Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Report

The New York Times reports that veteran south Brooklyn political operative Frank Seddio seems positioned to succeed scandal-tinged Assemblyman Vito Lopez as the leader and kingmaker (judges and other party positions) of the Brooklyn Democratic Party. And yes, there's an Atlantic Yards angle, sort of. Seddio comes from the powerful Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club , home of former Forest City Ratner external affairs chief Bruce Bender, and a reliable source of Atlantic Yards-loving pols, including Carl Kruger (now disgraced), Alan Maisel, and Steve Cymbrowitz. Seddio's main rival seems to be Brownstone Brooklyn reformer JoAnne Simon, who lost to Lopez protege Steve Levin (strategically silent lately) for the 33rd District City Council seat, but might have won without such a large field. (Cumulative voting, anyone?) Simon is a leader of BrooklynSpeaks, the coalition that began as "mend it don't end it" regarding Atlantic Yards but has become increasingly voca...

A 7/22/12 essay from Paul Berman in Dissent, Regular Politics: Judge Reichbach , contains cameos for both Bruce Ratner and Vito Lopez, both typically in the news for other reasons: On Saturday, July 14, a New York State Supreme Court judge named Gustin L. Reichbach succumbed to cancer. On Sunday his funeral service took place at a synagogue in Brooklyn Heights. And the first and most eloquent of the speakers to address the mourners was a politician named Vito Lopez, who holds the office of New York State Assemblyman from Bushwick, Brooklyn, and the still more exalted office of chairman of the Democratic Party of Kings County, otherwise known as Brooklyn Democratic boss, whose powers are myriad, vast, and rooted in affairs so profoundly local as to be incomprehensible. The boss is known, for instance, to influence the election of minor officials called District Leaders, who are unpaid yet nonetheless have the power to select the modestly paid workers who supervise the voting on Electi...