Stop this intra-party squabbling

To the editor:

(re: “Dems need to work together,” July 27)

I am bemused by the debate going on regarding the altered petitions for the judicial slate put forward by our Democratic district leaders Abigail Martin and Ramdat Singh.

We are in the midst of the gravest threat to the underlying structure of democracy in America — incited by far-right actors who seek to falsely frame Democrats as thieves and cheaters. This local debate should stand in contrast to the former president and current frontrunner for the Republican nomination. Donald Trump’s ongoing campaign looks to both exculpate himself from his many indictments while framing the previous presidential election as illegitimate — and yet it does not.

The laws for elections are either sacrosanct or they are not. Abigail Martin, Ramdat Singh, and the so called Unity Club cannot only follow the rules when they are convenient to them, and to claim otherwise only serves to benefit those Republicans who would sooner crown Trump as our forever president. Though to many, the petitioning process is tedious and arcane, I do not want to be represented by those who dismiss the fundamental rules of our elections.

If our district leaders cannot meet the minimum threshold for candidacy, how can we be asked to put our faith in them as representatives of the Democratic Party? As Democrats, we cannot afford to leave any opening for the disparagement of our electoral process, and fighting to make sure that our local elections are fairly and legally run should never be classified as disunity.

Unity for Democrats should not be a bludgeon used to silence those who are seeking to build a stronger Democratic Party and a stronger Bronx. Democrats need to row the boat together toward a party which has the sticking power to push anti-democratic forces out of government and polite society all together.

While mistakes do happen, being a representative means being held accountable for one’s mistakes, and I have yet to see an apology written by Abigail Martin, Ramdat Singh, or any member of the leadership team of the Unity Club to apologize for this fatal error.

Rather than pretending that this is no big deal and that putting Wite Out on legal documents is a normal course of action, our representatives of the Democratic Party must stand up and reaffirm the importance of election law.

As always, we have elections coming up, and this election season will determine if Donald Trump — or any other anti-democratic Republican — will be given the chance to dismantle our democracy.

I want to see a united Democratic Party gearing up to fight for every congressional seat in New York. A Democratic Party ready to help Joe Biden campaign across the nation. And a Democratic Party which unequivocally stands for the values of democracy.

We don’t need Democrats masquerading as unifiers of the party eroding confidence in elections, putting more energy into fighting other Democrats than ousting Republicans from the U.S. House, and failing to increase engagement in local elections.

People want an effective Democratic Party to stand for our values, and Abigail Martin and Ramdat Singh must put aside their own egos to apologize so that we can all move forward to put Joe Biden back in the White House.

Sam Adler