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Sunday, September 28, 2008

A Democratic Committee Meeting to Remember

Just a smattering of the participants in tonights meeting(s) lining up
to sign in the lobby of the Paradise Theater. (All photos by Jordan Moss)


It's Sunday night at 10:15 p.m. and I've just gotten back from the Utopia (formerly Loew's) Paradise Theater on the Concourse where the Bronx County Democratic Committee met to to elect a chairman.

I wish I could just simply report to you who was elected chairman but it is a tad more complicated than that.

There were basically two meetings tonight. In the first one, Council Member Maria Baez presided over the meeting, ignoring those challenging Jose Rivera for the chairmanship. Assemblyman Carl Heastie, Rivera's challenger, sat quietly at a table with Stanley Schlein, the party lawyer, who severed his long-time allegiance to Rivera recently and joined forces with the so-called Rainbow Rebels. The word from the Rebels who were milling around the audience was that they were just patiently waiting for the end of what they considered an illegal meeting to begin their meeting, which is exactly what they did.

Council Member Maria Baez presiding over 'first' meeting.

Baez, and later Council Member Larry Seabrook, asked for a voice vote on the leadership motions, but they only acknowledged the ayes. They ignored the no votes, even when they were significantly louder than the yeses. Rivera gave a brief, defiant acceptance speech and then led all of his supporters out of the theater.

Then the Rainbow Rebels took the stage and went through a number of procedural motions which ended in the election of officers, including Assemblyman Carl Heastie (east Bronx/Wakefield) as chairman of the executive committee, which is the county leader position. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, one of the architects of the takeover, was elected chairman of the county committee, which is the position Heastie held previously. Assemblyman Michael Benedetto was elected treasurer, and Assemblyman Michael Benjamin was elected parliamentarian; Assemblywoman Aurelia Greene retained her position as secretary.

Assemblyman Carl Heastie, Rivera's likely replacement, and lawyer Schlein.

This will certainly end up in court tomorrow or sometime later this week, but it's hard to imagine a judge siding with Rivera. Though he had hundreds of supporters in the hall, very few of them had the yellow wristbands that identified them as registered members of the County Committee and authorized them to vote in the deliberations. Dinowitz, Heastie and Assemblyman Michael Benedetto had bused in hundreds of registered committee members who signed their names in registration books supplied by the Board of Elections -- much like a registered voter would in a regular election or primary. Committee members run on slates with district leaders and Assembly members, but while an Assembly district might have 300 or so slots for County Committee members, many of these slots go unfilled in some Assembly districts, and that seems to have been the case in many of the districts where Assembly members sided with Rivera.

Heastie supporters raising their wristbanded hands during the "second" meeting.


A sample of the registration books, held by Rebel Dem lawyer Stanley Schlein.

At one point there was a scuffle on stage over the registration books. It seemed that at one point Rivera's supporters had taken possession of them, but eventually Schlein got them back -- a little rumpled and worse for the wear but intact -- with the help of some security guards.

Without the registration books or any official record of the first meeting, Rivera will have his work cut out for him. The Rebels, on the other hand, had the registration books in their possession, a stenographer's record of the proceedings (they wisely hired one for the occasion) and a previous court ruling (the one that prohibited them from scheduling their own County Committee hearing at Co-op City last week because the venue wasn't large enough) that reportedly authorized Heastie, the Committee Chairman, to run the meeting.

Other observations in no particular order:

-Pedro Espada, a newly minted Democratic nominee for state Senate, showed up for a while but didn't appear to take sides.
-Assemblyman Dinowitz apparently got in the middle of a scuffle over those registration books and his eyeglasses were visibly scratched.
-Baez called her meeting to order around 7:15 while lines of people were still lining up outside to verify their signatures in the registration books.
-Benedetto said he couldn't remember a county meeting this raucous since the 1970s when the reform movement clashed with the regular Dems.
-Politics creates strange bedfellows. One of the fathers of that reform movement and a favorite of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club, Council Member Oliver Koppell, stood apart from the 150 or so Riverdale-area committee members Dinowitz and the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club bused in for the vote. This is Koppell's core constituency and one he will surely need if the change he proposed in the term limits law allows him to run for another term. Koppell told us at the Jerome-Gun Hill BID Street Festival on Saturday that his differences with Dinowitz and his Club were awkward. But, the veteran lawmaker told us, "I just like Jose."

