First Day on The Job

On September 17, just 5 days after being elected, I represented Election District 55 of the 65th Assembly District at the NY Democratic County Committee meeting to select the nominee for the party in November’s State Senate race.  Sen. Daniel Squadron resigned in August without leaving enough time for a primary contest to be organized.  At the Committee Meeting, held at the United Federation of Teachers’ downtown office, I was one of 31 who voted for Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh to be the nominee.  While Brian did not win the majority of the less than 100 Manhattan elected Committee Members, he was the ultimate winner after Brooklyn's vote was cast.

On September 25, over 750 grassroots Manhattan Democrats showed up at another County Committee Meeting to discuss changes to the Party’s rules. As Paul Newell, District Leader and leader of a growing influential grassroots movement to challenge the establishment explained: “There was incredible momentum in the room, and beyond, for a stronger and more transparent Democratic Party. The proposed reforms will be referred to the Rules Committee, and the full County Committee will be reconvened within three months.  After the County Chair publicly committed to this process, the motion was passed with overwhelming support from all factions….This alone is a big win. The full county committee has never been convened to weigh in on party governance except at these (normally rubber-stamp) biennial meetings.  Indeed, one longtime activist told me that no County Committee meeting had shown such turnout or debate since 1967.”