A top Coney Island community organizer and a former elected official threw their hat in the ring for the 46th Assembly District seat left vacant after Alec Brook-Krasny officially stepped down last week.
Pamela Harris, a retired corrections officer, Coney Island homeowner, Superstorm Sandy Heroine, and longtime community organizer, said she will meet with female Democratic District Leader Delia Schack and the district’s Democratic Party Executive Committee to present her case for getting the Democratic nod in the expected upcoming November special election.
“I’m about being honest and upfront with the community,” said Harris. “I have a Master’s Degree in human development. and I’ve been working my butt to the bone for the community and earned the right to run as a politician.”
Harris also has done volunteer work for Schack’s Shorefront Democratic Club, and has an excellent working relationship with current City Councilman Mark Treyger and other local officials.
Also tossing his hat in the ring is former Sheepshead Bay City Councilman Michael Nelson, who lives in Coney Island’s Trump Village.
“Who would be more qualified than myself,” said Nelson, who was term-limited out of office in 2013. “I’m not a hot shot, but I have experience. I know how to work in Albany and bring things home for the community.”
While Harris and Nelson are both ready to have the District Executive Committee interview them this week, several longtime district sources worry that political insiders are stacking the deck so that Brook-Krasny’s former chief-staff Kate Cucco gets the Party’s nod.
A rumor, that if it comes to fruition, Schack vows to fight as on paper she should have the majority county committee members from the district to pick the candidate.
“I want someone that knows, lives and has worked in the community and the executive board wants someone from the community,” said Schack, noting that Cucco has only been in the area for four years and rarely ventures out of the Bay Ridge/Bensonhurst section of the district.
The rumor mill was further fueled when Cucco had the Manhattan-based Observer come to a going away party for Brook-Kransy, where Brook-Krasny pledged his support for her. The publication also reported sources as saying she would get the nod, despite the fact no interviews for the position have been done yet.
Schack said 13 possible candidates will be vetted this week by her executive committee from the district. They will then go to Democratic Party Chair Frank Seddio with their pick, which according to Party bylaws he must support. However, sources say that some elected officials in Albany are already gearing up to challenge Schack’s committee members.
Also expected to garner series consideration is Bay Ridge Attorney Andrew Gounardes, who works as counsel to Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.
The district includes Coney Island and parts of Brighton Beach, Bath Beach, Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge.
