Dem youngsters at it again!
Upstart democrats running for BK’s lowest elected offi ce challenge the status quo
COURIER LIFE, FEBRUARY 14-20, 2020 3
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Occupying an unpaid, obscure,
and poorly understood
position within the Brooklyn
Democratic Party, the borough’s
42 Democratic district
leaders represent the lowest
rung of the Kings County political
spectrum, exercising
limited powers, which are often
employed at the direction
of more prominent party offi -
cials.
While individually weak,
infl uential party bosses have
proven masters at using the
borough’s district leaders as a
tool to exert considerable control
over Kings County politics,
and the practice of promoting
candidates as a form
of patronage, coupled with the
expense of campaigning for
the volunteer position, have
allowed holders of Brooklyn’s
most humble elected offi ce to
go years, if not decades unchallenged,
according to one
political strategist.
“Most district leaders are
involved in some sort of patronage
position in one way
or another, either through an
assembly member or a judge,”
said Jessica Thurston, the
vice president of political affairs
for New Kings Democrats,
a progressive political
organization. “It’s often
too intimidating and expensive
to run against an incumbent.
It can cost anywhere
from $15,000-$100,000 to run
and lose a campaign in north
Brooklyn.”
This year, however, there’s
a shakeup in the works. Five
young, upstart challengers
are mounting campaigns for
district leader seats across
the borough, promising
to energize Kings County
Democrats, and use the obscure
partisan position as a
tool to rally locals and drive
change.
Their candidacies follow
a recent vote by Brooklyn’s
42 district leaders — who together
comprise the party’s
executive committee — to
enact a slew of controversial
new rules at the behest of former
party boss Frank Seddio,
including eliminating one of
the party’s two annual meetings,
and restricting rankand
fi le party members from
introducing resolutions that
address “any aspect of the
internal governance” of the
party.
According to one maverick
district leader, Seddio was
able to control his former executive
committee thanks to
a system that promotes members
who follow orders, effectively
centralizing power in
the hands of the party’s leadership.
“They came up in a system
where someone was in charge
and they would obey orders,”
said Nick Rizzo, district
leader in the 50th Assembly
District. “The watch words
are loyalty and discretion.”
Rizzo added that, while
district leaders occasionally
show dissent during an
annual vote to nominate supreme
court judges, the party’s
executive committee can
be relied upon in all other circumstances
to obey the reigning
party boss.
“Other than the supreme
court vote, I’ve never seen
more than about eight or nine
people go against Seddio —
and even that’s very high,”
said Rizzo. “Normally it’s just
me and maybe someone else.”
But it doesn’t have to be
that way, according to Thurston,
who said that if enough
young, earnest Democrats
challenge the establishment,
a progressive block could
emerge within the party to
check the powers of the committee’s
leadership.
“They should be public advocates
at the district level,”
she said.
The following candidates
are asking for your votes during
a statewide primary on
June 23.
Photo by Sherri Daniels
Photo by Andrew Sloat
Photo by Rob Thomas
Photo by Ramon Pebenito
Courtesy of Shaquana Boykin
Kristina Naplatarski
A 24-year-old Greenpoint
native and a communications
staffer for Councilman Antonio
Reynoso (D–Bushwick),
Kristina Naplatarski is looking
to unseat 35-year incumbent
Linda Minucci to become
district leader in the 50th Assembly
District, which encompasses
Greenpoint, Williamsburg,
the Brooklyn
Navy Yard, and parts of Clinton
Hill and Fort Greene.
Naplatarski claims Minucci
has developed a donothing
attitude during her
long tenure as district leader,
and promises to use the position
to liaison between local
advocates and the Brooklyn
Democratic Party.
“My larger issue is not
the amount of time, but what
she’s done or more so fails to
do, and that is simply to show
up,” said Naplatarski. “She’s
really been wholly absent
from our community… It’s
very clear to see that she’s
not there.”
Jesse Pierce
Pierce — a former chief
of operations for New Kings
Democrats — wants to take the
seat once held by Anne Swern
in the 52nd Assembly District,
before she ran for Civil Court
judge in 2019 and the district’s
assembly member Jo Anne
Simon (D–Carroll Gardens)
appointed former assembly
member Joan Millman, who
plans to vacate the seat.
The 36-year-old Boerum
Hill resident said she was
disturbed by the recent vote
to neuter the powers of rankand
fi le party members, saying
the county committee
should be doing everything
in it’s power to encourage
broader participation in local
politics.
“I think it’s a step backward,”
said Pierce. “If you
ask the question does this
make the party more accountable
and encourage
broader participation, it’s
pretty clear on it’s face that
the answer is no.”
Julio Peña
Sunset Park activist, Julio
Peña, is planning an uphill
battle to unseat Assemblyman
Felix Ortiz (D-Sunset Park),
one of several Assembly members
who serve as both state
legislator and local district
leaders.
Peña claims that the practice
of holding two elected offi
ces not only prevents other
young democrats from participating
in party politics, it
also divides the pol’s attention
between Albany and the district,
to the benefi t of no one.
“I think there’s a confl ict of
interest in Ortiz holding both
roles,” Peña said.
The 36-year-old politico
said he would use his position
as district leader to oppose
the Industry City rezoning by
rallying local activist groups
and helping to combine the resources
of different organizations.
“Connecting those groups
together is defi nitely a role for
the district leader,” Peña said.
Samy Nemir-Olivares
Samy Nemir-Olivares, a
28-year-old spokesman for
LGBTQ civil rights legal advocacy
nonprofi t Lambda Legal,
will challenge longtime
district leader Tommy Torres
for his position within
the 53rd Assembly District,
which encompasses parts
of Williamsburg, Bushwick,
and Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Torres, a politically-connected
assistant principal
at a violence-plagued Williamsburg
high school, succeeded
the late Brooklyn
Democratic Party leader
Vito Lopez as district leader
in 2013, after a state ethics
panel found the disgraced
politico guilty of sexually
harassing his young female
interns.
Nemir-Olivares accused
party offi cials of failing to
engage young voters, and believes
that the party needs to
better represent Brooklyn’s
diversity of identity and experiences.
Shaquana Boykin
A 29-year-old resident of
and secretary working at
the Whitman Houses in Fort
Greene, Shaquana Boykin is
looking to unseat Olanike Alabi
to become District Leader
in the 57th Assembly District,
which includes Clinton
Hill, Prospect Heights, and
Fort Greene, along with parts
of Bedford-Stuyvesant and
Crown Heights.
Boykin claims a lack of diversity
has also led the Brooklyn
Democratic Party to not
engage seriously with many
of the borough’s low-income
housing tenants, especially
those living in New York City
Housing Authority properties.
“A lot of electeds just come
to our grounds and have a
press conference and they
think that’s it,” said Boykin.
“It’s about people power, bringing
back civic engagement in
our communities and having
some transparency in the
things that are happening in
our community.”