New York City got lucky that the illegal maneuver planned by Brooklyn Democratic Board of Elections Commissioner Frank Seddio at the behest of City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams to sideline three important city Charter amendment questions from the ballot fizzled into nothingness. Seddio, the ringleader of a failed BOE coup against the law, retreated when faced with pressure from Gov. Hochul.
Cheers for Hochul, and for the umpteenth time, boos for the bum Seddio. How many times does this scoundrel Seddio have to do the wrong thing and we have to call him out?
Check the record how he shoehorned himself into a coveted surrogate judgeship in 2006 and how a probe by the state Commission on Judicial Conduct spurred by us led directly to his May 2007 resignation from the bench. Honorable, not.
That Seddio was ready to break the law and torpedo three ballot questions dealing with creating more housing only worsens his latest offense. We exposed his plot in a Monday editorial, which clearly got the attention of Hochul, whose top aide, Karen Persichilli Keogh, told Seddio to cut it out, according to reporting by the Daily News. Seddio denies that happened, but we don’t believe anything Seddio says.
As Hochul said yesterday after the BOE, including Seddio, certified the ballot, with all the Charter questions: “I’m glad the Board of Elections listened to the voices of New Yorkers — myself included — who want to see these critical initiatives brought to voters in November.”
We’ll take it as a win, and it’s more a win for the law and a win for producing more housing, should, as we hope voters approve the measures this fall. The land use amendments aren’t perfect as the new proposed override of the City Council’s pernicious “member deference,” which we call the more accurate “local veto,” is only for affordable housing projects. So left in place is the local veto that was used in 2009 to kill a mall in the still-empty Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx.
The only elections commissioner to vote to reject the legitimate ballot measures was Michele Sileo, the Staten Island Democrat. She should be bounced from the BOE for breaking her oath to carry out the law. The BOE’s role is strictly ministerial, not subject to the whims of commissioners. The ballot questions were properly presented and had to be certified.
Still not giving up the fight against weakening their stranglehold over land use matters is Speaker Adams and the Council. A statement from a Council spokeswoman repeated the claptrap about “trying to deceive voters into giving away their power in a democracy through misleading ballot proposals that hide their true impact.”
There is no dishonesty. The wording of the ballot proposals are straight up and down and voters can approve or reject them. There is no trickery involved: Do you want housing production to have speedier approvals? We hope a majority of voters say yes.
The choice belongs to the voters. It is not the choice of Speaker Adams or bums like Seddio and Sileo. Yes, even though Seddio backed down, his willingness to break the law before we alerted the governor again proves his unfitness for even a backwards agency like the BOE.
Seddio shouldn’t have any more chances to betray the public trust.
