The Unity Democratic Club which, as reported, launched last year on Oct. 3, held their first annual elections during a meeting on Thursday, Nov. 16, at Mosholu Montefiore Community Center, located on Dekalb Avenue in Norwood.

 

Club member, Aryeh Kalb, oversaw the club elections of the executive committee roles in the presence of about 20 to 30 members, including, among others, former candidate for Assembly District 81, George Diaz, noting after the elections that all positions were uncontested.

Betsey Knapp was reelected as president. During the nomination process, the club’s vice president, Danielle Guggenheim, nominated Knapp, co-founder of  Northwest Bronx Indivisible, “a grassroots group committed to democracy and the rule of law,”and a former member of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club, highlighting what she said was Knapp’s commitment to ensuring democracy lasts, because, according to Guggenheim, it was under attack.

 

“She’s not getting paid for this and it’s her baby,” Guggenheim, a teacher with NYC Department of Education (DOE), said. “The fact that she understands that different neighborhoods need to be represented in this club really speaks to her commitment to The Bronx, and as I walk more and more in my neighborhood, I realize that people have lost hope and they do not feel that government is [inaudible] to serve them, but she’s fighting that.”

Knapp thanked Guggenheim, who is also a volunteer with the James Baldwin Outdoor Learning Center, for the nomination, and said, in part, “I’ve served in this role for a year, and I’ve been active in the community for years so basically, this whole year has been about building the club, building infrastructure so that we get more people and good people from our club endorsed and elected.” She added, “So, I would be happy to [inaudible] the role, if so elected.”

 

Guggenheim was reelected as vice president, with Knapp nominating her and describing her as inspirational. “She’s become a true leader of our club and I feel as though she will continue in that role and truly help us with moving democracy forward,” Knapp said. The club president also mentioned Guggenheim’s efforts in getting out the vote and supporting the club’s candidates.

For her part, Guggenheim said, “Thank you for nominating me. It is something that I feel strongly about, and I accept. Thank you.” Kalb then informed attendees that Scott Wasserman had emailed him ahead of the meeting, indicating his wish to nominate himself as treasurer, and explaining that he could not be present at the meeting. There were no other nominations for treasurer and Wasserman was duly elected.

 

Madeline Ritter, a leader of the Riverdale chapter of Bend the Arc, a progressive Jewish organization, according to the Jewish Telegraphic agency, was reelected as secretary. “Paratek,” who nominated Ritter, said she had already done the job and done it well. “I don’t see why we shouldn’t have her again,” he said.

Don Bluestone was elected as chair of programming, nominated by Ritter, who said, in part, he had been a member of the programming committee for the last year and added some other remarks about growing membership.

 

Bluestone thanked his colleague for the nomination, which he clarified was for programming and education, and added, in part, “I think the education in our committee and society is very important. I enjoy working on the committee now. I think it’s a great group of people and there is a lot of work to be done and I hope to continue with it.”

Daniel Ranells was elected as chair of organizing by Abigail Martin, female district leader for Assembly District 81, which covers much of the northwest Bronx. Martin said, in part, of Ranells, “For three years, I’ve known him in various different campaigns and capacities. I know that his heart is in this community. I know he loves campaigning. I think he’ll bring energy and expertise to this role.”

 

Accepting the nomination, Ranells, who is also treasurer of the Bronx Council for Environmental Quality (BCEQ), said, in part, “I know a lot of folks in here and believe in their belief in democracy and I think the way to increase democracy is to increase the belief in it, and I think you all are doing a great job, and I’d love to work with you on that, canvassing, as well as the usual, political piece.”

David Knapp was elected as chair of membership, nominated by Ranells, who said, “David has been an active member of the community for a long time and knows how to get people involved, and he knows lots of jokes!”

 

Accepting the nomination, Knapp, husband to Betsey, spoke about the role of membership, saying, “I was the lead organizer for many years for Northwest Bronx Indivisible.” He said one of his hallmarks was that he would have coffee with anybody in the neighborhood. “I don’t care what your politics are,” he said.

