A top lieutenant for Kings County Democratic Party Chair Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte has seemingly dropped ranks with his lady boss and is backing insurgent congressional candidate Adem Bunkeddeko over incumbent U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke.
Josue (Josh) Pierre, the male counterpart to Bichotte as the Democratic District Leader in her 42nd Assembly District and Bichotte’s cousin, endorsed Bunkeddeko today.
“We deserve a Congressmember who not only shares our values, but who will take initiative on the most critical issues facing communities like Flatbush: the need for real affordable housing and access to economic opportunities. Adem will be the proactive and engaged leader we need fighting for us in Washington,” said Pierre.
The endorsement comes just two days after Bichotte, as the Kings County Democratic Party Chair, released an entire slate of endorsements that included Clarke and every other incumbent running for re-election next week with the exception of Crown Heights Assemblywoman Diana Richardson, who is in a tight primary contest with former State Sen. Jesse Hamilton.
It also comes as Bichotte is gaining a well-earned Machiavellian reputation of cutting political friends off at the slightest disagreement or indiscretion, and of being extremely Haitian-centric to the detriment of the overall Caribbean community of East Flatbush and Flatbush.
Clarke is a proud Jamaican-American and her mother, Una Clarke, has been a leading political voice for the entire Afro-Caribbean Diaspora – including Haiti – in Flatbush and city politics for years. Additionally, when Bichotte and Pierre’s Shirley Chisholm Democratic Club recently held a Congressional Forum, Clarke was a no show.
Pierre said he spoke to Bichotte about his decision to back Bunkeddeko, but he didn’t think she gave him the blessing to endorse Bunkeddeko with a wink.
“I told her exactly what I was going to do, why it’s important to me and we left it at that,” Pierre said.
Bichotte’s spokesperson Bob Liff had no comment about the endorsement other than that Bichotte’s list of endorsements speaks for itself.