Allies Oliver Koppell and Jose Rivera outside the theater just before the meeting.

-a lot of time in court could have been avoided if the judge or some kind of special master was in attendance to oversee the proceedings. Everyone knew there was going to be controversy. Why not head it off at the pass?
-the most organized of the Assembly members in the rebel camp had their supporters decked out in t-shirts that read "Team Dinowitz," "Team Diaz," and "Team Heastie." Benedetto didn't have shirts but hired 3 buses to get his 100+ supporters to the theater. Where does the money come from for all this? Benedetto said he could only speak for himself, but that the money came from his campaign account.

A Dinowitz supporter and Rivera opponent poses for a souvenir photo with a pro-Rivera sign.


27 comments:

  1. -I was sitting with one of those blue shirts on in the smaller crowd of people that night.
    -Mr. Carl Heastie Started the event, and placed no objection, which as executive Chairman, duty is.
    -Rivera's Crowd was undeniably larger by 5-1 in opposition to your record.
    -There were just as many supporters shirts wearing Rivera T-Shirts
    -The second meeting in motion was the illegal one.
    -I'm a long time supporter of Dinowitz but I understand Mr. Copell's leadership position on this one,siting with Rivera.
    -If we keep distorting the truth and proceeding with unethical ways of conducting our politics we will always fall short of our goals.
    -Because of the way Dinowitz and Heastie handled themselves last night Team Dinowitz has lost another battle.
    -And that last picture wasn't a souvenir pose.

    ReplyDelete
  2. A REAL PAPER WOULD WRITE:

    Then the Rainbow Rebels took the stage and went through a number of procedural motions which ended in the election of officers, including Assemblyman Carl Heastie (east Bronx/Wakefield) as chairman of the executive committee, which is the county leader position. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, one of the architects of the takeover, was elected chairman of the county committee, which is the position Heastie held previously. Assemblyman Michael Benedetto was elected treasurer, and Assemblyman Michael Benjamin was elected parliamentarian; Assemblywoman Aurelia Greene retained her position as secretary. (West Bronx Blog)

    Is this the removal of Assemblyman Jose Rivera Or
    an entire community 57% estimate of Latino and a committee with no one to represent them? Will The state party allow what's going on

    With Rivera there is Hiself, Heastie, Aurelia Green, Kopell, Seabrook. That sounds more rainbow sprinkle to me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rivera goons are out and on blog control. This meeting way the most hysterical display of why Jose Rivera is out. Jose certainly had quite a few people there, but I would say that he was running about a 20% county committtee showing. The rest were not on the committee and some had no idea on what they were doing there. The Rebels were probably closer to about 85% to 90% county committee attendees. Jose's crew arrived between 5:00 and 5:45pm. Rebels, they were not allowed in until after 5:30 but continuously lasted in huge lines through 7:45pm. When the debacle began, I did hear Heastie object to the holding of the meeting. As a matter of fact, he said it continuously. Even during the illegal meeting, the most hysterical scene was hear Jose get more no votes compared to yes votes and the yes votes winning. A joke!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous how much does your blog pay you an hour?

    My perception of what went on last night does not mean I support Rivera.

    His people probably don't even read this.

    I am one man with a bad taste for his own community.
    Especially writers like yourself that write a story then blog about it anonymous.

    How many tea parties do you attend with bob kappstatter?

    ReplyDelete
  5. How Bout Showing a video of Heastie Objecting and the one your video happened not to capture, the many more Rivera supporters and the louder yes.