“What I care about is what you’re passionate about, and activating people that may be on the fence, or may feel alienated. I think I’m pretty good at it. Some of you might not know me from these days, but like we did have quite a diversity of people from different, political, and ideological backgrounds. Yes, I like to tell jokes. Hopefully, everyone loves my jokes!”

 

Marcelo Lopez was elected as chair of communications, with Betsey Knapp nominating him. “So, the job is big, and we need someone with experience of collaborating with others and building a community of individuals with a lot of purpose, and so the one person who really exhibits that is Marcelo Lopez, and I strongly believe that he would be a wonderful candidate for this role,” she said.

Accepting the nomination, Lopez said in part, “I think that it’s about supporting other people.” He talked about working in a nursing home and being in an environment where it was about fixing things, supporting people, and making things better. He added, in part, that, in his opinion, the community was receptive and willing to listen [to new ideas] and said it was time “to pull a lot of levers” and “put a lot more pressure” into the club’s outreach efforts [to harness political power].

 

Neither Ramdat Singh, male district leader for Assembly District 81, nor fellow club member, Morgan Evers, State committee member of the Bronx Democratic Party, were present at the meeting but through a fellow member, Aaron Stayman, Evers encouraged members to sign up to potentially attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next year from Aug. 19 through Aug. 22.

Later in the meeting, Matt Nisenoff, director of party building, and Paige Havener, VP of political affairs at the New Kings Democratic Club (NKD) in Brooklyn shared their insights on local organizing in Brooklyn. Introducing the speakers, Knapp said, “Our club’s founding was actually inspired by this club.”

 

According to NKD’s website, it is “a progressive, grassroots political organization committed to bringing transparency, accountability, and inclusionary democracy to the Kings County Democratic Party,” and was founded by veterans of the Obama campaign.

The two talked about the county committee set-up in Brooklyn, comprising 4500 members, as well as the Brooklyn-based organization, “Rep Your Block.” Referring to the latter, Nisenoff said, “[It] was formed three or four cycles ago. The idea of it is we want everyday people to be in those county committee seats, and the more we can get in, the better.”

 

Nisenoff explained that, unlike NKD, Rep Your Block was not focused on policy, but solely on helping people with paperwork and ballots and getting people onto the county committee. He said “Rep My Block” was a separate organization.

Havener explained that their understanding was that the female district leader position within the Democratic Party had been introduced decades ago to encourage more participation by women in politics. They then talked about how NKB sued the Brooklyn Democratic Party to encourage more participation by people of all genders.

 

Havener said they and other candidates took a case against the Party whereby they refused to declare a gender for the district leader roles and won. “The rule now is that you have to have two people of different genders, but those two different genders could be male and female; male, non-binary; or female, non-binary,” they said.

Havener, also a campaign manager for Manhattan City Council Member and former Manhattan Borough President Gail Brewer (C.D. 6), added in part, “My ideal would be no gender declaration required because it’s like, what does it matter?” They said their rationale was that if there are only two people of the same gender interested in running e.g. two men, they now can’t do so.

 

Among other topics, Havener and Nisenoff also talked about how organized the Brooklyn Democratic Party leadership was, giving the example of the use of proxies ahead of party meetings to guarantee voting outcomes.

Later, Norwood News asked if anyone had had difficulties voting in the last general election since at least two Bedford Park residents had said they had not received information that their usual voting centers had changed ahead of the last Election Day. Guggenheim said she was aware of one person.

 

Norwood News followed up with the Board of Elections on the matter. Deputy executive director, Vincent Ignizio, replied, saying, “All voters were sent an information notice and a fastpass card (with early voting and election day voting locations on them) citywide.

 

He added, “The BOE has an online version to check one’s site, and call center for those who prefer that option: 1-866-Vote-NYC. Poll sites are not changed without informing the voters.”

 

The Unity Democratic Club members were reminded to check their spam in case they weren’t getting the club’s emails, and the outgoing executive committee were thanked for their service.

 

He added, “The BOE has an online version to check one’s site, and call center for those who prefer that option: 1-866-Vote-NYC. Poll sites are not changed without informing the voters.”

 

The Unity Democratic Club members were reminded to check their spam in case they weren’t getting the club’s emails, and the outgoing executive committee were thanked for their service.