Monday, April 18th, candidates running for various political seats, including County Committee, District Leader, and NYS Assembly, gathered at Brooklyn Borough Hall to sound the alarm on the latest tactic employed by leaders of the Brooklyn Democratic Party to disenfranchise voters and obstruct transparency in the local political process.
Brooklynites came from various districts to rally on the steps of Brooklyn Borough Hall to voice their concerns over the bully tactics used against candidates and a few elected Democrats who don’t always tow the party line or adhere to every policy set forth by the political machine. As the petitioning season drew to a close on April 7th, many candidates knew that they would have to endure the hurdle of petition challenges. Many political scholars have long called for the end to petition challenges, citing the rules governing them as archaic and noting that the practice has become less a tool of signature validity and more a mechanism to force quality candidates from the ballot or tie their funding into unnecessary litigation.
Considering the advent of the matching fund system used in our previous local elections, it will undoubtedly be taxpayer money used to fend off unnecessary court proceedings. The rally at Borough Hall was organized by New Kings Democrats and Rep Your Block, whose goal is to educate the public on what is going on and tell the Brooklyn Democratic Party to DROP THE OBJECTIONS! Several elected officials came out to show their support, including Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Assemblywoman JoAnn Simon, and others.
Democratic Candidate Dimple Willabus, who is vying for the Assembly District 59 seat, which covers Canarsie, Mill Basin, and much of our Southern Brooklyn community, was on hand. Dimple stated, “My goal is to bring equity and inclusion to our community. We should not be worried about being knocked off the ballot by our political party!” While most candidates anticipated the challenge, it’s the way the tactic was carried out this election season that has folks riled up. More than 200 objections were filed through the law firm Abrams Fensterman. The firm lists Frank Carone as a previous partner. Though he currently serves in the Mayor’s administration, he was previously a law partner with Frank Seddio, the former Chairman of the Kings County Democratic Party. The firm supposedly is acting on behalf of nearly 200 Brooklynites
from across the borough, and all of their care for a single person within the firm is the point of contact. There’s a high degree of skepticism about the validity of these objections. Several “ordinary citizens” whose names were signed on the objection documents claim they never signed or filed any such complaints. The candidates at the rally claim this is nothing less than an orchestrated act of fraud by the party to ensure its power remains intact. Willabus, who also faced a similar challenge during her previous run, was confident that her petitions would be validated and our community would have a voice that would put people ahead of political partisanship. “When I previously ran, I was challenged, and the Party leadership, including Frank Seddio, claimed that the objection process was part of how the game was played! From what our community has had to endure over the last couple of years and the violence, food insecurity, and homelessness affecting our society now, this is not the time for playing games with our lives or our community.
” Dimple exclaimed. Within the next week, the Board of Elections will rule on many of the objections. There certainly will be several lawsuits and court litigation to follow. Considering the recent corruption and unethical practices plaguing the state political spectrum, let’s hope that the push for greater transparency and candidate options succeeds for our community and our families!
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