Judge torpedoes party boss's attempted power grab: 'Extreme potential for corruption'

A Brooklyn judge has thrown out an attempt by the borough's Democratic Party chair to rewrite internal rules that critics say would have cemented her grip on power and tightened control over how future judges get picked.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jill Epstein invalidated the rule-change vote Monday, New York Focus reported. She ruled that it shouldn't have counted because several district leaders who cast ballots had already lost their seats in June's primary elections — and without those votes, the amendments would have failed.

Bichotte Hermelyn moved to overhaul the party's bylaws after rivals appeared to have lined up enough support to oust her. The proposed changes would have dramatically widened who's eligible to vote in an upcoming leadership election while also expanding the chair's influence over judicial nominations, according to Tony Melone, president of the New Kings Democrats, a faction aligned with the plaintiffs suing over the changes.

"When one person controls these votes, and one consultant represents all the candidates who are chosen, there is extreme potential for corruption," Melone said.

The ruling arrives alongside broader scrutiny of how Brooklyn selects its civil court judges. New York Focus found that the same political consultant, Gregorio Mayers, has worked with every single civil court nominee the party's county committee has picked over the last two years, earning him the nickname "Supreme-maker" for his track record helping clients land judgeships. Mayers denied that any candidate was ever required to hire him in exchange for political support.

Assemblymember Maritza Davila, a vocal opponent of the rule changes, said she couldn't explain Mayers' consistent success but noted he and Bichotte Hermelyn are close.

"I don't know how that works, but is there something that's not right about it? Absolutely," Davila said.

Civil and Supreme Court judgeships in Brooklyn pay upward of $220,000 a year, and the borough has a history of leadership using judicial nominations as leverage. In 2007, former party boss Clarence Norman was convicted of extorting judicial candidates into paying favored campaign vendors in exchange for the party's backing.

The Brooklyn Democratic Party issued a public statement over the weekend blasting the reporting as a "false narrative" intended to smear respected consultants, despite New York Focus not yet having published its full findings at the time.

Prominent New York Democrats, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have both publicly opposed Bichotte Hermelyn's rule changes.