    Please stop the lies.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Truth Hurts:

    Rivera: Disgrace for nepotism(Family Jobs For Everyone)
    Diaz: For Stealing(FBI INVESTIGATION) And nepotism
    Dinowitz: Disgrace for dividing communites(Leader OF Rebels)
    Serrano: Disgrace for nepotism
    Arroyos: Disgrace for nepotism
    Stanley Schlien: The New York City Conflicts of Interest Board has fined Stanley K. Schlein, a prominent political lawyer, lobbyist and former chairman of the New York City Civil Service Commission, $15,000 for misusing city resources and personnel to perform work for his private law practice.
    Heastie: Only God can judge him
    Benjamin:Lives in New Jersey
    Too Many More To Continue.
    Reporters: Jordon Moss, Bob Kappstatter for misconstruing reality.

    May The Lord Let Thy Sleep Tonight

    Psalm 45:4
    And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.

    ReplyDelete
  7. As a proud Puerto Rican,I am very sad to say, I am ashamed of Jose Rivera. He has conducted himself without honor.

    No one can deny Mr. Rivera's impressive progresive record, and all of his brave accomplishments of the last 3 decades. From keeping our hospitals and community colleges open to helping rebuild our communities,to fighting for the rights of the people of the Bronx, South Africa and Vieques.

    However, in the last six years, we saw a tragic departure of those priciples that has defined a man and his movement.

    Now, the future of all Bronxites and of the Democratic Party of the Bronx lies in turmoil.
    Jose Rivera's selfishness that has led us to this abyss, has made a veiled attempt to give the perception that all Puerto Ricans and Latinos are in sympathy with this mockery of a democratic convention. This embarassing demostration only proves, that smoking mirrors and violence is the only way Puerto Ricans know how to conduct ourselves. This is wrong.

    The vast majority of us are decent, hardworking people. We are not thugs. We are in struggle for real heathcare, education, and true economic opportunities.

    The majority of the people of the Bronx question Jose Rivera's leaderhip. Nepotism and cronyism that rivals Jimmy Stewart's Mr. Smith goes to Washington must not be allowed to continue.

    We have all seen the product of the last six years:Yankee Stadium over the people and their parks; a contraversial filtration plant and the lack of real permanant jobs; the abuse of emminent domain and the monoply of overzealous developers and greedy landlords keeping Blacks, Latinos and poor whites in perpetual poverty.

    Nature abhores a vaccum. Although, I would perfer a Puerto Rican, I cannot stay with a poor latino leader just because he is latino.

    We must pick the best leader who will deliver for all of the people. We all have to eat. That's the American dream.

    Today, our nation's economy may be literally destroyed due to selfishness and a failure of true leadership, just as last night,when I witnessed that very same level of selfishness that led us to a critical failure of leadership.

    These are very serious times for our borough of The Bronx. We desprately need change at all levels of government.

    We cannot and will not capitulate to what transpired lastnight. We must not let it end this way.

    - A VERY PROUD
    PUERTO RICAN DEMOCRATIC BRONXITE!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. GREAT ESSAY JEFF DINOWITZ

    ReplyDelete
  9. After that spectacle from Mr. Rivera. I think I will register with the Republicans. Who wants to be aligned with Baffons??

    ReplyDelete
  10. Mr. Moss That Is Inpolite Language for a reporter.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jose Rivera needs to sacrafice a few chickens and toss some flowers in the Bronx River. Aguanile!

