About Brooklyn Republicans
What is the Brooklyn Republican Party?
The Brooklyn Republican Party, or as it is officially known, the Kings County Republican County Committee, is the duly authorized county party of the New York State Republican Party. Authorized by NYS Election Law 2-104, each party county committee consists of a minimum of two party members per Election District, which is a district that consists of about 1,000 voters and usually is the size of one city block to several blocks in size. Groups of Election Districts, as determined by law, make up Assembly Districts, Senate Districts, Council Districts, Congressional Districts, and others. District Leaders/State Committee Members also serve on its Executive Committee. It is charged with the general governance, decision-making and organization of the party within Brooklyn.
What does the County Committee look like?
In terms of size, there are 20 Assembly Districts in Brooklyn, each with approximately 100 Election Districts, which results in approximately 2,000 Election Districts. That means the minimum size of the County Committee, if fully constituted, would be approximately 4,000 grassroots Republican activists and leaders within every community in Brooklyn.
Right now, as of 2007, only 1,567 of those County Committee positions are filled, or approximately 38% of the total permitted by law. Two entire Assembly Districts, the 58th Assembly District (East New York/Brownsville) and the 50th Assembly District (Clinton Hill/Williamsburg/Greenpoint), have NO representation in the Brooklyn Republican Party whatsoever. The rest average at about 41% representation. Only three Assembly Districts have an almost full delegations to the County Committee: the 60th AD (Bay Ridge), the 49th AD (Bensonhurst/Bath Beach) and the 51st AD (Sunset Park).
But honestly, can you imagine if the State Assembly only had 41% of its members elected, and the rest vacant? How about if two states had no representatives in Congress at all? Wouldn’t we think that meant the end of our Republic as we knew it? Yet we permit it for our party, the only party that is capable of defending sound policies to keep our government operating at its best.
What does it take to become a Member of the County Committee to represent your community in the Republican Party and to help spread the message of Republican principles to your neighbors?
Any registered Republican who resides in Brooklyn may represent an Election District in the County Committee.
- First, you need to follow the provision of Election Law relating to obtaining the nomination for public office or party positions.
- Usually, this means circulating a designating petition among fellow registered Republicans in the Election District you want to represent. You will need 5% of the registered Republicans in that Election District to sign your petition in order to be eligible to run on the Primary Election ballot as a candidate for County Committee Member. Usually, that means you need to get anywhere from 1 to 20 signatures.
- Then, you must submit those petitions by the date and time designated by the Board of Elections. You will have a little over 30 days to collect the requisite number of signatures.
- Once you file your petitions, since there are so few people who desire the position, you probably won’t have your position contested at the Primary Election. If you do, then start campaigning to your neighbors so you can win that seat!
What would you do as a County Committee Member?
You are an elected party official from your district. Your job is to represent your constituents’ needs and concerns to the best of your ability in the County Committee, which includes primarily Republicans but also all the other voters in your district because everyone counts in Republican politics.
The role can be many different things. For instance, you and your co-committee member from your Election District could:
- Put together a monthly/weekly political e-newsletter to keep your neighbors informed of what’s going on in local, state and national politics. Some people have created blogs for this purpose.
- Listening to your neighbors concerns about government as well as public and party policies, conducting surveys or holding informal discussion-oriented meetups
- Identify the community leaders within your Election District and work together with them to reach out to your immediate neighborhood
- Organize petitioning within your Election District to help get local Republican candidates nominated
What do District Leaders/State Committee Member do and how can I become one?
For each Assembly District, there are two District Leaders/State Committee Members who represent each district. Because Brooklyn has 20 Assembly Districts, there are 40 District Leaders in Brooklyn. There must be one male leader and one female leader.
The District Leaders’ role is to organize all activities of the party within their district. That means coordinating with County Committee Members in the district to recruit volunteers, solicit for donations, spreading the word about campaigns, interviewing candidates for public office, providing local Republicans with the ability to select candidates to nominate, organize clubs, and recommend individuals to serve as Board of Elections personnel during elections. The position, however, is completely flexible and can be whatever a person wishes it to be, so long as they are getting the job done.
