Frank Seddio, the former Brooklyn Democratic Party boss who once railed against reformers as “these f—ing progressives,” has shored up enough support from some of those reformers to secure the party’s nomination to be a commissioner on the city’s Board of Elections.
If approved by the City Council, Seddio would fill the seat currently held by board president Rodney Pepe-Souvenir, who isn’t seeking another term.
Pepe-Souvenir, an ally of current Brooklyn party chair Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, is in turn said to be seeking an appointment to the plumb job of Board of Elections’ general counsel. That’s a position Bichotte Hermelyn gets to appoint based on a longstanding tradition at the Board of Elections, insiders said — one of many jobs at the agency doled out by Republican and Democratic party officials from each borough.
“Everyone involved in politics understands that the general counsel position has been a Brooklyn job as long as they remember,” said a longtime election lawyer who asked not to be named for fear or irking party leaders.
“Virtually every job at the Board of Elections is a product of party patronage.”
While the Board’s 10 commissioners, with a Democratic and a Republican appointee from each borough, are volunteers who collect a modest stipend, the general counsel earns $200,000 a year and is in charge of assuring the Board of Elections is in compliance with the state’s complex election laws.
The board, one of the city’s last bastions of nepotism and party patronage, has often faced scrutiny after poorly run elections and particularly in presidential election years when turnout is highest. In 2018, a two-page ballot caused unexpected scanner jams at polling sites across the city. In 2016 the board illegally purged the voter rolls of 120,000 voters ahead of that year’s election.
Power Maintenance
The Brooklyn Democratic party’s district leaders voted on Seddio’s nomination at a meeting on Oct. 9, several leaders said. A majority of district leaders voted in favor of Seddio while several party critics abstained.
Seddio told THE CITY 33 district leaders voted for him while another six did not. (A spokesperson for the Brooklyn Democratic Party declined to confirm the final vote count.)
“There’s nobody in at least in Brooklyn and maybe even the city, and I don’t mean to be boastful, that knows as much as I do about the Board of Elections,” Seddio said.
If his appointment is confirmed by the City Council, Seddio said, he will push for increased poll worker salaries and better recruitment efforts, along with expanded language access at Brooklyn polling sites.
For the reformer holdouts, who are pushing for more transparency and openness in the party’s operations, Seddio’s nomination was disappointing but not surprising.
Seddio “has consistently shown that he wants power and wants to continue to influence many areas of work that he does and also through the party,” said Caitlin Kawaguchi, the president of New Kings Democrats, a reform organization within the borough party.
“If there is someone who is friendly in this role, they can hire and fire BOE employees. We’ve seen how party leadership already uses the BOE to maintain power.”
Seddio’s nomination, Kawaguchi said, represents more of the same for the leadership at the Board of Elections, who serve at the whim of commissioners who are tapped by party machines from each borough:
“It just lets the party further entrench their power and move us away from a Board of Elections that is doing its job, that is functional and is able to support free and fair elections for Brooklynites.”
‘An Invaluable Asset’
Seddio served as chair of the Brooklyn Democratic party for eight years, after taking over from the disgraced Vito Lopez. He passed the baton in 2020 to Bichotte Hermelyn, his chosen successor, who briefly united borough Democrats after years of intra-party squabbles. That détente was short-lived, and Bichotte Hermelyn, an Assemblymember who won another two-year term leading the party this fall, has ousted several of her fiercest critics.
Seddio has continued to wield influence, and sow division, inside the party since stepping aside as its chair. In an infamous 2022 incident, he had to be physically restrained at a backroom meeting at Nick’s Lobster House where district leaders were voting on judicial nominations, telling one opponent to “drop dead” and that he “should only suffer a terrible death” — an incident captured in a video obtained by THE CITY.
But in recent months, Seddio worked the phones to assure support for his nomination as a Board of Elections commissioner, winning the votes of some of his critics.
“He’s like the consummate diplomat, right? The dude called up people, found out what they wanted, made commitments and then got votes,” said Mark Hanna, a district leader in the 54th Assembly District, which spans part of Bay Ridge, who was endorsed by the Brooklyn Can’t Wait, a coalition of reform-oriented district leaders. Voters in each Assembly district elect two leaders, one male and one female, who aren’t paid but who wield power within the party.
Hanna said his prime concern was getting Arabic-language translators at poll sites in his district, which Seddio agreed to push for. “It was pretty straightforward,” Hanna added.
Diana Gonzalez, a district leader in the 44th Assembly District in Kensington, who was also endorsed by Brooklyn Can’t Wait, said she approached Seddio about Urdu and Bengali translators at poll sites in her district.
“He’s like, ‘Yeah, absolutely. We want to help them vote. I’ll do whatever I can. And I’m like, great, you know, that’s fantastic,” Gonzalez said.
Asked about the former party leader’s nomination to the Board of Elections, Bichotte Hermelyn sent a statement through a spokesperson: “Seddio brings decades of unparalleled election law knowledge to the BOE, and his experience ensuring fair and transparent elections as Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair will be an invaluable asset for our city.”
‘Advancing Ethical Commissioners’
Seddio is seeking to replace Pepe-Souvenir, whose term is ending and who party insiders say is vying to be named the board’s general counsel — with the Brooklyn Democratic boss traditionally deciding who takes that job while the deputy counsel.
Hemalee Patel, the outgoing general counsel, is running for a civil court judge position. Pepe-Souvenir didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The city’s board in recent years has taken some strides towards professionalizing its staff, including hours of election administration training for party appointees, said Susan Lerner, the Executive Director of Common Cause, a good government group pushing changes to state law to modernize the Board. Despite that, she said, Seddio’s appointment and the potential appointment of Pepe-Souvenir indicate there’s a long way to go.
“We disapprove of party functionaries whether they’re current or former, serving as election commissioners,” Lerner said, of Seddio’s potential appointment as commissioner. “It undercuts confidence in the fairness of our elections.”
The board’s next general counsel, Lerner said, should go through a competitive interview process — not just get the approval of Brooklyn’s party leader.
“The criteria for the job should be experience in election law. Other jurisdictions in other states conduct national searches for their election administrators,” she added.
A spokesperson for the Board of Elections didn’t return a request for comment on the process of recruiting a new general counsel.
Pepe-Souvenir’s initial appointment to the board drew ire back in 2020. An attorney with a background in diversity, equity and inclusion compliance, Pepe-Souvenir had no background in electoral politics but had worked on Bichotte Hermelyn’s Assembly race and given money to her race and to the Brooklyn Democratic Party.
Pepe-Souvenir has also been the CEO of Speak Softly Communications since 2007, working as a “relationship life coach and blog writer using a combination of biblical and new age concepts to promote healthy, loving, and fruitful relationships” according to her LinkedIn page.
“Public perception on BOE employment overlooks the positives of advancing ethical Commissioners,” Bichotte Hermelyn told THE CITY in her statement. “There are lots of people like Pepe who have invaluable insights on how the BOE works and how it can be improved.”
