Lincoln Restler, left, with former Ridgewood Bushwick employee Cyril Joseph. Photos by Benjamin Lozovsky
A week after seemingly winning the election for the 50th Assembly District male leader position for the Brooklyn Democratic party, in a still contested race, candidate Lincoln Restler was denied entry to the vote for the county boss.
It was a culmination of controversy and uncharacteristic enthusiasm, at Brooklyn’s largest yet possibly least known political body, the Democratic County Committee meeting, which took place in Brooklyn Heights, Monday night. A subsequent executive committee meeting also saw its longtime party leader Vito Lopez maintain his position with a resounding 47-3-2 victory over newly-elected 52nd Assembly District male leader Chris Owens. Despite allegations of improprieties and cases of wrongful termination at the Lopez-founded non-profit Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council (RBSCC), and a lively and energized body full of vocal reform-oriented members determined to bring change to the party structure, the County Committee meeting ultimately unfolded as just another showing of Lopez’s entrenched influence over party politics.
