(Photo: NKD)

The New Kings Democrats went there, and fast.

Only a couple hours after news broke that Assemblyman Vito Lopez, who is battling sexual harassment allegations, registered a campaign account for a City Council run, the Democratic club launched  a "molester free zone" campaign, complete with a fairly direct flier, illustrating exactly how negative the marquee race will get should Mr. Lopez officially enter it.

"Voters could not have a more striking contrast between two candidates in the 34th city council district," Alex Low, the president of NKD, said in a statement that named Antonio Reynoso as the club's candidate in the race. "Antonio Reynoso, endorsed today by the National Organization for Women, is a champion of women's rights. On the other hand, Vito Lopez has been serially sexually harassing young female staffers. Vito Lopez belongs in jail, not our City Council."

NKD further claimed that they will be distributing the "molester-free zone" fliers throughout the district to combat a possible Lopez candidacy.

Mr. Lopez, who was stripped of his perks and privileges following the allegations last year, has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, but that's obviously not going to stop his opponents from railing into him on the subject. Accordingly, Mr. Reynoso also slammed Mr. Lopez's filing with what his campaign billed as his "harshest statement to date."

"My community deserves better than a corrupt sexual predator who helped turn Albany into a national disgrace and cringe-inducing cesspool," Mr. Reynoso fumed this afternoon. "If Lopez does move forward with a City Council campaign, he needs to know that his career will end in defeat and embarrassment. Organizations and leaders around the city are rallying around my candidacy, because they know I will deliver honest and ethical leadership."

Frank Seddio standing outside of his law office at Christmastime. (Photo: Facebook)

"I'll tell you what. Monday is Columbus Day, I usually cook something," Frank Seddio, the newly-elected Chairman of the Kings County Democratic Party said to begin our conversation in his Canarsie law office earlier today. "I'll make you some eggplant parmesan. No reporters, just come as a person. Eggplant parmesan. I'm making a real special Sicilian dish that's called 'pasta con le sarde.' It's macaroni with sardines and it tastes ten times better than it sounds!"

We met Mr. Seddio in the morning, so the table before us lacked trays of food, but reporters interviewing him earlier this week were plowed full of macaroni, meatballs, sausages and breaded Italian-style chicken, he said, ticking off the list of dishes he had offered others. At one point in our discussion, a mailman walked in the room and Mr. Seddio urged him to drop by his Columbus Day feast as well. "Everybody comes to eat here when we have food," he said.

As the head of one of the largest Democratic county organizations in the United States, Mr. Seddio clearly isn't what one would expect from his position, which is often referred to as "political boss." For example, Mr. Seddio's predecessor, Assemblyman Vito Lopez, was an imposing, old-school type, known for intimidation tactics and demanding fierce loyalty. Mr. Lopez eventually saw his control of the county party burst into flames when two sexual harassment claims were placed against him and found "credible" by the Assembly Ethics Committee, a situation which could lead to criminal charges. Several of Mr. Lopez's predecessors were indicted for corruption and Mr. Lopez was under federal investigation for years before the sexual harassment charges dropped.

Mr. Seddio, in contrast, is a genial lawyer passionate about esoteric hobbies in addition to backroom wheeling-and-dealing. Indeed, with all of the drama surrounding Mr. Lopez's political implosion and the subsequent maneuvering to succeed him, the new leader said serving pasta was his "therapy" and kept him relaxed.

His other passion? Christmas.

"I have about 500 moving animated dolls along with 500,000 lights, without exaggeration," Mr. Seddio said, showing us photographs of his decorations going twenty-five years back. Online, he has a personal Facebook page entitled "Canarsie Christmas" rather than his given name. "I kid around and tell people we even coordinate with Rockefeller Center because we don't want to take any crowds away from them. When we have an opening night here--this year it's December 2nd--we have anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people out and we close the street."

"On any given Saturday or Sunday in November, if you come by, there'll be twenty people calling 'Uncle Frank' out," he explained. "I'm kind of the maestro of it. There was a time when I'd climb up a ladder or be hanging off the roof, but I'm too old and too fat to be doing that these days."

Mr. Seddio describes his priorities in life as, in order, his grandchildren, Christmas and then politics. He added his wife should also be included somewhere near the top as well. “I got to go home at night," he said, laughing.

"It's an interesting point, I loved politics my whole life," Mr. Seddio energetically answered when we asked why he wanted to be Brooklyn's Democrat-in-charge. "I love being with people. I get involved in campaigns. It's like adrenaline.

To prove the point, Mr. Seddio shared a story.

