Cooperator Jacob Goldman has been appointed to the post of Male District Leader for our part of assembly district 65, following the passing last year of David Weinberger, who had held the post for many years.

Goldman owns Loho Realty, a tenant of our commercial property, and lives in East River Coop with his family. His brother, Dov, is on the East River board of directors.

The role of district leader is a volunteer position within the Democratic Party. As an elected position, district leaders serve as local Democrats’ representatives to the inner workings of the party. In New York City, assembly districts are carved into parts, and each part gets two district leaders, one male and one female. Elections are every two years and take place during the state primary in September. Goldman’s appointment in part A lasts until the next primary for this post (which I believe will be in 2017).

While there can be contested elections for district leader, that has not been the case for many years on Grand Street, where part A is organized by the Truman Democratic Club, which has been tightly controlled for years by Sheldon Silver and Willie Rapfogel, both now convicted felons living at home. While the club’s power in the assembly district was challenged last year when Alice Cancel, its pick to succeed Silver, was defeated, its grip on Grand Street politics remains unchallenged.

Other district leaders for the 65th assembly district are Karen Blatt (part A); Alice Cancel and Pedro Cardi (part B, Lower East Side Democratic Club); Paul Newell and Jenifer Rajkumar (part C, Downtown Independent Democrats); and Jenny G. H. Lam-Low and Justin Yu (part D, United Democratic Organization).