Democrats need to work together

To the editor:

(re: “Unity Dems should know better,” July 13)

In a recent edition of this publication, Michael Heller penned a letter to the editor calling out the Unity Democratic Club petition mistake. Michael Heller failed to identify himself as the Democratic State Committeeman of this district.

Michael Heller and Virginia Krompinger failed to explain the whole story and deceiving readers of this publication. Furthermore, Virginia Krompinger serves on the executive committee of the Bronx Democratic Party, as a vice chair. They both should be ashamed of themselves for continuously attacking another Democratic organization and fellow party leaders.

Both of these individuals failed to tell the entire story, so allow me to. Abigail Martin and Ramdat Singh are our hardworking district leaders, working diligently to bring Democrats across the spectrum together. In the spirit of Democratic unity, our district leaders reached out to Bronx Democrats and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz to run a joint slate of judicial delegates and alternates. After multiple discussions, Dinowitz decided to give Abigail and Ramdat only one delegate pick out of  nine judicial delegates slots.

Ultimately, the joint slate did not occur because it was unfair for the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club and Dinowitz to pick eight delegates, nine alternates, and our two district leaders gets one.

In response to the failed negotiations because of Dinowitz and Krompinger, Singh and Martin turned to the Unity Democratic Club for help to lead their slate. I ask you as the reader to put yourself in their shoes: They had to rush to print petitions and collect signatures for these 18 candidates.

Mistakes were bound to happen. Unfortunately, it was a major blunder. I have signed many petitions for various candidates, and signing a petition does not mean you support their candidacy, but allows them to get on the ballot.

As a signer of their petition, I do not believe that my voice was silenced because I agreed to sign the petition so they can appear on the ballot. I must say that I learned more about the Bronx’s judicial selection procedure from Luis Kaminski — he  stopped me at the Riverdale Market — than I have from any political club here in the Bronx.

I believe the Unity Democratic Club has learned from their mistakes and have moved o,n and I believe that members of the Ben Franklin Club should do the same. The leadership of the Unity Democrats has not attacked the Ben Franklin Club. The only entity continuing to vilify the Unity Club is the Ben Franklin Club, which is outright outrageous.

I am not affiliated with either club, just frustrated reading these attacks from the Ben Franklin Club. I believe the Unity Club has acted with immense grace during these attacks because they truly believe in Democratic unity — something that the Ben Franklin should learn.

Andrew Smith

EDITOR’S NOTE: In his submission, Michael Heller did identify himself as a state committeeman after his signature, but he was identified solely as a past president of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club in these pages as that role more closely tied to his letter.