"I remember many years ago," he began. "I was sitting in a doctor's office with somebody who's very involved in politics--his kids and mine went to the same allergy doctor--and he's complaining every week. I say to him, 'Why do you this?' He says, 'You know Frank, there's that one time you work and the person you work for gets elected, and the thrill of that is almost like, there can't be anything better.' Actually, he says it's almost as good as sex."

Mr. Seddio said he began his political career by volunteering for campaigns and joining the influential Thomas Jefferson Democratic Club when he was just 18-years-old. Mr. Seddio would eventually rise to become the organization's president, and after powerful local Assemblyman Tony Genovesi died in a car accident in 1998, Mr. Seddio was appointed to be his replacement.

"I'm not crazy about Albany," he said of his time in the State Legislature. "Probably one of the most exciting things you can do in Albany is on Tuesday mornings, they have the specials at the local supermarkets, you get there early enough you can get the good buys on things. But it was an interesting experience, a great learning experience."

After serving six years in the State Assembly, Mr. Seddio accepted the nomination to become a surrogate judge, where he only served a brief stint before resigning. At the time of his departure from the judiciary, the Commission on Judicial Conduct launched an investigation into political contributions he gave from his Assembly campaign account. In our interview, he claimed he left the bench to pursue a run for the City Council, but was thwarted when the City Council extended term-limits in 2009.

Instead, Mr. Seddio ran for a district leader position that opened up when local powerbroker Bernie Catcher passed away in 2010. He quickly became one of the more influential district leaders in county politics, no small thanks due to the Thomas Jefferson Club's ability to deliver votes and gather petition signatures over a wide swath of territory.

As Mr. Seddio worked his way through the Party's ranks, Mr. Lopez ruled the Kings County Democratic organization by instigating a constant state of civil war and running primary challenges against legislators who opposed him. Now that he's in charge, Mr. Seddio said he plans to do things differently and vowed to not back challenges to incumbent Democrats.

"We've started not only with words, but with actions," Mr. Seddio said when asked to contrast his leadership style with Mr. Lopez's contentious one. “The good thing is that I don't have a shit list. As a matter of fact, a lot of my friends say I'm the worst Sicilian they've ever met, because I never remember why I'm mad at anybody. It's just not worth it. Anger and hate are too time consuming, they use too much energy, it doesn't serve any purpose."

Indeed, when Mr. Seddio took over the party last month, he immediately gave plum political positions to his critics and skeptics. He also eliminated the controversial "at-large" district leaders who were undemocratically appointed by past county leaders and mounted an aggressive charm offensive with multiple visits to reform-oriented clubs that would have probably preferred someone else lead the county Democrats.

"New Democratic County Leader Frank Seddio has visited CBID, IND and LID to present himself to the reform Democratic clubs in Northwest Brooklyn. He brought awesome cannolis with him to each meeting," Chris Owens, one of the few district leaders to openly back alternatives to Mr. Seddio after Mr. Lopez's collapse, wrote on Facebook last night. "In general, Mr. Seddio's presentations were engaging and generally informative; it appears he will be making a concrete attempt to create a different culture within the Democratic Party leadership structure."

Councilman Lew Fidler, one of Mr. Seddio's closest political allies, similarly sees future progress in the Kings County Democratic Party under Mr. Seddio's leadership.

"Time and trust will heal our wounds. Remembering why we are all Democrats to begin with will heal wounds. Making the trip to (proverbial) China is a good beginning, a gesture of good faith and intentions," he said in an email to Politicker this afternoon. "Of course, the cannolis can't hurt. Wait til he takes them to a deli!"

For his part, Mr. Seddio urged patience. “Tell me the progress we've made in six months," he said of potential criticism. "If I've done it right, I'm hoping that you'll give me the credit for it. If I haven't and I actually misled you, you can call me a bum."

Mr. Seddio also promised not to let his new position go to his head.

"I think you got to remember the Roman emperors, whenever a conquering general came into Rome to be honored, he'd have somebody--a poet or a philosopher--riding with the general and say, 'Remember thou art mortal,'" he explained. "That's kinda what you got to do. It's not about you; it's about doing the right thing."

After all, he has other things on his mind.

"I don't really have an ego about this right now," he said. "Except for Christmas."

City & State

"The goal of the coalition is to clean up Brooklyn Democratic politics, which has been marred by countless scandals for decades, including the recent guilty plea of Senator Carl Kruger, the multiple arrests of Assemblyman William Boyland, and, on a larger scale, the indictment of three of the last four chairmen of the Kings County Democratic Party on corruption charges," the statement read.

