Pressing for Reform

I didn't think it was fair that my neighbors couldn't vote to select the Democratic nominee for State Senate in 2017.  It wasn't fair in 2016 when we were shut out of the process to select Sheldon Silver's replacement.  Over the past two years, County Committee Members from the Lower East Side have chosen the party’s nominee for both Assembly and State Senate.  Yet, prior to September 2017, Election District 55 was partially represented by someone who did not live in the E.D.  

I proposed a rule change to require Committee Members representing your Election District’s interests to live there.  The Rules Committee of the Manhattan Democratic Party was scheduled to meet on December 18th to discuss changes, such as barring party leaders from being lobbyists. All County Committee Members were allowed to submit proposed rule changes.  

The Manhattan Democratic Party informed me "we are unable to consider the proposal. Residency requirements are dictated by state law and cannot be changed by the party in its rules. We look forward to seeing you on Monday".  However, Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou told me “I also think living in the ED [Election District] is important.  Will see what we can do.”