    ReplyDelete
  12. NEPOTISM? Lets not forget. Michael Benjamins Chief of Staff is none other than his wife.
    Lets also remember that Ruben Diaz Jr gave government money to a not for profit to hire his mother for a no show job as per the Daily News and NY Times. Lets also not forget that fallen Governor Eliot Spitzer Slapped Ruben Diaz Sr. with a $5000 fine for using government money to furnish his home. As for Jeff Dinowitz. He is a smart man. Divide and Conquer. Good job guys. Can we also get some responsible journalism instead of the one sided smear tactics. I know it sells papers but seriously. The public deserves more from the media. Look I in the Century Building. And I don't agree with the direction the party is going in. Putting it in the hands of Carl Heastie and Co with Stanley as there Attorney is a recipe for disaster. We need leadership. But leadership that will not further disgrace the Bronx. Let the facts speak for themselves. The Rebels are crooks.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Ruben Diaz Jr forgot where he came from he is a Vende Patria!!! If he thinks he is gonna Become Boro President well good luck with that. He may be an assemblyman buts thats all he will ever be. I actually heard Jose Rivera was the one with Roberto Ramirez who Got Rubencito to run for office in the first place. We all know how hard Ruben worked pushing his cart in the Council. QUE VIVA PEDRO ESPADA PARA PRESIDENTE DEL CONDADO DE SALSA!!!
    LONG LIVE PEDRO ESPADA!!!
    Its ESPADA time. Unless of course Jeff Klein decides to run. He may be able to make it happen with a latino split four ways. Serrano, Diaz, Rivera and Espada. Maybe I should start chanting for Klein.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I agree, Your all scum bags, the media writing this story, the bloggers, and all the politicians. You all use the public for you own motivation and confuse the people in believing solely what will benefit your careers. Down with every body and the entire system. Black, White, Latin, and Asian all up to no good!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I agree that this blog and kappstatters articles are some what one-sided. They both seems to neglect that the Bronx Democratic rules state that any vacancy in County Committee "Shall" be filled upon the recommendations of the District Leaders. Not "may" or "possibly", but "shall." That's what was done with all the people there. A resolution was introduced by the District Leaders of the 76, 78, 79, 80, and 84th Districts, in the legitimate meeting, to enter all those people as county committee and it was passed by the majority of those present. The Rivera supporters by far out-numbered the Heastie supporters. Furthermore, if the meeting was supposed to start at 6:30 p.m., why were the rebellion people there late. Granted, at 7:15 people were still coming in, but why show up after 6:30 for a 6:30 meeting. It was unfair that Heastie and crew were willing to wait more than 45 minutes (and then some) after the start time. Jose's supporters where there early to start the meeting on time. They were waiting more than 45 minutes for a meeting to start. So, while Heastie, Green, Stanley, Dinowitz and crew are on stage at 6:30 (the meeting time), they would not start the meeting. Why? because their people had not arrived? Is that fair? There was quorum to start the meeting and they wouldn't do so because their people were not there? Is that the face of the rebellion: lets hold the meeting until we can win? Seems like politics as usual to me...and they are trying to portray themselves as being above politics.

    One thing that should be interesting in court should be the fact that the rebellion folks participated in what the rebellion claims is not the legitimate meeting. That is, they voted on each and every motion. And contrary to Jordan's blog, the yes always outnumbered the nos. If this meeting was not legitimate, why did they rebellion "county Committee" members participate. Why not stay silent in objection to the meeting? Instead, they voted on every single motion and election of the executive committee, both temporary and permanent. And, no one called for a roll call after the voice votes (which is their right) to see who had the majority.

    Whereas, no one from the Jose Rivera supporters participated in the subsequent "meeting." In fact, that meeting did not have quorum....they can pretend they did by suspending the rules, which I am sure they did. But there was no quorum present. The reality is that the rebellion tried to hijack this meeting by delaying and delaying until their people arrived. That was unfair. Thus, the meeting was run by the vice-chair without any visible or oral objection from the chair. All the rebellion electeds did were sit quietly while their supporters and county committee members participated in the first meeting.

    Sounds like a legitimate meeting to me

    ReplyDelete
  16. Jose Rivera has disgraced the Bronx, his greed to get his kids and his girlfriends top notch jobs in City government is sickening! I'll tell you another thing that sickens me to the core, Mr. Rivera ran into Pedro Espadas arms right after he shafted Efrain Gonzalez for the Senate seat. Mr. Rivera well knows that Espada is a corrupt individual who himself was under FBI investigation for Medicaid fraud! He got away with it by letting his employees take the fall for what he had instructed them to do! The Diaz's on the other hand were the victims of disgruntled SCA employess who themselves had political aspirations but couldn't run because they were convicted Felons!! It was these ingrates who bugged the Hell out of Mr. "FBI" Garcia to launch an investigation because they were upset the Diaz's wouldn't back them after they took a beating from Espada in an election.
    As for the Rebels, GO Teams Dinowitz, Heastie and Diaz....it's about time somebody stood up for all people of the Bronx who are tired of getting nothing. Mr. Rivera was behind the Water filtration plant, that is now millions of dollars over budget.....How about Yankee stadium! Where are all those jobs JOSE! Maybe your girlfriends Ivene or Choco Orta or Jazmine need a change of occupation! You can always find them a few descent jobs, hell your whole family is either elected or run the Board Of Elections. It's time for Jose Rivera to find a deep dark hole and climb down into it just as Saddam Hussein did....go and hide you lousy coward!

