Roosevelt Island will soon have a new Assemblymember, replacing Democrat Pete Grannis, if things go as expected. How will Grannis’s seat be filled, now that the general election is three months in the past?

New York’s laws for filling vacant offices are typically byzantine. The controversy over replacing Alan Hevesi, for example, is so heated because the replacement State Comptroller is selected by the Legislature, and it did not see eye-to-eye with the Governor on Hevesi’s successor.

But Members of the Assembly and State Senators are treated differently. They are chosen in special elections, held at the discretion of the Governor, after a seat opens up. In the case of the 65th Assembly District, which includes Roosevelt Island, that can’t happen until Grannis resigns to become Commissioner of Environmental Conservation. And that won’t happen until the State Senate confirms his appointment to the DEC. The State Senate had not yet scheduled hearings on Grannis’s nomination when The WIRE went to press Thursday night.

Assuming Grannis is confirmed and resigns his Assembly seat, Governor Spitzer is expected to call a special election rather than leave the seat empty until the next general election in 2008. The Governor does that by issuing a proclamation calling the election. There is no required time frame for issuing the proclamation, but once it is issued, the special election must be held about 30 days later. The short lead time places pressure on the parties to select their candidates quickly, and leaves the candidates little time to raise money and build name recognition.

There will be no primaries. The candidates will be chosen by New York County party regulars. The Republican and Democratic parties have different selection methods, set forth in their by-laws. The one statutory requirement is that a candidate for Assembly must reside within the district for one year before Election Day.

The Republican County Executive Committee will select the GOP’s candidate. That body includes the county’s district leaders and party officers, and is led by Jennifer Saul Yaffa. She was elected Chair late last month. She’s also a GOP fundraiser and a member of the Republican National Committee. The county Executive Committee will interview candidates to determine their suitability in informal but closed meetings, and then convene to select one. Marcus Cedarquist, the Executive Director of the county GOP and the son of Roosevelt Island residents, told The WIRE that, although anyone can ask for an interview, the advantage will go to "candidates who can hit the ground running." That means being known in the community, having electoral experience, and having a ready source of money to finance a campaign. There will be no time to organize the Republicans’ usual school to train prospective candidates.

Joy Devries, the Republican District Leader for Roosevelt Island, said the GOP hasn’t geared up yet to select its standard-bearer. Anyone can apply to be considered, and the leadership typically will reach out to qualified people they know to gauge their interest. Devries said she would favor a candidate who is focused on "home and family, on (quality of) life in New York for New Yorkers," but she feels it is premature to identify anyone specifically.

Given the advantage the Democrats have in party enrollments within the 65th Assembly District – roughly 42,000 to 14,000 – Cedarquist said candidates aren’t exactly "breaking down the doors to run" on the GOP line. Nonetheless, three names have been mentioned, each active in the community. Ken Moltner, an attorney, says he is "seriously considering" a run, although he is still uncommitted. He was chair of Community Board 8 and is well known in the district. Nick Viest is President of the 19th Precinct Community Council on the Upper East Side, and made an unsuccessful run for a City Council seat in 2001. Joel Zinberg also has been mentioned. He is a surgeon and former Democrat who ran for the City Council in 2005, losing to Democrat Jessica Lappin.

Among the Democrats... Micah Kellner, is also vying for the Democratic County Committee nod. Photos of the Republican candidates were not yet available at press time Tony Morenzi, District Chief for Pete Grannis, hasn’t decided whether he’ll seek the seat. Susan Chamlin is on the staff of State Senator Liz Kreuger. She handles health policy matters. Barry Klein is Chief of Staff for Assemblymember Jonathan Bing of Mahattan.

