Look, we're just as confused as you are.

Within two days, the Brooklyn Democratic Party endorsed and then un-endorsed Governor Kathy Hochul for re-election. At a moment when voters are looking for clear, principled leadership from Democrats, Brooklyn’s party chair is focused on advancing her own personal agenda that seems to change from day to day.

Here’s what we have been able to piece together.

On January 31, Brooklyn Party Chair Rodneyse Bichotte-Hermelyn called a meeting of the party’s Executive Committee with just two days' notice. She lobbied the District Leaders to endorse Kathy Hochul for Governor and, carrying a large number of proxy votes at a meeting on February 2, she won the passage of this endorsement.

Today, on February 4, the party chair invited a few District Leaders to a hastily convened Zoom meeting to discuss rescinding the endorsement they had just made. Obviously, that Zoom cannot constitute a meeting of the Party or a vote of its Executive Committee if many District Leaders had not even been told it was happening. Less than two hours later, the party announced that the endorsement was withdrawn, though we suppose the Party Chair could invite a few folks to join another meeting and put the endorsement back on tomorrow! From start to finish, this process, which purports to speak on behalf of all Brooklyn Democrats, has been driven by the whims of one person.

This is a farce. And it is also a wake-up call that the Brooklyn Democratic Party needs to change. There are 42 elected District Leaders on the Executive Committee, hundreds of elected County Committee members, and a million Brooklyn Democrats who should be engaged and active members of the party. Instead, it is run as the personal vehicle of a single leader, with no democratic process and no accountability. Today, that structure allowed something embarrassing to take place.

But over the last several years, it has also had more serious costs. Democrats have been losing ground in Brooklyn because the party has no capacity to support strong candidates and win elections. The brand of the Brooklyn Democratic Party remains synonymous with insider dealing and corruption at a time when Democrats need a mass movement for liberal democracy and strong government by the people and for the people. How can we win crucial elections over the next several years with party leadership this petty and self-involved?

We are supporting a growing slate of District Leader candidates who are committed to the vision of a more inclusive, more competent, more effective party. And we are still calling for more Brooklyn Democrats to run for County Committee through our partners at Rep Your Block and become voting members of the party, because the party will not change unless the people mobilize to change it. The Brooklyn Can't Wait coalition stands for change and we are ready to win the leadership seats to finally put the Brooklyn Democratic Party on a sound, strong, democratic footing. Join us.