BY THE VILLAGE SUN | It was close — but no cigar.
Harvey Epstein’s bid Thursday evening to become chairperson of the Manhattan Democratic County Committee fell just short. Out of hundreds of votes cast, the East Side assemblymember lost to incumbent Domenico “Nico” Minerva by less than 10 votes. A third candidate, Theo Chino, got only a handful of votes — not enough to affect the outcome.
There was some controversy since the original vote count — which was ultimately amended — was very different, though still had Minerva winning. In addition, the County Committee members from the 72nd Assembly District, which includes Washington Heights, in the end, had to take a voice vote. Northern Manhattan is represented by Congressmember Adriano Espaillat, who insiders say would like to “have a check” on longtime County Leader Keith Wright.
Our county committee members and District Leaders are listening to the candidates for Chairperson of the Manhattan Democratic County Committee @ManhattanDems. The three nominees are Nico Minerva who is the incumbent & has served for over a decade, Theo Chino and Harvey Epstein. pic.twitter.com/dGEu8PGM8H
— United Democratic Organization (@udonyc) October 6, 2023
Epstein, a committed progressive, ran a campaign calling for more party transparency and arguing a shakeup is needed after Republicans flipped four New York State congressional seats in the midterms, giving the G.O.P. control of the House in D.C.
Why do we run Parties like this? Such an insider’s game, full of backbiting and b.s. And then they expect people to vote as they are told…
Please join Rep My Block. Other than explaining, there isn’t much to be done. Get people to join by sending an email to repmyblock@team.repmyblock.org
Everything is explained here:
https://www.repmyblock.org/web/training/steps/torun
I ran for county committee and could not figure out if I was elected. The folks I consulted didn’t think so.
But — bless The Village Sun! — I caught the story about Harvey throwing his hat in, and found out that even if I wasn’t elected, I could be appointed to a vacancy. And there are lots of vacancies.
So I showed up and was signed in. Then panicked, because my name wasn’t among the multitude of names of appointments read into the record.
Turns out I WAS elected. Never got the postcard inviting me to the meeting! The only reason I took the initiative of investigating and showing up was The Village Sun story announcing that Harvey was running.
I’m on the county committee and was never notified of the meeting. I would have voted for Harvey Epstein
Close but no cigar is a glib opening line indicative of shoddy journalism. A vote this close calls for analysis of the process. If it smells like a rat ….
Susan, thanks for your comment. Not really “shoddy journalism” — though maybe not the super-in-depth report you were looking for? Unfortunately, we simply can’t do deep dives into every story — and there are so many stories every day — as we are only human and not an AI robot and do not have unlimited resources like the NY Times. But since you are interested, if you have more insight, perhaps you can fill us in, in more detail. Thanks.
Incorrect – if the original vote count for the 72nd Assembly District as reported by District Leader Manny de Los Santos (giving Nico Minerva 0 votes) had not been challenged, Harvey Epstein would have won. I made a motion, allowed under the committee’s rules, to individually poll the members from the 72nd AD, and after they were polled individually, their vote count was 67 for Epstein and 23 for Minerva. This allowed 23 additional votes to be counted for Minerva, and in the grand total, he won by 8 votes.