    ReplyDelete
  17. First, the Rivera supporters did NOT out number the Heastie supporters it only looked that way on the ground level of the theater because most of the Heastie supporters were sitting upstairs and therefore out of site, there were hundreds of folks sitting on the upper level of the theater and they were ALL legitimate County Committee members.

    Second, Carl Heastie did object to Maria Baez and her one sided foolishness, only since he did not have a microphone most people couldn't hear his objections.

    Third, the Rivera side has no proper documentation of either who voted or how the votes resulted.

    Therefore the Rivera crowd put on a good show of mob rule, however you will all see soon enough that it is indeed over for them.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I guess anonymous who posted at 6:31 am was not at the same meeting I attended. I am a County Committee member who was denied access for over an hour while Jose's people circumvented security and were expedited inside of the theater. The place was full of Jose Riveras's and Maria Baez's thugs. They threatened people, tried to steal the sign in books and even assaulted Assemblyman Dinowitz. You wanna talk about an illegal meeting! Maria Baez shouted out names and with out recognizing the nay votes which audibly surpassed the yea votes automatically assumed they had a trick up their sleeve and would be voted in. It was a circus act full of Babboons with Councilwoman Baez being the Ring Leader. You Jose Rivera let your Legacy end in such a disgraceful way, shame on you and shame on all those who beleieve in your lies and deceit!

    ReplyDelete
  19. I guess the individual who wrote the comment to support the Diaz family seems to forget the Papa Diaz admitted to taking $5000 from SCA (a not-for-profit)to purchase furniture for his Senate Office and Speakers for his Campaign van. That is Grand Larceny. He stole our tax dollars..where is the outrage about that.

    Also whoever wrote that is very naive to thing that anyone can "bug" the United States Attorney General to go after the Diaz. Haven't you noticed that the U.S. Attorney's office has been going after several elected officials on their own. Its called the public corruption unit. U.S. Attorneys are investigating the Diaz for a reasons. In the end, after the indictments, the truth will come out.

    As for the Diaz not backing someone after taking a beating from Espada and SCA employees being disgruntle. First,it was Assemblyman Diaz's election day mistakes that caused the loss..he was the campaign manager. Second that SCA employees are disgruntle is also a lie that they created to cover the truth that they are vindictive and destructive towards anyone that chooses to disagree with them on anything. If you want to work with them you are only allowed to listen and do as you are told, otherwise you are written off. The truth is way too long to cover in this blog. But one day the truth will come out and the Diaz will pay.

    Riddle me this, why is it that Senator Ruben Diaz's driver is not a United States Citizen, but has voted in every single election with the Senator's knowledge? That my friends is a federal crime. I'm sure ICE would like to know about that one.

    And why is it that Diaz people keep bringing up an SCA's employee conviction..that happened 15 years ago? And seem to forget that Diaz Jr. was arrest years ago for armed robbery. It is to distract the public from Diaz's recent troubles? That's all Diaz and company like to do is distract people from their own problems..because if you are looking somewhere else, then you are not looking at them. The Diaz are not victims, they are ruthless political, as as Diaz describes himself, "Monsters." Kudos for the political skills, but what a tangle web we weave when first we practice to deceive.....it will all catch up to them eventually......patience is a virture.....

    ReplyDelete
  20. Diaz, Jr. has never been arrested of anything, if he was, don't you think the public would have known by now? (Sine he has been in office almost 12 years)

    Don't you think the press would have written about his past arrest record?

    Don't you think his political enemies would have dug up the paper work and mailed it all over his district?

    Since none of those things has happened. It is more then obvious that he simply doesn't have a criminal past.

    So give it up...

