A Brooklyn state judge ordered the county's Democratic Party to hold a legally required meeting after it purportedly postponed any meeting at all–even virtually—during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Election laws required the Kings County Democratic County Committee to elect officers by October 6th in an organizational meeting after the June primary.
Because of coronavirus social distancing emergency orders, the committee's 2,500-member body would not have been permitted to hold a meeting in person.
But instead of holding such a meeting virtually via video conference, party chairperson and Flatbush Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte, along with the executive committee, created a rule in late September to bar any virtual meeting from taking place.
The argument was that it would "prevent the disenfranchisement of members of limited economic means and/or without access to the internet or smart phone technology," the rule reads.
A group of elected county committee members who are a part of a reformer group the New Kings Democrats said the rule violated election laws and disenfranchised Brooklynites.
Bronx and Queens Democratic party committees held meetings virtually during the pandemic, they argued in court papers.
Brooklyn state supreme court Justice Edgar Walker agreed in a ruling issued Tuesday.
Walker called the virtual meeting ban a "ruse" for the executive committee to stay in power.
The Kings County Democratic County Committee's "contention that the meeting is merely postponed temporarily until the COVID-19 restrictions on large public gatherings are lifted is unpersuasive," Walker wrote. "[T]he reality is that this pandemic is now in its ninth month, with no readily discernible time frame as to when it will end."
"While the court recognizes the need to protect and safeguard those members who face technological challenges, the amendment in fact has the contrary impact of disenfranchising all of KCDCC's members, a vast majority of which probably do have internet access and would be able to participate in a virtual committee meeting," Walker wrote. "In this court's view, KCDCC's purported justification for postponing the committee meeting indefinitely is merely a ruse for the leadership of the Executive Committee to retain their authority, and is insufficient to insulate KCDCC from its obligation to comply with the Election Law mandate of holding such meeting."
A lawyer for the county committee members, Ali Najmi, told Gothamist, "The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our entire lives and it has also changed the way we do politics."
"But it has not taken away the underlying rights that we hold or the underlying rights that duly elected members of the Brooklyn Democratic County Committee held and hold," he said. "It really is disingenuous and shameful for the Brooklyn Democratic Party to use the COVID-19 pandemic as a guise to violate the election law and undermine the democratic process."
The amendment barring virtual meetings was scrapped and the county committee must hold a meeting within 45 days, according to Walker's order.
The Brooklyn Democratic Party declined to comment, but they are expected to appeal, the NY Post reports. Chairperson Bichotte did not immediately return a voicemail message seeking comment.
The Kings County Democratic County Committee has long been scrutinized for a lack of transparency and open access to the democratic process.
Earlier this year, Bichotte was elected to be the first woman, and first Black woman, to represent the party in Brooklyn, with the backing of the longtime party boss Frank Seddio, who stepped down in January. Some were hopeful her leadership would bring change at the time. In August, she launched a task force to review rules that limit candidates' options to identify as non-binary and restrict the committee to being 50% men and 50% women, according to a press release.
But at the height of the coroanvirus outbreak, she and another district leader Josue Pierre were accused of pressuring Brooklyn judicial delegates to collect ballot signatures, even though one had COVID-symptoms.
