It has been a rough year so far for the bosses of the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
First, party chair and State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn sowed chaos and confusion by rescinding, then un-rescinding, the party's endorsement of Governor Kathy Hochul. Then, some of the people nearest and dearest to party leadership—including Hermelyn's husband, Edu Hermelyn, City Councilmember Farah Louis, and Louis's sister, Debbie Esther Louis, a former judicial delegate—had their phones seized in a federal bribery and corruption probe (none of the parties have been accused of wrongdoing). And don't even get us started on the saga of longtime Brooklyn Democratic fixer Frank Seddio and the missing $2 million.
Reformers from the New Kings Democrats say this chaos is helping to fuel their plan to eject Bichotte Hermelyn and take control of the party, by adding 10 new district leaders to their 13 incumbents in the June primary, thus giving them a majority of the 42 seats and the power to appoint their own leader. Success of this "Brooklyn Can't Wait" campaign would mean the end of an era for the county party machine, which has long worked to maintain its grip on power via backroom deals and pay-to-play relationships.
But the old guard isn't going anywhere without a fight.
According to the reformers and their election attorney, the party leadership has filed an unprecedented number of legal challenges that are designed to knock their district leader candidates off of the ballot.