock.com/|title=Rep Your Block|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|access-date=}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.newkingsdemocrats.com/|title=New Kings Democrats|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|access-date=}}

In September 2016 at the first county committee meeting of the new term, the Kings County Democratic County Committee blocked a vote on a set of ethics and transparency amendments to the governing rules proposed by reform activists.{{Cite web|url=http://www.newkingsdemocrats.com/kings_county_committee_meeting_reforms_blocked|title=Kings County Democratic Committee Blocks Reforms on Transparency and Ethics|last=|first=|date=September 22, 2016|website=|publisher=New Kings Democrats|access-date=}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.newkingsdemocrats.com/brooklyn_reform_coalition_release_the_brooklyn_democratic_party_passes_landmark_reforms_to_party_rules|title=The Brooklyn Democratic Party Passes Landmark Reforms to Party to Usher in Era of Increased Transparency and Participation Rules|last=|first=|date=May 30, 2013|website=|publisher=New Kings Democrats|access-date=}} The reform amendments were proposed by Brooklyn reform clubs the New Kings Democrats, Prospect Heights Democrats for Reform,{{Cite web|url=https://prospectheightsdemocratsforreform.wordpress.com/|title=Prospect Heights Democrats for Reform|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|access-date=}} and Southern Brooklyn Democrats{{Cite web|url=http://www.kingscountypolitics.com/political-clubs/southern-brooklyn-democrats/|title=Southern Brooklyn Democrats|last=|first=|date=18 December 2019|website=|publisher=|access-date=}} with the main objectives of:

1. Increasing transparency in Executive Committee decision-making processes like the nomination of judges
2. Strengthening party ethics to disallow public officials who have been convicted of public malfeasance from being supported by the party
3. Broadening participation by limiting the use of proxy votes and allowing for resolutions to be distributed via email and posting on the party website

The proposed reforms were motioned for a vote as five separate amendments to the party rules by committee members. The amendments were motioned for review by the party's executive committee instead of being afforded an up or down vote by the county committee's members. In response to the absence of a committee vote on the proposed reforms, the auditorium erupted into chants of "Reform Now!" followed by impassioned pleas by county committee members to the borough leadership. The general county committee meeting was ended abruptly and prior to the completion of full agenda.

Kings County Party chairman Frank Seddio, who replaced disgraced late Assemblyman Vito Lopez,{{Cite web|url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/238684-blog-brooklyn-dems-get-new-leader/|title=WNYC - Brooklyn Democrats Get New Leader|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=|access-date=}} promised a review of the progressive reforms by a committee made up of members of his choosing.{{cite news|title=Brooklyn Democratic Party boss delays transparency, ethics reforms|first=Julianne|last=Cuba|date=September 23, 2016|work=Brooklyn Daily|url=http://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2016/40/all-brooklyn-democratic-party-reform-2016-09-30-bk.html}}

In January 2020, Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn was chosen to succeed Frank Seddio as Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair. In August 2022, a closed-door meeting of the Brooklyn Democratic Party Executive Committee voted to consolidate power in her hands, where the Committee passed several rule changes meant to blunt the ability of the newly-elected County Committee reformist bloc to enact democratizing reforms.{{cite web|url=https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/8/31/23331922/brooklyn-democratic-party-execs-change-rules-to-protect-their-power|title=Brooklyn Democratic Party Execs Change Rules to Protect Their Power|work=The City|last1=Joseph|first1=George|last2=Gonen|first2=Yoav|date=August 31, 2022|access-date=November 28, 2022}}

Democratic politics in Brooklyn have long been fractious, "between regulars and reformers and along ethnic and then racial lines." However, the tension between "regulars" and "reformers" has always been somewhat fluid, as past bosses have acknowledged. "Today's reformer is tomorrow's hack," party boss Meade Esposito is reputed to have said,{{cite book|title=City for Sale: Ed Koch and the Betrayal of New York|first=Wayne|last=Barrett|publisher=The Nation Institute|url=http://www.nationinstitute.org/featuredwork/books/1287/city_for_sale%3A_ed_koch_and_the_betrayal_of_new_york/|access-date=2012-09-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090408/http://www.nationinstitute.org/featuredwork/books/1287/city_for_sale:_ed_koch_and_the_betrayal_of_new_york/|archive-date=2016-03-04|url-status=dead}} and later boss Clarence Norman echoed those sentiments, once asserting "When you're on the outside, you're a reformer; when you're on the inside, you're a regular. Let's be for real."

Corruption has been an issue in the party, as four of five party bosses (Steingut, Esposito, Norman, and Lopez) were investigated or indicted on corruption charges (in the case of Steingut, after leaving office). For example, in 2003, Supreme Court Judge Gerald Garson, the treasurer of the Kings County Democratic County Committee, was indicted for bribery.

The party boss in Brooklyn was for most of the 20th century a figure of national influence and power; however, that influence has waned.{{cite news|title=Now, City Party Bosses Do Little Moving and Shaking|first=Sam|last=Roberts|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 23, 2010}} Former boss Vito Lopez has been described as "one of the last of the city's political kingmakers."{{cite news|title=If This Brooklyn Kingmaker Is Asking, Saying No Is Risky Option|first1=N. R.|last1=Kleinfield|first2=William K.|last2=Rashbaum|first3=Joseph|last3=Goldstein|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 4, 2012}}

Chairmen prior to 1909 are not listed. After 1990 it was no longer permissible for the chair to hold a county or city office, but those holding state offices are still eligible.{{cite news|last1=Kolbert|first1=Elizabeth|title=New York City Wins Right to Bar Officials From Party Positions|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/24/nyregion/new-york-city-wins-right-to-bar-officials-from-party-positions.html|access-date=2 December 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 24, 1990}}

• Community boards of Brooklyn
• Government and politics in Brooklyn
• Elections in New York
• Politics of New York City

{{reflist}}

• Howell, Ron Boss of Black Brooklyn: The Life and Times of Bertram L. Baker Fordham University Press Bronx, New York 2018

• {{Official website|http://www.brooklyndems.com/}}
• [https://www.facebook.com/pages/41st-AD-Democrats-Club/374767270767 41st A.D. Democrats Club]
• [https://bayridgedemocrats.com/ Bay Ridge Democrats]
• [http://www.brooklynforbarack.org/ Brooklyn for Barack]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20141229115042/http://www.brooklynyoungdemocrats.com/ Brooklyn Young Democrats]
• [http://cbidems.org/ Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats]
• [http://www.indbrooklyn.org/ Independent Neighborhood Democrats]
• [http://www.lidbrooklyn.org/ Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn]
• [http://www.newkingsdemocrats.com/ New Kings Democrats]
• [https://www.facebook.com/scdcbkny Shirley Chisholm Democratic Club]
• [https://www.facebook.com/SouthernBrooklynDemocrats Southern Brooklyn Democrats]
• [http://www.facebook.com/VIDA.BK Vanguard Independent Democratic Association]

{{NewYorkPoliticalParties}}

Category:Political parties in New York (state)

Category:Government of New York City

Category:Democratic Party (United States)

Category:New York State Democratic Committee