Howard Graubard, an attorney with the reformers, speaks to journalists after a hearing in Downtown Brooklyn last week. (Photo: Roman Broszkowski)
The ruling strikes down controversial rule changes pushed by the Brooklyn Democratic Party’s current leader, but an appeal is pending.
BY ROMAN BROSZKOWSKI | news@queensledger.com
DOWNTOWN — A Brooklyn judge has ruled against Kings County Democratic Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn and her allies in what observers have called a “civil war” within the local party, though the decision was quickly appealed.
During a late-August special meeting — under Bichotte Hermelyn’s initiative — the party added 48 new members to the executive committee and raised the voting threshold to revert the changes to 85%. The move would double the number of party officials eligible to vote for party leadership and all but guaran- tee that Bichotte Hermelyn would have enough votes to stay in office.
Following a lawsuit brought by Democrats advocating for reforms within the party and affiliated with the New Kings Democrats, Judge Jill Epstein granted a permanent in- junction against the move on Mon- day.
In bringing the lawsuit, opponents had argued that Bichotte Hermelyn had acted unlawfully as part of a ploy to avoid being voted out from her position as county party chair by a coalition of incoming district leaders.
After several delays, two factions of the Brooklyn Democratic Party finally argued their case in front of a judge on September 8.
At stake are both control over the county party and the various powers that come with it — nominating judges, endorsing candidates, directing campaign resources — as well as the party’s identity ahead of the November general election. For the reformers, Bichotte Hermelyn’s actions amount to anti-democratic behavior.
“This will be the permanent end of the ‘small d’ democratic governance in the Brooklyn Democratic Party,” said Paul Newell, one of the reformers’ attorneys, to journalists after the hearing.
As part of their case, lawyers working on behalf of the reform- ers argued that Bichotte Hermelyn relied on outgoing district leaders who were ineligible to vote, and pointed to a 2024 ruling involving the Manhattan Democratic Party where outgoing district leaders had met after a primary and elected two district leaders and party officers.
An appellate court found in that case that the outgoing members were no longer allowed to “exercise functions in substantial matters” and invalidated those actions.
In contrast, attorneys for the Bichotte Hermelyn and the Kings County Democratic County Com- mittee argued firstly that the case be thrown-out based on technical grounds, and secondly that the party had acted within the rights established by state law.
Amy Marion, one of the attor- neys for the party, pointed to a 2019 election law reform that states “the existing county committee shall ex- ercise all legal authority” before any organizational meeting where new members may be sworn in.
“They had the legal authority when they acted,” she said in court. Marion also argued that by asking Judge Jill Epstein to weigh in, reformers were demanding the judge overstep her role. She pointed once again to the 2019 election law reforms which were put in place after New York’s state and local primaries had been moved from September to June.
According to Marion, if lawmakers had wanted to hand control of political parties to newly elected district leaders, they could have mandated moving up the organizational meeting. By not doing so, the state legislature had left the legal authority in the hands of the incumbent party officials and any decision by a judge to invalidate that authority would be tantamount to the judicial branch legislating.
On Monday, Judge Epstein found that the 2024 ruling put forward by attorneys for the reformers held “persuasive authority”, though she also noted that the wider issue at play needs to be addressed by the state legislature.
At the September 8 hearing, attorneys for the reformers said that they expected either side to appeal if they lost, and Hermelyn’s camp swiftly did so on Tuesday. With the county party’s organizational meeting scheduled to take place some- time between September 17 and October 6, there is pressure to expedite a final ruling.
Following the hearing, supporters of Bichotte Hermelyn, led by Brownsville District Leader Anthony Jones, chanted “we are the community” as they walked towards the elevators. When someone from the reformist faction replied that they also were the community, they were reprimanded to “start acting like it.”
