Queens reformers unveil transparency pledge for district leader candidates
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New Reformers founders and supporters, from left to right: Rapi Castillo, Soumaly King, Prameet Kumar, Vigie Ramos Rios, Peter Beadle, Richard Nuñez-Lawrence , Bright D. Limm, Maria Kaufer, Heather Dimitriadis, Ingrid Gomez, Martha Ayon, and Moumita Ahmed.
By David Brand
A number of Queens Democrats are trying to break into county party leadership by challenging longtime incumbents — but not for legislative office. They’re running for district leader positions, taking on a powerful cohort of party veterans in order to represent their communities at the hyperlocal level while fostering transparency in the Queens County Democratic Party.
The New Reformers, a coalition of community activists, has drafted a pledge that they ask district leaders candidates and their supporters to sign. The group will meet tomorrow night in Forest Hills to introduce a handful of candidates who have signed the pledge and to begin raising money to pay for election lawyers. They says they have invited all current district leaders to participate.
“What we’re looking for are people who are willing to run, to be a part of that body and when they’re on it, they’ll do what they can, including changing the rules of the party, to make Queens is the place we envision. That’s what we’re shooting for,” said New Reformers organizer Vigie Ramos Rios, a former campaign manager for U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“It’s not policy. It’s about procedure,” Ramos Rios added. “You can be a conservative member of the Democratic Party as long as what you want is inclusion, transparency and working together.”
Queens has 72 Democratic district leaders, two men and two women representing each of the county’s 18 assembly districts, which are separated into A and B zones. The district leaders are elected to the voluntary office and serve as liaisons between everyday citizens and party chiefs. They vote on party decisions, like who to designate for judicial positions, and they are supposed to run political clubs that have influence in the county party.
“District leaders are meant to identify and fight for the needs of the community, bringing issues to elected officials and government agencies, and then holding them accountable,” the New Reformers state on their website. “It’s our turn to transform the Queens County Democratic Party to make sure it's of the people for the people, and by the people.”
In practice, several Democratic clubs do not operate regularly. And, in an indication of the overhaul the New Reformers hope to initiate, the county party website has not been updated to include the complete cohort of current district leaders.
The New Reformers’ pledge, first reported by Queens County Politics, includes rejecting campaign contributions from finance, insurance or real estate interests, advocating for district leadership term limits and refusing to endorse candidates in Democratic primaries.
They also champion the demands of a faction of Queens County Committee members who sent a letter to U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks, chair of the Queens County Democratic Party, and party leadership in April advocating for more transparency and inclusion in the party.
In July, Meeks and Party Executive Michael Reich met with the group — which calls itself the Queens County Committee For All — to discuss their ideas, such as a policy that would prevent sitting elected officials and their staff members from also serving as district leaders. The two leaders dismissed most of the members’ concerns but said they welcomed the energy.
Preventing lawmakers from serving as district leaders would have a transformative impact on the current crop of officials. At least 17 lawmakers serve as district leaders, including Meeks, State Sen. Michael Gianaris, Councilmember Karen Koslowitz and Assemblymember Edward Braunstein. A handful of political staffers also serve as district leaders.
Reich, the party executive, did not respond to a request for comment Monday, but in April disputed the notion of term limits and preventing district leaders from also holding other elected office.
“You’re talking about jobs that have no salary,” he said. “It’s hard enough to get county committee people to participate and then you tell them they can only run a couple terms.”
Some current elected officials, including at least one former district leader, are backing the New Reformers’ mission, however.
“I do support their efforts,” Assemblymember Ron Kim, who used to serve as district leader in district 40b, told the Eagle.
