Why don’t we all work together?

To the editor:

(re: “Time to make a change at the top,” Dec. 15)

How well the Democrats in New York did this year is debatable. On the plus side, Democrats won every statewide election this year, including governor, attorney general, comptroller and U.S. Senate.

Democrats maintained their two-thirds super majorities in both houses of the legislature despite losing some legislative seats. On the other hand, Democrats lost four Congressional seats that we were hoping to win.

The results were mixed. The blame game for the losses has begun — but no kudos for the wins. Is it the fault of the state party chair? The governor? The crime issue? Those who have called to “defund the police”?

The fact that one billionaire pumped more than $10 million in dark money to Republican campaigns? Or something else?

The acting president of the Unity Democratic Club, Betsey Knapp, wrote critically in the December 15 issue of the Press that some local Democratic leaders “declined” to sign a letter to Gov. Hochul demanding the replacement of state Democratic chair Jay Jacobs. This letter appears to be an effort to promote a wedge issue by jumping on a bandwagon calling for Jacobs’ resignation, blaming him for the party losses to the exclusion of the factors named above.

Unfortunately, Ms. Knapp’s critique contained false information. Ms. Knapp claimed Councilman Eric Dinowitz and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz declined to sign this letter. What she did not report was that neither of them was asked to sign the letter. When did they have the opportunity to decline? 

Knapp also mentioned that I, as the president of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club, didn’t sign. What Knapp failed to mention was that I was actually added without my or Ben Franklin Club’s permission, and was forced to proactively contact the distributors of the letter to have my name removed. 

Outgoing state Sen. Anna Kaplan also announced on social media that her name was added to the letter without her permission. It was also quite odd to see names that do not appear to exist listed.

In addition to having reservations about calling for the resignation of a fellow Democrat without allowing the process to play out in the Democratic State Committee and with the governor, I must question why anyone would want to sign a letter where precautions were not taken to ensure names contained were legitimate and were included with the permission of the individuals and organizations?

Jeffrey Dinowitz, Eric Dinowitz, as well as the Ben Franklin Club leadership and members were out campaigning for our slate to elect Gov. Hochul and the Democratic team.  We continue to focus on the big picture while every day taking meaningful action to address the needs of the community. It is vital that Democratic groups get a positive message to voters about Democratic Party values. 

We can do better.

The state Democratic chair is formally chosen by the state committee, but de facto is chosen by the governor. Whatever the outcome, we should let that process play out while we continually work to build and strengthen the Democratic Party.

Betsey, I have no interest in attacking you or the work you do, and hope you and the Unity Club will take the same tone toward your fellow Democrats going forward.  The work we are doing and want to do is too important. Next time we campaign for our Democratic slate, join us. 

If instead you would like to join a Ben Franklin Club member — who is 75 years old and has multiple physical impairments — when she drops clothing off to organizations supporting immigrant asylum seekers or others in need, give me a call. If you want to march together against the rise of antisemitism or to support providing health insurance to all New Yorkers, I’ll buy the coffee on the drive there. 

We may at times disagree on how to get there, but I think we would do better for the Democratic Party if we accept that we are all on the same team.

Virginia Krompinger