There is room for two clubs now

To the editor:

(re: “District leaders unify for new political club,” Oct. 6)

I read with interest and some surprise your Oct. 6 front-page story regarding another Democratic political club organized by the new district leaders and state committeewoman.

The Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club welcomes our fellow Democrats to the district that we have represented for more than 60 years. Two of the three are current or former Ben Franklin members, as is the acting president, and we share their interest in registering more voters and boosting the Democratic turnout.

We accept your description of the Ben Franklin Club as “venerable” and “indisputably the most active and powerful political club in the northwest Bronx.” We earned our status by endorsing and working to elect capable and progressive local candidates, including Congressmen Ritchie Torres and Adriano Espaillat, state Sen. Jamaal Bailey, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz and Councilman Eric Dinowitz.

We stand up for issues that matter, such as the passage of the Environmental Bond Act. Further, over the years we have hosted numerous policy speakers. We welcome anyone who wants to attend to learn more about those issues.

Our effectiveness as a local Democratic political organization is not just a result of our collective good judgment in elected officials, but our openness, which is why I was surprised to read that the representatives of the new club claimed we were not open or welcoming. All you need to join the Ben Franklin Club is to be a registered Democratic voter and pay a modest membership fee.

Further, non-members can and regularly do join to listen in to our meetings. When we elect our leaders in competitive races, we hold secret ballot votes on candidates and officers so no one has to feel pressured to vote in a particular way.

The organizers of the new club surely know this, since in January 2020 many of them were part of an attempt to depose the leadership of our club by running a competing slate of officers and executive members. Your story quotes the new club’s acting president as saying she doesn’t want Ben Franklin members to “flood” their club, exactly the strategy she and her cohorts employed when they tried to install themselves as leaders. 

In support of their effort, they solicited more than 100 new members to join our club. Having failed in the attempt, most of them have not renewed their membership, although some still continue to attend meetings. This is stark evidence that our club was and is open to every Democrat, even those who may disagree with the majority.

After leveling this false allegation about our lack of openness, the organizers of the new club who chose the name “Unity” are actively considering excluding our members, fellow Democrats, from joining.

I hope this policy stated by its acting president is overruled. Maybe your Oct. 6 story will shame them to truly support Democratic unity by keeping their doors open. The fact that the new district leaders voted to re-elect state Sen. Jamaal Bailey as leader of the Bronx Democratic county organization, and Jeffrey Dinowitz as Bronx Democratic county secretary — both of whom the Ben Franklin Club has supported for years — is a good sign.

Virginia Krompinger

The author is president of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club