Hakeem Jeffries is opposing a plan by Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn to expand the Brooklyn Democratic Party executive committee, setting up a fight over who gets a vote before the party chooses its next leader. The proposal would widen the body that elects the chair, and Bichotte Hermelyn says she wants that change in place before the upcoming organizational meeting.
Jeffries’ office said Thursday that he had not met with or spoken to Bichotte Hermelyn about that meeting and does not support the overhaul. That matters now because the rules change was unveiled while reform-aligned district leaders were already trying to replace Bichotte Hermelyn with Julio Peña III, making the committee rules part of the leadership battle itself.
Bichotte Hermelyn said on NY1 on Wednesday that the change would spread decision-making power beyond the 42 district leaders who currently make up the voting membership of the executive committee. Under her proposal, the body would grow to more than 68 members and include 26 County Committee executive officers with voting rights, along with representatives selected from Assembly District committees. She also confirmed that the additional members would be able to take part in the upcoming chair election.
The current rules are narrower. They include State Committee members elected from Brooklyn, people chosen to fill vacancies in those posts and four County Committee officers, but only the State Committee members and vacancy holders are allowed to vote. Because the executive committee elects the chairperson, the proposal would reshape who can help decide who leads the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
The split between the two Democrats surfaced in public after Errol Louis asked Bichotte Hermelyn on NY1 whether she had spoken recently with Jeffries as the Brooklyn party headed toward its leadership fight. She said they had been talking about strengthening the party and regaining seats lost in southern Brooklyn, and added that they were “working hand in hand with the minority leader.” On Thursday, she said she would like to explain the proposal to Jeffries.
But Bichotte Hermelyn also drew a line between those broader conversations and the rules fight, saying her comments about Jeffries were about the Democratic Party generally, not the proposed change. She said, “I completely understand where he’s coming from, and it is his right,” adding that “It is in his right to oppose what may seem to be a power grab.” Her own defense of the plan makes clear what is at stake: if the expansion is not approved before the upcoming organizational meeting, the chair vote will proceed under the current rules and the 42 district leaders will keep their narrower grip on the process.