    ReplyDelete
  21. The Diazs' believe in second chances, that is what got them into trouble in the first place. They employed convicted Felons namely, Eddie Padilla, after no one else would hire him because of his criminal past! Get the facts straight, Ruben Jr has never been arrested! He's guilty by association for having hired a convicted armed robber. The rest of the staff were illiterate middle school drop-outs! I worked for SCA until Eddie and his goons fired me because I was not cooperating with them in their attempts to set- up and smear the Diaz family! The whole Padilla family was employed by the Senator or the Assemblyman, sons, mothers and wives. You wanna talk truth, then let's talk truth! So, I tip my hat to the folks over @ SCA for biting the hands that fed ya!

    ReplyDelete
  22. Anonymous said...
    As a proud Puerto Rican,I am very sad to say, I am ashamed of Jose Rivera. He has conducted himself without honor.

    No one can deny Mr. Rivera's impressive progresive record, and all of his brave accomplishments of the last 3 decades. From keeping our hospitals and community colleges open to helping rebuild our communities,to fighting for the rights of the people of the Bronx, South Africa and Vieques.

    However, in the last six years, we saw a tragic departure of those priciples that has defined a man and his movement.

    Now, the future of all Bronxites and of the Democratic Party of the Bronx lies in turmoil.
    Jose Rivera's selfishness that has led us to this abyss, has made a veiled attempt to give the perception that all Puerto Ricans and Latinos are in sympathy with this mockery of a democratic convention. This embarassing demostration only proves, that smoking mirrors and violence is the only way Puerto Ricans know how to conduct ourselves. This is wrong.

    The vast majority of us are decent, hardworking people. We are not thugs. We are in struggle for real heathcare, education, and true economic opportunities.

    The majority of the people of the Bronx question Jose Rivera's leaderhip. Nepotism and cronyism that rivals Jimmy Stewart's Mr. Smith goes to Washington must not be allowed to continue.

    We have all seen the product of the last six years:Yankee Stadium over the people and their parks; a contraversial filtration plant and the lack of real permanant jobs; the abuse of emminent domain and the monoply of overzealous developers and greedy landlords keeping Blacks, Latinos and poor whites in perpetual poverty.

    Nature abhores a vaccum. Although, I would perfer a Puerto Rican, I cannot stay with a poor latino leader just because he is latino.

    We must pick the best leader who will deliver for all of the people. We all have to eat. That's the American dream.

    Today, our nation's economy may be literally destroyed due to selfishness and a failure of true leadership, just as last night,when I witnessed that very same level of selfishness that led us to a critical failure of leadership.

    These are very serious times for our borough of The Bronx. We desprately need change at all levels of government.

    We cannot and will not capitulate to what transpired lastnight. We must not let it end this way.

    - A VERY PROUD
    PUERTO RICAN DEMOCRATIC BRONXITE!!!

    PS Tranquilo Bobi Tranquilo! Soy Boricua de pura sepa para que lo sepa! Cuando nosotros apprenda conportarnos como latinos unidos puerdemos a rescatar nuestro posicion otravez.

    Una Boricua orgulloso!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Attention Jordan Moss,

    You need to stop these "anonmyous" comments from being posted on your blog. Maybe then you wouldnt have all of Ruben Diazs staff blogging while on State time!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  24. NEPOTISM? Lets not forget. Michael Benjamins Chief of Staff is none other than his wife.
    Lets also remember that Ruben Diaz Jr gave government money to a not for profit to hire his mother for a no show job as per the Daily News and NY Times. Lets also not forget that fallen Governor Eliot Spitzer Slapped Ruben Diaz Sr. with a $5000 fine for using government money to furnish his home. As for Jeff Dinowitz. He is a smart man. Divide and Conquer. Good job guys. Can we also get some responsible journalism instead of the one sided smear tactics. I know it sells papers but seriously. The public deserves more from the media. Look I in the Century Building. And I don't agree with the direction the party is going in. Putting it in the hands of Carl Heastie and Co with Stanley as there Attorney is a recipe for disaster. We need leadership. But leadership that will not further disgrace the Bronx. Let the facts speak for themselves. The Rebels are crooks.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Let me respond to the BS in one of the posts above point by point:

    "They both seems to neglect that the Bronx Democratic rules state that any vacancy in County Committee "Shall" be filled upon the recommendations of the District Leaders. Not "may" or "possibly", but "shall." That's what was done with all the people there. A resolution was introduced by the District Leaders of the 76, 78, 79, 80, and 84th Districts, in the legitimate meeting, to enter all those people as county committee and it was passed by the majority of those present."

