County Committee Keeps Seddio and Carone in Power With Tainted Proxies

Kings of corruption: In Brooklyn, party bosses drown democracy (NYDN)

Thursday night at Kingsborough Community College, Brooklyn Democratic Party boss Frank Seddio is up to his old tricks.  First, to wield as much power as possible over the 2,000-member county committee, he’s sought proxies by dubious means, sending out misleading letters signed by people who never gave permission.  Second, he’s sliding judges into open ballot slots, making further mockery of the small-d democratic process.  The shenanigans began last week when he moved three Civil Court judges who had just won primaries to state Supreme Court. Now, insiders will pick their replacements. One seat is slated for Jill Epstein, who lost a Civil Court primary in 2016, having been censured by the courts in New Jersey and New York for violating money-handling rules. Another will go to Anne Swern, who was trounced in the district attorney’s primary last year. The third seat will be filled by Seddio’s fellow district leaders; contenders are Elaine Schack-Rodriguez (daughter of district leader Dilia Schack), Rupert Barry, who lost Civil Court races in 2017 and 2014, and David Pepper, who also lost last year.  Anti-Seddio reformers are hoping to have the numbers to block the badness. Good luck to them. If they manage to keep the ballot lines empty, the mayor can make merit selections and open primaries can be held next year.

Op-Ed: Notes from My First County Committee Meeting

Democrats Turned Up in Record Numbers. But One Man Held All the Power (NYT)

Lew Fidler: "names of those who voted their proxies in the same way as did (BK Dem Boss) Frank Seddio: Bova,@Bobby4Brooklyn, Davila, Diaz, Feldman, Kelly, Millman, Pierre, @JoAnneSimonBK52, @joshskaller & Fidler."

Much Ado, Nothing Changes – Kings County Democratic Committee put on a show last night (Bklyner)

Here are some more of those practices that sparked the mayhem in Thursday’s meeting:

• While committee members made motions from the floor, floor microphones weren’t provided at the meeting.
• The meeting chair — on more than one occasion — announced an inconsistent vote count.
• Judicial nominations held behind a curtain while several hundred people waited in an auditorium for the results.
• No candidates for the executive committee were allowed to address the audience.
•  

Manipulative Mailer Angers Reformers Ahead of Brooklyn Democratic Meeting (Gottham)

“It is entirely unacceptable to sign my name to a letter, and purport it to be from me, and send it to my county committee members asking for them to give a proxy [vote] to Frank Seddio,” said Doug Schneider, a Editnewly elected district leader in the 44th Assembly District. “It is everything I ran against, and even if it wasn't it's still inappropriate. And I'm angry.”

Brooklyn Democratic party boss under fire for misleading letters as proxy battle heats up (Daily New)

Proxies prevail over party progressives | Brooklyn Paper

The Brooklyn Democratic Party is encouraging its members not to vote — at least not on internal matters.
Leadership is sending letters to the party’s county committee members that imply they should not show up to meetings, and instead suggest they let county boss Frank Seddio use their votes to call the shots, insiders say.
“It basically suggests you don’t need to go to the meeting — or you shouldn’t even go to the meeting,” said committee member Chris McCreight. “I get a lot of people e-mailing me very confused when they get those cards. I tell them, ‘Don’t send it in.’ I don’t want to make this about Frank — this is a county practice.”
The so-called “proxy cards” are intended for people who cannot attend meetings but want to instruct someone to vote in their stead. Party leaders send the cards out ahead of time, and committee members who cannot vote in person may designate a “general” or “limited” proxy, according to party rules. “General proxies” may vote however they want, but “limited proxies” must vote based on instructions from the person they are standing in for.
“If you returned this signed and dated proxy, you are not required to attend this meeting,” mailers for a Sept. 21 meeting state. Below that, an affidavit reads: “I hearby designate Hon. Frank Seddio as my proxy to vote and otherwise act on my behalf at the meeting of the Kings County Democratic County Committee.”
But the forms are misleading, both because they are an enticement to be absent and because they direct power to the party chairman — committee members can actually designate any fellow member as a proxy, but the cards only give them the option to choose Seddio, critics say.
“The meeting proxy card sent by the party discourages participation through lack of information on meeting agenda and ambiguous proxy rules,” said New Kings Democrats president Anusha Venkataraman. “The proxy cards are confusing, making people think they are not required to attend if they mail back the proxy card to Frank Seddio, as if it’s a get-out-of-jury-duty card. The proxies also do not indicate that any county committee member can accept proxies, not just the party leader.”

 

Inside the Brooklyn Dem. Party’s ‘undemocratic’ voting rules (Brooklyn Paper)

Just As Boss Seddio is Trying to Confuse  County Committee Members With Proxy Mailing, He Will Also Use the Meeting Elect Two of Hack Judges With An Election Law Loop-Hole

Fake Seddio Proxy Request Letter to County Committee Members

Because of a loop-hole in the election law the upcoming county committee meeting will also elect two civil court judges.  If county committee members and the media do not pay attention this meeting will also do two back fills of judges that Brooklyn Boss Seddio wants. You know that back fills are loop-hole in a very corrupt election law that allows party bosses to cut out the voters in chooses judges. Most reporters and delegates are not aware that there are serious problems with each of the candidates the county is supporting for the 1st and 4th district. Stories will come out soon. 

Brooklyn Democratic Party Boss Under Fire for Misleading Letters as Proxy Battle Heats Up (Daily News)

Members  of the Brooklyn Democratic County Committee received phone calls, door-knockers and mailing this week urging them to turn over their votes to party boss Frank Seddio - including letters bearing the names of elected officials and district leaders who say they didn't sign them. The mailing comes less than a week before the county committee is set to meet on Thursday and vote on its new officers - with the reformers putting up a slate against Seddio's Slate.