Democratic politics in Brooklyn is often defined by whether a candidate or group expresses support or antipathy towards Mr. Lopez, and this new coalition is the latest shot across the bow.

"By investing just a few hours of your time, you can become a real elected official and have the power to vote Vito Lopez and his cronies out of office," Alex Low, the president of New Kings Democrats, said in the statement. “I urge every Brooklyn Democrat who cares about political reform and social justice to reach out to our coalition to find out more about this important initiative."

The clubs joining this new effort are the New Kings Democrats, Independent Neighborhood Democrats, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, Lambda Independent Democrats, Bay Ridge Democrats, and the Southern Brooklyn Democrats.

View the full press release below:

BROOKLYN REFORM COALITION TAKES AIM AT BOROUGH CORRUPTION WITH CAMPAIGN TO RECRUIT POLITICAL CANDIDATES TO RUN FOR LOCAL OFFICE

New Wave of Reformers Aims to Inspire, Train Brooklyn Democrats to Run for County Committee Seats in Direct Challenge to Party Boss Vito Lopez

A new coalition of Brooklyn Democratic clubs announced today that it would seek to reform the Kings County Democratic Party from within by recruiting an unprecedented number of candidates to run for County Committee, the grassroots body of the Democratic Party, which can play an important role in our Borough's politics - when there is a middle of term vacancy in a state elected office, it is the County Committee who determines the Democratic candidate whose name will appear on the ballot. Party boss and Assemblyman, Vito Lopez, has used this often overlooked power to expand his control of elections throughout Kings County.

The new alliance, known as the Brooklyn Reform Coalition, unites many of the borough's reform-motivated political clubs, including New Kings Democrats, Independent Neighborhood Democrats, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, Lambda Independent Democrats, Bay Ridge Democrats, and the Southern Brooklyn Democrats. The goal of the coalition is to clean up Brooklyn Democratic politics, which has been marred by countless scandals for decades, including the recent guilty plea of Senator Carl Kruger, the multiple arrests of Assemblyman William Boyland, and, on a larger scale, the indictment of three of the last four chairmen of the Kings County Democratic Party on corruption charges.

The coalition is aiming to recruit, train, and help elect hundreds of enrolled Democrats to the County Committee. County Committee members constitute the grassroots level of leadership within the local Democratic Party. Generally, they represent just the few blocks around their homes, or roughly 700 to 1,000 registered Democrats. For each of these "Election Districts", there are two or four County Committee members (depending on population), equally divided between male and female representatives. The vast majority of the 5,000 county committee seats across Brooklyn go unfilled, which means that if only one candidate were to run for them, he or she would win automatically.

"Running for County Committee is quick, free, easy, and fun - and the benefits of doing so are enormous," explained Alex Low, the president of New Kings Democrats. "By investing just a few hours of your time, you can become a real elected official and have the power to vote Vito Lopez and his cronies out of office. I urge every Brooklyn Democrat who cares about political reform and social justice to reach out to our coalition to find out more about this important initiative."

In 2010, when the last biannual County Committee elections took place, New Kings Democrats successfully elected over 100 County Committee Members, the vast majority of whom had never run for office before - nor ever thought of doing so. This year, by using social media, community organizing, and word-of-mouth outreach, the Brooklyn Reform Coalition hopes to increase tenfold the number of reformers elected to the County Committee.

"This is grassroots politics at its finest," said Lincoln Restler, a Democratic District Leader, who represents Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and Fort Greene. "We're asking you, your spouse, your roommates, your friends, your family members, your neighbors - every Democrat in Brooklyn - to run for office. Why? So that the most important decisions affecting our democracy aren't made in the backrooms and the clubhouses - they're made by you."

The Dilan victory is a show of strength for the Bushwick council member and an embarrassing defeat for the longtime congressman, whose son, Darryl Towns held the position prior to accepting a post as Housing Commissioner under Governor Andrew Cuomo.

The vote also may have implications for the Assembly seat which Darryl Towns vacated to join the administration. His sister, Deidra Towns is running to replace him--against Rafael Espinal, a staffer to Dilan.

The margin of Dilan's win surprised local politicos, and can be read as a sign of strength by County Leader Vito Lopez, who lobbied district leaders on Dilan's behalf in the days leading up to this evening's vote.

Neither Towns nor Dilan were present for the vote. Towns was at an event for his daughter's campaign, while Dilan waited outside until the district leaders summoned him into the meeting after the vote.

The vote, held at the Stars and Stripes Regular Democratic Club in Bensonhurst, was closed to the press.