    Clearly, you are not a lawyer, or at least not a good one. "Shall" in the Democratic County Committee rules implies "can", not "must". For 35 years the Bronx Democratic County Committee has NEVER filled vacancies in the organization meeting and only has filled them in the Executive Committee Meeting. If they MUST fill them, how come Jose Rivera never did before?

    Next point, the rules clearly state that you need the recommendation of a District Leader of an Assembly District to fill vacancies in that district. How could Jose have a recommendation from the 80AD (his daughter's own AD) when both district leaders were against him? Forgeries? Or just lies? Either way, typical!


    "The Rivera supporters by far out-numbered the Heastie supporters."

    Well, if you count only the 200 people screaming and yelling with signs standing right in front of the stage, sure Rivera's people outnumbered Heasties. But if you bothered to look up on the balcony were the Rivera people assigned the 82, 83 and 85 Assembly Districts, and in the back corner of the room were he assigned the 81, you would have seen close to 500 people. Guess your cameras were too focused on the riot on stage to notice!


    "Furthermore, if the meeting was supposed to start at 6:30 p.m., why were the rebellion people there late. Granted, at 7:15 people were still coming in, but why show up after 6:30 for a 6:30 meeting. It was unfair that Heastie and crew were willing to wait more than 45 minutes (and then some) after the start time. Jose's supporters where there early to start the meeting on time. They were waiting more than 45 minutes for a meeting to start. So, while Heastie, Green, Stanley, Dinowitz and crew are on stage at 6:30 (the meeting time), they would not start the meeting. Why? because their people had not arrived? Is that fair? There was quorum to start the meeting and they wouldn't do so because their people were not there? Is that the face of the rebellion: lets hold the meeting until we can win? Seems like politics as usual to me...and they are trying to portray themselves as being above politics."

    The rebellion people were not late. There were 500 of them, that were forced by Rivera's goons to go through a security checkpoint and metal detectors that didn't even work after waiting on line for over an hour! Luckily for the Rivera people, his goons let them slip in through the far right door without security checking them or holding them up. Thats great security, lucky someone didn't get hurt Jose, or it'd be on your shoulders.

    Next, since when do we turn away legitimate voters who were there on time for a meeting? Do we turn away voters lined up at the poll sites on Election Day at 9 PM to vote? No, we don't and definately don't in a voting rights state. So the people that got their at 4 had to wait, thats better then disenfrancising hundreds of legitimately elected voters.

    Plus, this begs the question, why was Jose so afraid of all those legitimate, elected, certified county committee members that were on line?


    "One thing that should be interesting in court should be the fact that the rebellion folks participated in what the rebellion claims is not the legitimate meeting. That is, they voted on each and every motion. And contrary to Jordan's blog, the yes always outnumbered the nos. If this meeting was not legitimate, why did they rebellion "county Committee" members participate. Why not stay silent in objection to the meeting? Instead, they voted on every single motion and election of the executive committee, both temporary and permanent. And, no one called for a roll call after the voice votes (which is their right) to see who had the majority."


    The rebellion people sure did participate in the rally for Jose Rivera, because thats all it was. They loudly voiced their displeasure when they could understand what was even going on. Most of the Rebellion people were upstairs and could barely hear what was going on, other then to boo and yell no way Jose at the stage. The Rivera folks never recognized any of the Rebellion folks and basically ran a meeting with purely voice votes and a bunch of bused in ringers. How do you explain the YouTube video of Jose yelling on the mic, asking for the yays, listens to them, then asks for the nays and immediately without even pausing says the yay's have it, over a ROAR of nays! Its commical, but the Rebellion County Committee Members humored the old man so he could retain his dignity.


