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When the Brooklyn Democratic partys county committee holds its biennial meetings, the proceedings are usually mere formalities. This year seems to be different though as questions are being raised around the party heading into the meeting at the end of the week.

The questions arise out of a controversy coming after a fake letter went out from Assemblyman Bobby Carroll that was received by most of the committee members. The letter tried to influence them to take actions that would help party boss Frank Seddio receive more votes, City Limits reports.

Seddio is known for funny business when it comes to judicial ballots, and all eyes will be on those votes on Thursday, especially after the fake letter about giving away votes to Seddio.

Seddio started his work in his young years as a member of the Knights of Columbus, a charitable group. He worked in multiple offices and was even the youngest Grand Knight of the Brooklyn organization.

He founded the Canarsie Volunteer Ambulance Corps and also served as the first president. For over 25 years this organization has provided free ambulance service to the Canarsie community with over 100 volunteers who have given their time and talents, dedicating themselves to insuring life saving medical care to the people of Canarsie.

The Democratic partys judicial convention was able to put three civil court judges to the Kings County Supreme Court because those judges won their primaries earlier this month. It looks like Seddio and his pals will be able to pick three judges based on the circumstances which practically give them that power. There could be surprise challengers at the committee meeting this Thursday, but otherwise, the decision to name those three civil court judges to the court made three ballot spots available for civil court candidates in the upcoming general election.

City Limits explains the significance of this apparent power play and what it means moving forward, saying that such slippery ballot line maneuvering means that those judges wont face primary challengers who might raise questions about their track records. Yet the likely nominees merit scrutiny.

The paper also detailed the candidates themselves, like Anne Swern, slated for the Civil Court district one line (elected by voters in Downtown Brooklyn, greater Park Slope and Bay Ridge), is a familiar name given her campaign for Brooklyn DA last year. A former high-ranking executive in the DAs office under Joe Hynes, Swern was initially seen by many observers as a viable contender in the 2017 race. But neither Hynes nor the party machine supported her campaign, causing Swern to finish a distant second.

Swern wanted to make sure she used her experience as a criminal justice reformer to bolster support for her run at the district attorney job. She used the time she spent working for the Hynes administration by working in the drug treatment courts. Those courts were crucial for giving offenders an alternative path than prison, which is why she said she is a criminal justice reformer.

John Pfaff and Scott Hechinger are just a couple of the notable names throwing their support behind Swern to be the district attorney.

Because her campaign failed to take off, Swerns influential role in various Hynes era controversies never came to light. Swerns name, however, showed up several times in the citys Department of Investigations (DOI) 2014 report regarding misconduct in the Hynes administration.

As seen in the report, during Hynes bid for reelection, Swern and other members of the DAs inner circle used their office email to discuss campaign strategy. Although Hynes sent several thousand campaign-related emails from his official email with administration staffers including Amy Feinstein (his #2-ranking executive) and Swern (#3), nobody in the DAs inner circle appeared able to stop such illegal activity.

In response, Swern tells City Limits that the DOI report is five years old and the unlike many others named in it, she has not been charged by the Conflicts of Interest Board with misconduct. She notes that a judicial screening panel rated her as qualified (Seddio has close ties to that panel). Swern also says that the Brooklyn electorate vetted me last yearand 18 thousand voters supported my campaign for DA.

By: Alfredo Golden

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Democrats Playing Games with Brooklyn Judicial Ballot ...