New Boss, Same Broken Machine

"Early in the morning on Monday, March 11, dozens of Democratic district leaders shuffled upstairs to the county clubhouse, perched above a shuttered C-Town grocery store in Forest Hills. Before the workday started, they rubber-stamped the predetermined outcome: Rep. Gregory Meeks would be the new Queens County Democratic Party chairman.

For the rest of the 800,000 registered Democrats in Queens, here’s the process of picking a new county boss: 1) Former Rep. Joseph Crowley resigns as county chairman to focus on his new lobbying job with the Washington, D.C.-based Squire Patton Boggs. 2) A few outlets report that Meeks is the leading contender to replace him. 3) Word spreads that Meeks will be elected. 4) Meeks is elected. The Queens Machine works.

The Queens Democrats are an insular group, often criticized for acting like an exclusive fraternity – you’ve got to know someone to get in. There wasn’t any sort of a public process to elect Meeks, and the meeting wasn’t publicly announced. The roughly 72 district leaders didn’t sit through any debates among the contenders – in fact, there weren’t any other contenders, since nobody but Meeks admitted to having an interest in the job...

It’s an open secret that Meeks has inherited a weakened county party. A county endorsement means less than it once did, as a shrinking number of party regulars lend their hands petitioning and canvassing. It’s a party that couldn’t even get its own boss, Crowley, re-elected.

But the organization still wields influence. Its ability to coordinate the borough’s council members helped Crowley play a central role in elevating Corey Johnson to the council speakership last year. The borough’s overwhelming Democratic voter enrollment advantage lets the county party effectively pick the winner in every special election. It has also maintained a hold over the judicial system. As journalist Ross Barkan documented in 2017, judges as a rule only get elected with the party’s blessing. The law firm of Sweeney, Reich and Bolz, a trio of Long Island attorneys who have held top positions in the Queens Democratic Party, raked in some $30 million over a decade administering cases in Surrogate’s Court. Gerard Sweeney, Michael Reich and Frank Bolz also serve as election lawyers for county-endorsed candidates, successfully kicking opposing candidates off the ballot. These three white male partners have been a powerful force in the party since the 1990s, when then-county Chairman Thomas Manton worked in the firm. The Democratic Party in one of the most diverse counties in America was, until last month, effectively run by four white men, which critics say doesn’t represent the borough...

Electing Katz will be Meeks’ first real test as county chairman, and he said it’s his main focus until Election Day on June 25." Meet Gregory Meeks: Queens' new boss, by Jeff Coltin, City & State NY.

Unlike the Katz/Queens Machine Campaign, Tiffany L. Cabán for Queens DA is a  People-Powered Campaign!