    "Whereas, no one from the Jose Rivera supporters participated in the subsequent "meeting." In fact, that meeting did not have quorum....they can pretend they did by suspending the rules, which I am sure they did. But there was no quorum present."

    What do you believe constitutes a quorum? A crowd of bused in ringers and seniors who don't know why they are there (from our great fighter for seniors, the Aging Committe Chair, Maria Arroyo!).

    Well, let me clarify for you. Quorum under the rules of the party require 10% of the County Committee members to be present. With roughly 1800 elected members, quorum required 180 people. Now, I know if you were actually there, you know the Rebellion had several times that of LEGITIMATE county committee members there. Luckily, I don't have to rely on your biased memory, because the Rebels have Board of Elections produced sign in books, with the signatures of over 500 legitimate county committee members.

    The Rivera side on the other hand, had under 100 legitimate county committee members sign into the official rolls for the meeting.


    "The reality is that the rebellion tried to hijack this meeting by delaying and delaying until their people arrived. That was unfair. Thus, the meeting was run by the vice-chair without any visible or oral objection from the chair. All the rebellion electeds did were sit quietly while their supporters and county committee members participated in the first meeting.

    Sounds like a legitimate meeting to me"

    Everyone that was at that meeting, including even you, know EXACTLY who tried to hijack the meeting. Anyone watching the videos online know who was dignified, stately and legitimate, and who was a thugish, brutish, threatening hijacker.

    Some legacy you have left Jose!

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  26. Here is the problem. The Bronx Democratic Party is in shambles. Both sides seem to be at each others throats. Now Jose Rivera is 70+ years old. Carl Heastie is much younger 40+ years old. I don't know how the courts will decide, but if Jose gets it he will probably retire in a year or so. If Carl gets it he will be chair of a very fractured and divided borough. I don't see how there can be any healing in the Bronx. My prediction. is if Jose gets it he retires and if Carl gets it he will be a one term Chair and will be forced to step down or will be removed. I just hope the Bronx comes together for the sake of the residents of this borough. I'm sure that a united group of electeds can deliver more to the Bronx than a divided bunch of people who forgot that they are not elected just to have a title but to serve the people. Grow up people. I say let the man retire and finalize what seems to be an impressive career in politics. Carl and anyone else who is interested your day at the reigns will come. Stop the Hate, Stop the Blame, Stop the Finger Pointing and Lets start rebuilding. We are embarrassing our community. I hate to say this but Can't we all just get Along?

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  27. The first post is full of inaccuracies:

    "Mr. Carl Heastie Started the event, and placed no objection, which as executive Chairman, duty is."

    Carl Heastie did not start the 'first' event. Councilwoman Baez grabbed the mic and convened the meeting illegally. When Jeffrey Dinowitz went up on the stage to object to this, he was physically assaulted by an aid of Rivera.

    -Rivera's Crowd was undeniably larger by 5-1 in opposition to your record.

    So what? Most of the crowd were a bunch of kids brought in off the street as ringers. They were not members of the county committee, they did not sign the books as valid committe members, and therefore had no valid standing to vote, no matter how loud they were cheering.

    -There were just as many supporters shirts wearing Rivera T-Shirts

    The shirts mean nothing. It's just a symbol. The only thing that counts is the validity of the county committee status. Rivera had much less valid committee members who were supporters.

    -The second meeting in motion was the illegal one.

    How was the second meeting the illegal one? The meeting was convened by Carl Heastie which was in accordance with the ruling made in the previous week. And most importantly, there was a stenographer taking down an official record. The first meeting did not have a stenographer. Therefore the first meeting was illegal and void. The bottom line is that a meeting can not be valid or legal without an official transcript recorded by a stenographer.

    -If we keep distorting the truth and proceeding with unethical ways of conducting our politics we will always fall short of our goals.

    The only one who is making distortions of the truth is this poster. There is hardly anything more unethical than that.

    -Because of the way Dinowitz and Heastie handled themselves last night Team Dinowitz has lost another battle.

    The law makes them the legal winners of this battle. That's the bottom line and that's all that matters!

    ReplyDelete

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