DEUTSCH
he fi nds himself disillusioned
with politics.
Plushnick and other staffers
believe that Deutsch was
booted from the Council for
political, retaliatory reasons,
stemming from animosity between
Deutsch and Council
Speaker Corey Johnson over
Deutsch’s endorsement of David
Weprin in the Comptroller’s
race, which Johnson was running
in. Johnson lost the Comptroller
race to Brad Lander.
A spokesperson for Johnson
refuted the notion that the
ouster was an act of vengeance
in strong terms. “This is an
outrageous claim that is not
backed up by any evidence and
which ignores the fact that Mr.
Deutsch pleaded guilty in federal
court to defrauding the US
government,” said the spokesperson,
Jennifer Fermino. “He
is no longer in offi ce because of
his criminal conduct, and to allege
anything otherwise demonstrates
a fundamental misunderstanding
of state law.”
Moreover, former staffers
believe that Deutsch’s ouster
from the Council was illegal.
The City Charter prescribes
that members can be
expelled “after charges and a
hearing, with the concurrence
of two-thirds of all the council
members.” They noted that
this process had been followed
for former Bronx Councilmember
Andy King, who was accused
of a litany of offenses
like sexual harassment, misuse
of public funds, and retaliation
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against whistleblowers
in his own offi ce, among other
things. Plushnick also alleged
that Deutsch and his staff were
given only about 30 minutes of
advance notice before the announcement
was made.
“I think what Corey did to
our district by removing a Council
Member without a hearing,
without any input from other
members of the Council, was a
huge, huge mistake,” Plushnick
said. “And I think it really hurt
a lot of people.”
Upon Deutsch’s ouster, Johnson
cited the state’s Public Offi -
cers Law, which notes that a
public offi ce is considered vacated
if the holder is convicted
of “a crime involving a violation
of his oath of offi ce.” His spokesperson
also rejected the comparison
of Deutsch and King.
“Mr. Deutsch vacated his
offi ce when he pled guilty to
a crime that violated his oath
of offi ce as the Council and the
Law Department determined,”
the spokesperson said. “Upon
his guilty plea, the Council
seat automatically became
vacant. Mr. Deutsch admitted
to defrauding the US government.
Mr. King’s case was
completely different. He was
not criminally charged or convicted.
Instead, Mr. King was
accused of ethics violations,
and the Council investigated
those allegations.”
The spokesperson also
referred to the hard drive
removal and to staff being
locked out of the offi ce as standard
procedure when a member’s
offi ce is vacated. Finally,
the spokesperson noted that
the staffers were given 90 days
from Deutsch’s removal to get
their affairs in order, and that
only one full-time staffer was
not offered a job elsewhere in
the Council, and that the rest
either took a job on central
staff or in another offi ce, or
left “voluntarily.” Several staff
members who worked parttime
did not get job offers.
In the Council, Deutsch
(who did not respond to an inquiry
seeking comment) was a
conservative Democrat often
at odds with the broader caucus,
but his offi ce was largely
considered to have strong constituent
services.
“It’s the personal, knowledgeable
contact of the folks
who are on his staff for a long
time,” said Ed Jaworski, executive
vice president of the
Madison-Marine-Homecrest
Civic Association. “In these
instances, they knew what the
background of a situation was
and they could get to it and address
it quickly.”
But ever since Deutsch’s
ouster and the takeover of the
offi ce by central staff (a standard
procedure when a seat
is vacated), staffers and residents
say that constituent services
have taken a nosedive,
and that the central staff often
seem unreachable. Local civic
guru Judy Baron, president of
the Manhattan Beach Community
Group, says she is now
fi elding calls for constituent
complaints that once would
have gone to Deutsch’s offi ce.
“Ordinarily, people don’t
call me and tell me their garbage
isn’t being picked up,”
Baron said. “But now I’m getting
those phone calls. I think
leaving a community, an entire
district, without somebody
to call, is not the way I
want my city to run.”
Jaworski, Baron, and other
civic leaders had sent letters
to the Speaker’s offi ce pleading
that Deutsch’s staff be kept
in place, a position echoed by
at least one of the Democratic
primary candidates to succeed
Deutsch, Mariya Markh,
along with Republican nominee
Inna Vernikov. The June
Democratic primary was won
by Steven Saperstein, who will
face Vernikov in the November
general election. Saperstein
did not respond to a request for
comment by press time.
Since the offi ce is vacant,
the winner of the general election
will assume offi ce immediately
upon certifi cation of
their victory by the Board of
Elections, rather than take offi
ce on Jan. 1 of next year as
most new members will do.
Plushnick believes that
constituent services, already
diminished and depersonalized,
will get even worse.
“It’s gonna get a lot worse
because there’s gonna be no
one able to handle it,” he said.
Continued from page 6
I think leaving a community, an entire district, without
somebody to call, is not the way I want my city to run.
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