The process for becoming a District Leader/State Committee Member is similar to that of County Committee Member, except that the signature requirement is much higher, between 200 – 500 signatures for the entire Assembly District. However, working in concert with County Committee Members, who require each an average of 10 signatures to qualify (30 County Committee Members = 300 Signatures) can help expedite the process.
Atlas Shrugs in Brooklyn 
Good blog. Unfortunately I see that the games never end in Brooklyn and that those engaged in Republican politics for the sincere purpose of advancing issues and ideology, are left to contend with trying to overcome those who prefer playing politics rather than advancing good policy. And when will anyone ever accept the fact that the New York State Conservative Party is nothing but a cesspool of patronage that lacks any principle?
As opposed to the upstanding Jack Kemp who was all about principle and not patronage, right? Let me guess, you’re a big McCain guy.
If guesses were an accurate measure of ones political knowledge, I would have to conclude that you know absolutley nothing about politics, for while I suppotrted John McCain once he was the Republican nominee and only vialble alternative to President Obama, I opposed him and supported Mitt Romney. The individual who I most wished to be our 2008 nominee was Fred Thompson, but while I was willing to show up at Fred’s campaign, Fred barely showed up to his own campaign. The only thing that I found of any meaningful conservative value of John McCain’s campaign was his selection of Sarah Palin as Vice President, a choice which, as an early member of the Draft Sarah Palin movement and website, I pushing for long before McCain was the nominee and before most Americans heard of her. And as for Jack Kemp, the answer is yes. Kemp. If you would like to refute his credentials, be my guest and make an even bigger ass of yourself than you already have.
Oooo. Looks like somebody’s a little touchy about Jack Kemp aren’t they?
Well assuming the explanation you give about your political fealties
is really true, I have to say I’m a bit mystified by your man-crush for Kemp,
unless of course you’re his long lost brother or have a fetish
for football players turned politicians. As far as I’m concerned, he
and Mccain and the rest of their ilk are all cut from the same RINO
cloth. And you probably are too, notwithstanding what I expect will
be a raft of avowals to the contrary.
Are you for real? Are you actually involved in politics and does anyone actually take you seriously? If suggesting that your inability to refute the credentials of Jack Kemp is “a mancrush”, than you must truly be as ignorant as your words suggests. Perhaps conservatism to you is represented by a label which throws its endorsement behind anyone who will guarantee a set number of patronage positions on their staff, but for me conservatism is a cause and a belief system which is not swayed by politics but rather changes politics, and it does so for the better. Maybe if you understood what a true conservative was, you wouldn’t feel so threatened about the truth and would not feel the need to defend your self by attacking those whom you know nothing about. Either way, you most certainly are an ass and a perfect example of the reason why Brooklyn Republicans will never advance the cause or enhance the strength of the GOP in New York State or the nation. You are indicative of the level of intelligence which has a political minority in the county eating themselves up and fighting for personal supremacy more than the issues and conservative principles which are the bedrock, or suppose to be the bedrock, of the Party. People like you detract from the Party, and are in large part, why conservatism in the five boroughs is dwindling, not growing. But I guess it is easier for an unaccomplished, diluted pseudo-conservative like yourself to attack others in an attempt to defend and build you yourself up. After all, it is not like people like you actually elect true conservative Republicans to office, you merely talk about it, while, as in the case of the Staten Island-Brooklyn congressional district, you lose us seats in Congress. Thanks for all your work there buddy. Hopefully you’re not touching Grimm’s race. It will be hard enough to get back what people like you cost us, without you polluting that race again. In the mean time, you might want to take something for your inferiority complex and learn how to defend your beliefs in a way that does not make you so blatantly ridiculous and unworthy of my time. So long you deluded little dolt.
Wow, such hostilty. I must’ve hit a raw nerve. As amusing as it is, it worries me to see someone blow a gasket so quickly. I’ll tell you what: take a few deep breaths, go take your meds, have a nice little chat with your therapist and then maybe we can talk more about your man-love for Jack Kemp. 🙂
As some like to say, “The question begs….”
What do you think?
By the way, if you are going to be boring at least try not to be redundant.
whoah this weblog is great i love studying your posts.
Keep up the good work! You recognize, many individuals are looking round for this info, you could aid them greatly.