After nearly eight years as head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, Frank Seddio has stepped down. "Good riddance to Brooklyn’s dirty, undemocratic Democratic boss," the Daily News editorial board proclaimed on hearing the news of Seddio's retirement.
Seddio was criticized during his tenure for perpetuating Kings county's powerful political machine, which is responsible for endorsing judicial candidates, choosing nominees during primary elections and setting party rules. So-called proxy voting plagued how meetings operated when they were held, and reformer club New Kings Democrats perpetually pushed Seddio to make the party operations more transparent.
"Let me just say that if I were any more transparent, I would be arrested for lewdness," Seddio told Gothamist in a phone interview on Monday. "I don't know what else to do. Should I take off my underwear and let them see the rest of my body?"
The party’s coffers have also dwindled under Seddio's reign, and the "party boss" is retiring while he faces legal battles in a fraud case in New Jersey, and more than $2 million in debt for a string of Golden Corral establishments he owns in Kentucky.
"I take pride in how we’ve spent the county money in the last eight years. I believe that we’ve accomplished many many good things," Seddio said. "We managed to raise money despite the fact that we have to spend sometimes more than we make, and that’s what occurred."
He also finds it hard to understand why his personal business failures have anything to do with the county: "So I own businesses that weren't successful. Do you owe money on your credit card? Let's put it in the newspaper."
He added, "I do get a little bit animated about this and now it’s my turn to let everybody know how I feel about it.”
Seddio chalks up his retirement as chair to his age and wanting to spend more time with his wife, and his absence may pave the way for a new moment in Brooklyn politics—though he's already handpicked his chosen younger successor, Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte to succeed him as chair.
She’s so far running unopposed after Assemblymember Walter Mosley reportedly backed out, according to Politico.
“It’s not an exaggeration to say this is a Herculean job, and it’s now time for a younger person to take over the responsibility,” Seddio said. "We need somebody who’s young, energetic, somebody who can help raise money, and we need somebody who’s got a good career in front of them and she fits all those things.”
During his time as chair, Seddio sometimes clashed with younger members of his party who were less accustomed to the well-worn traditions of local committee politics.
“I don't think he really quite understands the chasm between younger generations and other folks in terms of what we think the Democratic Party could be locally,” said Brandon West, the former president of the New Kings Democrats who’s now running for City Council in Park Slope. “It's really a wholesale change of what we're hoping and expecting from the party and our politics.”
West’s successor, Mariana Alexander, applauded improvements in recent years—like Seddio himself attending the New Kings meetings and holding biannual meetings. But, she added, "For too long—forever—that power has been hoarded by a few individuals.”
“Power is not being used democratically. That is the problem. It doesn't matter that it's a new individual."
(Seddio had this to say about the New Kings Democrats: “If we hand them gold coins they complain that they’re tarnished...No ability to please this particular group of people.")
Bichotte said she's "extremely honored" to get Seddio's backing.
"When I first started 10 years ago, we had a divided Brooklyn,” she said. “Over the course of the years, the chairman has listened—listened to insurgents, listened to reformers—and made some changes."
If elected, she'll focus on continuing to unite the party and plans to begin holding meetings with the finance committee, revived in December.
"Especially at the state of everything that is going on on a national level, we cannot afford to be divided," she said. "We need to stand strong as one voice and be the model for counties across the state, across the United States. ... We want to make sure that we’re like the Iowa of the state of New York.”
The Flatbush lawmaker has been in office since 2015 as the first Haitian-American elected in New York City. As the chair of the Assembly Subcommittee on Oversight of Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises, she's seen success in her campaign fundraising record thanks to donations from groups her bills would benefit, according to a report in THE CITY.
An election for Bichotte is slated for Monday. While at least two district leaders plan to abstain, others were quick to support her as the new chair.
“I think this is really a very exciting change in leadership that has the potential to redefine at the very least the context of the party,” said Doug Schneider, a Park Slope district leader. “She is the perfect reflection of Brooklyn at the perfect moment.”
Added David Schwartz, a district leader in Borough Park: “She's the right leader, especially during these trying times when we must join forces and come closer together.”
Greenpoint district leader Nick Rizzo held reservations that drastic change would come.
“In some ways, she will be a really new direction for this party,” Rizzo said. “Probably in other ways, she will have to be more of the same. But it’s really not clear how much innovation she’ll bring.”
“I wanna give her credit for being a very smart person, who I think is clear-eyed about the problems the party is facing, but it’s, I think, a tough thing to change,” he said. “The whole machine system has sort of rusted out, but the structure of it still exists.”
