Mayor Zohran Mamdani accused the leader of the Brooklyn Democratic Party of trying to “circumvent the will of voters” — as she proposed last-minute rule changes that could help her hold onto power.
Chairwoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, a state Assemblywoman representing Central Brooklyn, is pushing a proposal to dramatically boost the number of voting members who will choose the party’s leader in the fall.
It comes after a group of reform-oriented Dems won a swath district leader seats in the June primary — enough to oust Bichotte Hermelyn from her longtime leadership role at next month’s party convention.
“I very much oppose these proposed changes, by the current Brooklyn Democratic Party chair,” Mamdani said Monday. “I oppose them because they are an attempt to circumnavigate the will of voters.”
The reformers, New Kings Democrats, are suing Bichotte Hermelyn over her attempt to rewrite the party rulebook, demanding a Brooklyn Supreme Court judge halt the move ahead of a critical Tuesday night meeting where the changes will be voted on.
Brooklyn Dem voters elected 22 new district leaders from the reform group, giving them enough votes to cast off the party machine’s long reign.
But the rule changes would all but assuredly cancel out those results, argues the suit, filed by district leader Julio Peña III — the head of the reform-minded Dems and presumed next party chair.
“Brooklyn can’t turn back to bossism and the worst days of Vito Lopez,” Peña said last week, referring to the late, disgraced Brooklyn Dems party chair who tried to pull off a similar “packing” move in 2010, but at a smaller scale.
Bichotte Hermelyn put out a bizarre video unveiling the last-minute rule changes last week, and claiming they were about “expanding participation.”
“We want to create a perception of inclusiveness,” she told NY1.
Dems at all levels of local government have slammed the move, including state Party Chair Jay Jacobs. New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Chuck Schumer.
“Given the clear results of the June Democratic primary in Brooklyn, the party should not change the rules in the middle of the game,” Schumer said Monday.
The rules include adding over a dozen new voting members to the party’s executive committee, potentially entrenching Bichotte Hermelyn in her position as chair. The changes would also mandate a nearly insurmountable 85% support threshold for future amendments.
“That proposal would not merely administer existing rules; it would entrench a new voting threshold and restrict the incoming County Committee’s ability to revise proxy-related rules,” reads a court affirmation from attorney Mark Hanna, a district leader aligned with the New Kings Dems.
The changes would also allow the chair to exert almost unilateral control over judicial endorsements and the judge-selection process in Brooklyn, which is still heavily party-based.
In a sign of that influence, Judge Kenneth P. Sherman recused himself from the newly filed suit, claiming he couldn’t rule on Peña’s request because he “may be seeking re-nomination in the next election cycle, and said nomination may be impacted by the issues in this case.”
Bichotte Hermelyn didn’t return a request for comment from The Post on Monday.
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