A candidate for the Assembly seat representing Norwood is crying foul a local political club’s decision to endorse candidates the same night as it handles assignments for the club’s executive committee without fully discussing the pros or cons for such a move.

George Diaz, a former staffer to former Councilman Oliver Koppell vying for the seat against long-term Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz, claims he wasn’t properly told about a Nov. 20 meeting where candidates seeking the endorsement of the Ben Franklin Reform Democratic Club can make their cases for official support from club members.

“There was no prior discussion of this at the previous general meeting or in the previous executive meeting,” said Diaz, adding the notification came a week before tonight’s gathering. “The only way for me to find out is via email, the general email, that they send out to everybody on their list. So I did not get a phone call, I did not get a personal email, or text, or such. And they have my contact information because I am a registered member of the club.”

Luckily, Diaz said, other members of the club present at the meeting told him about the upcoming gathering.

Dinowitz, a fixture in the near 40-year organization, has continually received the backing from the club. This is his first primary he’s faced since taking office, adding to the growing number of incumbent lawmakers facing a primary challenger from various levels of government.

Diaz saw the snub as an example of the deck being stacked against him.

“It’s a good thing that I am on their mailing list because if I was not, or if I had not run into someone from the meeting—that was part of the executive board—I would not have known about it,” said Diaz. “So I think that it’s a dirty trick. And on top of that if it was something that they wanted to do at the executive board meeting then they should be bringing it up at the general board meeting, and then at the next general board meeting we have the endorsements.”

Michael Heller, chair of the Ben Franklin Reform Democratic Club, disputed Diaz’s version of events, saying he’d gone out of his way to maintain fairness by sending via certified mail an invitation to Diaz to present at the club on top of emailing him. He also sent an email to Diaz, for which he responded, ensuring that Dinowitz would be given the same speaking time to

“I didn’t call him, I didn’t officially, because I don’t want him to be able to say that he was never notified, which is why we did return receipt requested,” said Heller in a telephone call with the Norwood News.

Much on why the club scheduled an endorsement meeting early stemmed from the fact that the New York primary has moved to June, giving clubs time to petition for candidates in February, according to Heller. The Thanksgiving holiday also forced Heller to reschedule the meeting earlier.

On top of endorsements for the Assembly District, there will also be endorsements for the 34th Senate District, judicial convention members, and Male and Female district leaders for the 81st Assembly District.

“By complaining about this sort of pre-poisons the well, which I don’t understand at all because he’s been treated completely respectfully and equally,” said Heller. “So it strikes me as bizarre.”

Editor’s Note: The meeting is scheduled tonight at 7 p.m. at Tibbett Towers at 3130 Irwin Ave.

admin

Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.