A longtime power player in Brooklyn politics who now serves on the Board of Elections promoted a fundraiser for Anthony Weiner’s City Council campaign – a move one good government group says crosses an ethical line.
Frank Seddio, the one-time Kings County Democratic boss, sent invitations for a March 10 breakfast fundraiser at Junior’s for Weiner, who is running to represent parts of Lower Manhattan. Weiner previously represented southern Brooklyn as a city councilmember and U.S. Representative before torpedoing his career through multiple sexting scandals.
“Anthony is an old friend who will be a great councilman,” reads the invitation from Seddio. “If elected he will be an outstanding public official. Please join us in assisting in his efforts to once again be a credit to the people of NYC.”
The move did not violate any rules or laws for Board of Elections commissioners, according to Board of Elections Deputy Executive Director Vincent Ignizio. But Weiner’s primary challengers and ethics watchdogs pounced on the optics of an official in charge of administering a free and fair election raising money for one candidate.
Susan Lerner, head of the good government group Common Cause New York, said Seddio’s decision to host a fundraiser underscores why politics should be removed from the Board of Elections and the agency should become a professional, nonpartisan operation.
“As an election commissioner, is he going to put the interests and the needs of the voters first, or is he going to prioritize the candidate that he is fundraising for?” Lerner said. “No election official should ever put themselves in that situation.”
The New York City Charter prohibits certain city officials “with substantial policy discretion” from engaging in political activities like hosting fundraisers. But since 2001, New York Board of Elections officials have held the position that that provision of the charter does not apply to them.
“Our commissioners have no such prohibition of political or fundraising activities due to the nature of the agency and its composition as created in state law,” Ignizio said.
Seddio, who was appointed to his role with the Board of Elections in January, said all he did was send an email. He said the Weiner campaign was hosting the fundraiser.
“There’s no prohibition for a Board of Elections commissioner to support the candidate, although I’m just doing him a favor and sending out the flyer on it. But there is no prohibition against it,” Seddio said.
Weiner described Seddio as “an old friend.” Weiner said he was strictly adhering to the rules governing the city’s campaign finance system.
“I’m following every rule, dotting every ‘I’ and crossing every ‘T.’ And I am not at all surprised that my successes in this race are upsetting my opponents,” Weiner said. “That was bound to happen.”
Starting Tuesday, all of the Council candidates hoping to appear on the primary ballot in June will need to collect at least 450 signatures from registered voters within their own party and in their district to qualify.
Candidates often challenge the validity of their competitors’ petitions as a way to block them from the ballot and knock them out of the race.
The Board of Elections’ 10 commissioners adjudicate specific challenges to a candidate’s petitions. In the past, commissioners have recused themselves if they have a specific interest in a race. When Republican Councilmember Kristy Marmorato ran for her seat in the northeast Bronx’s 13th District, her husband Gino Marmorato, the Board’s Bronx Republican commissioner, recused himself in matters relating to her race.
Seddio said he will also recuse himself from any issues related to the 2nd District’s City Council primary where Weiner is running because of their long-standing friendship.
“I go back with him probably 30 years since he worked for Chuck Schumer. And he represented my district as a congressman for many, many years when he was in Congress. And I supported him for mayor,” Seddio said. “Even if he wasn’t running a fundraiser and even if I didn’t send [the invitation] out, I would still recuse myself,” he added.
Weiner is eyeing a political comeback through the 2nd City Council District, which includes parts of the East and West Villages and stretches north to Gramercy. Weiner currently trails three of his competitors’ fundraising, with only $26,825 in his campaign account. He has not yet qualified for public matching funds, but insisted he would meet the necessary thresholds after next month’s March 17 filing deadline.
Weiner’s three leading rivals in the race sounded the alarm about the fundraiser.
“I do think people who serve on the Board of Elections should do their best to stay above the fray,” said Assemblymember Harvey Epstein, who is running against Weiner in the Democratic primary. “I’m concerned that Frank Seddio is making a decision that potentially crosses a lot of ethical boundaries.”
Fellow candidate Andrea Gordillo, who chairs Community Board 3 and is development director at The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, said the event at Junior’s highlighted the need for new leadership in the district.
“Frank Seddio and Anthony Weiner teaming up? That’s not a fundraiser, that’s a walking ethics violation with an open bar,” Gordillo texted.
Seddio’s ethics have come under scrutiny in the past. In 2005, he was elected to serve a 14-year term as a Surrogate’s Court judge in Brooklyn but resigned just two years later after facing a potential investigation by the Commission on Judicial Conduct over illegal campaign contributions, the New York Daily News reported.
Sarah Batchu, who has worked at City Hall and with the Lower East Side Girls Club, said she is particularly critical of anyone supporting Weiner’s comeback because he is a registered sex offender. In 2017, Weiner pleaded guilty to one charge connected to sending obscene material to a minor. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
“Anthony Weiner is a registered sex offender who shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near City Hall,” said Batchu, who plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit people convicted of sex crimes from running for city office. “Our mothers, daughters, sisters and friends deserve a government they can trust that is free of predators.”
Of the four candidates vying for the seat, Batchu currently leads the fundraising pack with $206,614 in her campaign account.
