Longtime Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson ended his 27-year run as the borough’s top prosecutor, accepting the nomination as a state judge in what many deemed a plot by Bronx Democrats to deliberately replace Johnson with an appellate court judge.

Johnson secured an easy primary win  for reelection as DA in early September, only to relinquish the seat just a week after. This left it up to the Bronx Democratic County Committee (BDCC) with a legal obligation to find a replacement, which it did at the party’s judicial convention with party favorite Darcel Clarke nominated to replace Johnson. Many political insiders say Johnson’s departure was a well-timed, well-orchestrated plot to insert a party-friendly candidate like Clarke, who was quietly backed by Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie two years ago.

Critics saw the timing as suspect, believing Johnson was coached by establishment Bronx lawmakers to vacate the seat the moment he won the primary, denying voters a chance to fairly vote for a candidate and leaving the decision instead to the BDCC and judicial delegates. Marcos Crespo, chairman of the BDCC, said Johnson’s decision to seek a judgeship was his and his alone.

At the Judicial Convention, a forum comprised of judicial delegates who nominate and vote candidates for a judgeship, Johnson addressed critics of the alleged scheme, saying the decision to seek a judgeship was “his and his alone.”

“The thing they have missed is number one: do what’s best for you; and number two: you and don’t resign a job without a job,” Johnson told judicial delegates. He was one of six judges to be overwhelmingly nominated to the bench. Among them was Johnson’s wife, Judge Dianne Renwick, nominated once again to the state Supreme Court. Judges are elected to 14-year terms.

Johnson also balked at criticism over attention to the office’s low conviction rate in a borough with comparatively high crime, suggesting “this is not baseball,” a numbers-driven sport.

“Public safety in the Bronx from 1990 to 2014 –73 percent decline in violent crime, 94 percent decline in auto crime, 85 percent decline in homicide,” said Johnson. “Those are numbers that don’t lie.”

But outside, Dick Dadey, executive director of the government watchdog group Citizens Union, said there must be a change in the way politicos can unfairly work the system.

“They want to be able to control who holds that office if you open it up to the voters, which is the Democratic way, you can’t control who goes in there ,” said Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union. “That ability to determine who is representing their interests in law enforcement is being undermined by this electoral process.”

Shortly after Johnson accepted the nomination, judicial delegates met privately to nominate Darcel Clark, a Democrat and jurist with 16 years on the bench, holding various positions and experience working at the Bronx District’s Attorney’s office. Should she likely win the general election in November given the overwhelming number of registered Democrats in the Bronx.

The legal process to determine judges involves judicial delegates who are not voted into office but are chosen via screening panel, according to the New York City Bar Association. Lawyers and non-practicing lawyers usually decide a delegate with no electoral process, a process wants to see changed via legislation.

“Many people in this city and in this borough call themselves progressive, and call themselves reformers, and talk about the need to care about the disempowered and disenfranchised. They may turn around and disempower tens and thousands of voters,” said Dadey. “You can’t have it both ways.”

The group is now considering a lawsuit.