4 OCTOBER 3, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
New political club bucks traditional structure
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Reform is sweeping the small ‘d’
democratic institutions of Forest Hills
— its new democratic club is the latest
wave of the movement.
Last week a slate of six new offi cer
positions who want renewed community
involvement were elected to Community
Board 6. In July, the Queens
County Committee for All (QCC4All)
— a group containing a sizable contingent
of Forest Hills county committee
members — pushed Congressman
Greg Meeks to reform their role in the
county party.
Now, Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi,
sensing the winds of change blowing
through his district, has spearheaded the
Queens Central Democratic Club (QCDC),
a new organization that will ditch the
established top-down structure of most
the borough’s democratic clubs.
The new club held its fi rst public
meeting on Monday, Sept. 23, over
pizza and drinks at the posh West Side
Tennis Club, where Hevesi spoke to
about 50 interested constituents about
his ambition to create a club where he’s
not in charge.
“I don’t like the political operation
with the elected offi cials who’s doing
Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi addresses the newly formed Queens County Democratic Club. Photos: Max Parrott/QNS
what I’m doing now and standing up
here and talking at you. That’s not
what I want to create. As a matter of
fact, what I’m trying to do is create a
structure where I am out of the way,”
Hevesi said.
The norm in Queens’ political clubs
is to build a structure revolving around
Assembly District Leaders, a role oft en
taken on by elected offi cials who have
the power within the County Party to
vote for judicial nominations and elect
the county leader.
Hevesi, who currently serves as
District Leader for the 28th Assembly
District, explained that he plans not to
run in 2020, leaving the position open
to someone else.
For the QCDC, he intends to set up
a board structure of seven members,
including positions of the president,
vice president and the political director,
that are elected by the club. It will
be open registered Democrats from
anywhere in the city. Though Hevesi
pledged not to run as a board member,
he said he would retain control over selecting
two of the board positions: the
treasurer and head of social media.
Hevesi picked these two roles
intentionally. After having lived
through the ethics scandals that his
father Alan Hevesi ran into as former
City Comptroller, Hevesi said that he
doesn’t play around with financial
ethics issues. Nor does he want the
club to have a wild card social media
mouthpiece. Treasurer will be taken
by Kevin Wisniewski and head of
social media by Alexa Arecchi, both
Hevesi staff ers.
“After Trump got elected a lot of
people in the neighborhood who were
not politically yet became politically
active, but we need to capture that into
a forum that let’s their voices resonate
and really lets them design how this
club operates,” Hevesi said, describing
the guiding force behind this
structure.
Another goal will be to give more
weight to County Committee members,
the oft en overlooked body whose members
number more than 2,000 and represent
a geographical area of only a few
blocks each. The QCDC will provide a
forum for any of these representatives
present to address the club for three
minutes each at every meeting.
This suggestion is a direct response
to a suggested Congressman and
Chairman of the Queens Democratic
Party Greg Meeks. Meeks said that he
sees Democratic club participation
as the principal way to gaining infl uence
in the county party when he was
confronted by a group of QCC4All
members who felt that they had been
ignored in July.
Hevesi added that although the
QCDC represents a split from Forrest
Hills current dominant Democratic
organization, the Geraldine Ferraro
club, the separation signals no bad
blood between him and that club’s
leader Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz.
Meeks also has sanctioned the new
club.
Though he has the blessing of the
County Party establishment, Hevesi
also emphasized the risks he was taking
by creating a grassroots political
group.
“I’m also creating a structure that
hypothetically could be used to run
somebody against me. If this club
endorses somebody else. Okay. That’s
the process,” he said.
Mingling with other members aft er
the meeting ended, Forest Hills resident
Matt Mandell said he fi ts the type
of a progressive activated by Trump’s
election. Mandell, who also has started
working with the left -wingers in One
Queens Indivisible, was encouraged
by the meeting. He said that in-person
gatherings remain a vital form of organizing,
especially in the era of internet
activism.
“I think if you have a group of this
many people in a room talking to an
elected offi cial that is more powerful
than anything you can post on social
media,” he said.
The Greater Ridgewood Historical Society
In Partnership with Kiwanis Club of Glendale
Annual Harvest Festival
At the Onderdonk House
Adults - $5.00, Children 12 and under Free with an adult
Members and Service Members Free
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Rain date October 14
From 12- 6 PM
Free Pumpkins for the first 500 children
DJ Frank
Nollaig the Wizard
Cider Lab for over 21 visitors!
Marketplace, Face Painting
Bouncy Ride, Crafts and Games
Apple Pressing for Cider Making
Self-Guided Tours of the Onderdonk House
Refreshments
1820 FLUSHING AVENUE, RIDGEWOOD
CORNER OF FLUSHING AND ONDERDONK
718-456-1776
www.onderdonkhouse.org
THIS PROGRAM IS SUPPORTED, IN PART, BY PUBLIC FUNDS FROM THE
NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL
Antonio Reynoso, Robert Holden, Jimmy Van Bramer,
Council Members & Queens Delegation
/WWW.QNS.COM
/www.onderdonkhouse.org
link
/www.onderdonkhouse.org
link
