Brooklyn Democratic Party boss Frank Seddio and his allies are bullying opponents into dropping their primary bids against them, the challengers are charging.
Religious leader Nicholson Pierre was taking on the incumbent Seddio for male Democratic district leader in the 59th Assembly District, but he dropped his bid after Seddio’s allies allegedly made threatening phone calls claiming they could pull strings and take away his job at Beraca Baptist Church in Canarsie, one source close to Pierre said.
“Everyone knows Seddio is upset when he realizes has a challenger. He threatened Pierre that he would be fired. He was receiving calls from Seddio, threatening the church: ‘If you do not yield from this race you will lose your job,’ ” said Dr. Raymond Blanchette, campaign manager for Pierre’s ally and political hopeful Mercedes Narcisse.
Pierre bowed out in July and Spencer Cineus took up his mantle against Seddio, but the party boss got him to drop his bid by threatening Cineus and Narcisse — who is challenging Seddio ally Sue Ann Partnow for female district leader — with a protracted court battle.
Seddio, Partnow, and two others hauled Narcisse and Cineus to court, challenging the petitions they gathered to get onto the primary ballot. After three days, Narcisse and Cineus agreed to drop out of the race to avoid a costly legal fight, Blanchette said.
Narcisse testified during the proceedings on Aug. 10 that Seddio’s old law partner Frank Carone and state senate also-ran Samuel Pierre [no relation to Nicholson Pierre] were harassing Nicholson Pierre.
“He was being threatened by Mr. Carone. He was being threatened by Samuel Pierre. A lot of people were calling him and he was, he was scared,” Narcisse told the court.
But Seddio claims that’s a load of bunk — no one ever threatened Pierre and the pastor never even wanted to run, he said.
“Once again, Mercedes Narcisse’s inaccurate outright lie about Rev. [Nicholson] Pierre is almost on the level of committing sin,” Seddio said. “Neither Mr. Carone nor I have ever met or had any discussions with Rev. Pierre and no one ever made any kind of threat in any way, shape, of form about any issue in this campaign. He made it clear to Ms. Narcisse and her cohorts that he did not want to run in either race, and they then tried to substitute a different candidate in his place. If this is her behavior while running for office, what kind of ethical standards would she bring to Albany?”
Seddio and crew claimed Narcisse and Cineus’ petitions were invalid because she does not live in the district she was petitioning to run in. Seddio says Narcisse agreeing to the settlement is proof she lied about her residence, but Blanchette claims Narcisse settled because she could not afford the legal challenge.
Narcisse is also running for state senate against Roxanne Persaud (D–Canarsie), a Seddio ally whose name was listed alongside the party boss’s on the suit against Narcisse and Cineus.
Seddio and Persaud could have held out on the settlement to get Narcisse to drop her challenge to Persaud, but he is only worried about protecting his own district leader position, Blanchette said.
“He dropped Roxanne like a hot rock. He ate it, because he wasn’t concerned about senate. He wanted to maintain his district leadership,” he said.
This paper could not reach Nicholson Pierre.
The district leader elections and the senate and assembly primaries are Sept. 13.