Democrats

The Democratic Party, in contrast to the GOP, will select its candidate by a vote of party committee members who represent election districts located in the 65th Assembly District. Each committee member’s vote is weighted according to the Democratic Party vote in his or her election district in the last gubernatorial election. The party has no formal system for identifying or interviewing candidates, relying instead on candidate forums presented by various organizations over the next several weeks. The first of these, a caucus announced at Wednesday’s Roosevelt Island Residents Association Common Council meeting, is being arranged by Representative Carolyn Maloney for 10:00 a.m. Sunday at the NYU Medical Center.

After the Governor calls the special election, the eligible Democratic committee members will vote in an open meeting.

The devil in the Democratic Party’s process comes out in its details. The 65th Assembly District has 200 committee seats – one male and one female from each of 100 election districts. They are elected in the party primary held in odd-numbered years, after petitioning to get on the ballot. Of the 200 committee seats, however, only 30 are currently occupied. Each of the 30 committee members ran unopposed in 2005. Roosevelt Island, with its five election districts, is entitled to ten committee members, but has only four: Former RIRA Common Council member Karen Stewart, Rivercross residents Joseph and Nancy Cruickshank, and Roslyn Fernandez, who has supervised many elections on the Island.

Sources in the Democratic Party were not sure if the county by-laws provide a process for filling vacancies between elections. Assemblyman Denny Farrell, the New York County Democratic Party leader, told The WIRE that he doubted the vacancies could be filled before the Special Election.

All this means that, given the Democratic Party’s electoral advantage, Roosevelt Island’s next Assemblymember is very likely to be selected by a small group of unelected party regulars – exactly the circumstance the system was designed to avoid. Depending on how committee votes are weighted, the decision could be made by fewer than 15 people.

The Democratic Party’s system was created during the reform movement of the 1960’s, aimed at democratizing the party and breaking the control of party bosses. Rather than have district leaders choose candidates in special elections, the reformers pushed the decision down to the county committee level. The reformers also took the power to select district leaders away from the county committee members, subjecting them to direct election in party primaries along with the committee members. Farrell told The WIRE that while these efforts to blow fresh air into the smoke-filled party rooms were well-meaning, they created some unintended effects. Because the only substantial function of committee members now is to select candidates in special elections, and there hasn’t been a special election in the district in decades, the committee system has fallen into disrepair. Most party members don’t even know that it exists, and few can be bothered to run for seats. Democratic reform has led to an undemocratic result.

Like the GOP, the Democratic field has three likely candidates, each of whom is an experienced political operative. The current favorite is Micah Kellner, a Democratic State Committee member as well as member of the county committee. He cut his teeth on Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s staff and now works for City Comptroller Bill Thompson as a community liaison. Barry Klein is chief of staff for Assemblymember Jonathan Bing. Susan Chamlin works as a legislative aide on State Senator Liz Krueger’s staff, with a particular interest in health policy. Each is expected to appear at Sunday’s forum.

Tony Morenzi, the district chief for Pete Grannis, told The WIRE he is interested, but cannot commit to running until Grannis has resigned officially. Gifford Miller, the former City Council Speaker, who represented Roosevelt Island, has declined to run.

The minor political parties that hold official lines on the State ballot may field candidates as well, or endorse the Republican or Democratic Party candidates. Lines on the ballot are awarded to parties that have polled a threshold level of votes in gubernatorial elections. Currently, the Independence, Working Families, and Conservative Parties have ballot lines. Other candidates can get on the special election ballot as independents by collecting signatures on petitions. The abbreviated special election season will all but eliminate minor parties and independent candidates as a factor.

For Roosevelt Islanders, the special election presents an opportunity to speak with a stronger voice than usual. They can attend the candidate forums and voice their preferences to their Republican district leader and Democratic committee members. Because special elections historically have had lower turnout than general elections, a strong turnout on Roosevelt Island can give residents a significant say in who will represent the 65th Assembly District in Albany.

Roosevelt Islanders can also run to fill county committee seats in this year’s primaries. A committee seat might be a good platform for an effort to reform the system.

Plainly, that system needs to be fixed.

Map of the 65th Assembly District