This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated June 24, 2022
This year, New York State will have two primaries, the first of which is now underway. Early voting began last week and will run through Sunday, June 26, with primary election day on Tuesday, June 28. Ballots for this first primary include Governor and Lieutenant Governor, as well as positions based on Assembly districts, if they are contested.
In many districts, Democratic voters will vote for their nominee for State Assembly, as well as for party positions in the county Democratic party, form District Leaders that represent entire Assembly districts to county committee members who represent small election districts typically covering just a few blocks.
The Kings County Democratic Party establishment is desperately trying to hang on to as many of the borough’s 42 District Leader positions and thousands of County Committee member slots with people friendly to their side or, in the case of County Committee members, individuals who do not even realize they have been signed up for these positions.
Reporting over the past several months has revealed many people who were qualified to be County Committee candidates without their knowledge, and this is not new to this cycle. It was recently revealed that two years ago, a beloved community member and housing activist from Coney Island was signed up for a seat on Brooklyn’s Democratic Party County Committee a month after she had died.
“McCreight has been a driving force behind so many local, winning campaigns and works tirelessly to organize Southern Brooklyn Democrats.”
The official form that was filed with the board of elections to include her as a candidate for the hyper-local elected position was submitted by District Leader Dionne Brown-Jordan. Electing unknowing individuals to these positions has been a way of consolidating and maintaining control. The Daily News reported last month that in addition to the deceased woman, at least three other people whose names were included maintained that they had never been told their names were being submitted for the positions.
Brown-Jordan is running this year for reelection as Female District Leader of the 46th Assembly district, which covers Coney Island, as well as much of Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge. She is being challenged by Angela Kravtchenko, who is part of a slate of district leader candidates endorsed by the reform focused New Kings Democrats political club, whose Brooklyn Can’t Wait campaign aims to elect a sufficient number of district leaders who can enact reforms that can reverse the trend of the Brooklyn Democratic party becoming more undemocratic each year.
In addition to running for reelection for her district leader position, Brown-Jordan is challenging two-term incumbent Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus for a seat in the state legislature. It should be noted that Frontus won her seat in 2018, after it had been vacated by former Assemblymember Pamela Harris, who was sentenced to prison time. Harris’s Chief of Staff had been Brown-Jordan, who was never implicated in the criminal activity of her boss but is now in the middle of the appointments of dead and unwitting individuals to County Committee, which Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez’s office is “looking into,” according to a spokesperson from his office.
It is imperative we reelect Mathylde Frontus to the Assembly to continue the good work she has been doing for the constituents of the 46th district these past four years. For the sake of a healthier and more democratic Kings County Democratic Party, we must elect Angela Kravtchenko as Female District Leader and Chris McCreight as Male District Leader.
McCreight has been serving as District Leader in the neighboring 64th Assembly district, but due shifting boundaries from redistricting, is now running for the same position in the 46th. McCreight has been a driving force behind so many local, winning campaigns and works tirelessly to organize Southern Brooklyn Democrats.
If you reside in Assembly district 51, which includes Sunset Park and the northern end of Bay Ridge, you will want to vote to reelect Male District Leader Julio Pena and to elect Jacqui Painter as Female District Leader, both of whom are committed to reforming the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
Primary elections are often overlooked, but it is extremely important Democrats cast their votes this year, beginning with this first primary. The second primary, for congressional and state senate seats, will follow in August.
