King of Kings
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
As Brooklyn Democratic
party boss Frank Seddio prepares
to step down, political
honchos elected veteran businessman
and former political
staffer Carlo Scissura to the
largely ceremonial chairmanship
of the Kings County Democratic
Committee vacated
last fall.
“I’m excited,” Scissura
said. “I love Brooklyn and I
love to organize.”
The party’s 42 district
leaders voted to appoint Scissura
— who was nominated
for the position by Seddio —
at a closed-door meeting on
Wednesday. The role, which
was vacated by Joseph Bova
last September, comes with
the responsibility of chairing
the county committee’s frequently
chaotic twice-yearly
meetings, which one politico
hopes will be run better under
his leadership.
“He’s somebody that is
kind of outside the traditional
power structure of the party,”
said Park Slope District Leader
Doug Schneider. “I think we’re
going to see regular fi nancial
reports, a secretary that publishes
COURIER L 32 IFE, JANUARY 24-30, 2020
regular public minutes
— just basic good government
things that have inexplicably
been missing and that we’ve
spent decades fi ghting for.”
Scissura currently heads
the construction industry
trade group the New York
Building Congress, as well as
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s expert
panel studying the Brooklyn-
Queens Expressway repairs
plan.
He previously was the president
and chief executive offi -
cer of the Brooklyn Chamber
of Commerce. He has served
as former Borough President
Marty Markowitz’s chief of
staff and ran for his boss’s position
in 2012, before dropping
out to take over the Brooklyn
Chamber gig.
While Scissura said it was
too early to say what specifi c
changes he would make to the
county meetings, he said he
would use his longtime management
experience in and out
of government to amplify all
voices within the party, something
reform-minded groups
have long demanded.
“In anything I’ve taken on,
whether on a school board or
as chief of staff to Borough
President Marty Markowitz …
I’ve always tackled it the same:
meetings should be organized,
everyone should have the opportunity
to have a voice,” he
said. “We may not agree on all
things but we agree that people’s
Brooklyn Democratic leaders elected New York Building Congress President
Carlo Scissura to the chairmanship of the party’s Kings County
Committee on Jan. 15. Photo by New York Building Congress
voices should be heard.”
Despite not being an elected
politician, Scissura is now also
a member of and will have a
vote on the party’s executive
committee. Disgraced former
party boss Vito Lopez, who preceded
Seddio, used to pad his
vote by stocking that role and
other offi cer positions in the
party with unelected loyalists,
according to Carroll Gardens
District Leader Josh Skaller,
but Scissura assured his colleagues
that he would abstain
from committee votes.
“I will not be voting on the
executive committee,” he said.
“It’s not my job.”
The Bay Ridgite is also a
board member of the Brooklyn
Navy Yard Development
Corporation, a vice chair of
the advocacy group Friends
of the Brooklyn Queens Connector,
and the head of several
Italian-American cultural
groups, and one southern
Brooklyn pol said Scissura’s
background was a welcome
addition to the party’s top
ranks.
Senior Brooklyn Democrats elect Carlo
Scissura to ceremonial leadership role
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