Press Contact: Sophie Ellman-Golan | sophie@jfrej.org
New York — In response to Mayor Eric Adams' anti-democratic effort to revise New York City's charter, Audrey Sasson, Executive Director of Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ), issued the following statement at a press conference organized by Communities United for Police Reform, NYCLU, and VOCAL-NY:
We believe in democracy, and we believe in the people of New York City. Mayor Adams’s rushed, nakedly political, and frankly half-assed Charter Revision Commission is an insult to both, and we demand that the mayor and commissioners acknowledge how inappropriate it is for them to place anything on the November ballot.
From the January 6th insurrection to a presidential candidate who has vowed to use executive powers to wage a campaign of vengeance against his political rivals, to last night in Westchester where we found out just how much it costs to buy an election in New York State, I think it’s safe to say that our democracy has lately been weakened and abused.
The goal of a Charter Revision Commission should be to strengthen our city’s democracy — not make a mockery of it.
How else would you describe a commission that wants to rewrite New York City’s constitution but is avoiding any input from the people of New York? At their last hearing, in Staten Island, just five people testified in an empty auditorium. And one of them was one of the commissioners!
This isn’t how this is supposed to work. We know it, the commissioners know it, and the mayor knows it! The last thing New Yorkers need right now is more shady politics, self-dealing, and inept autocratic power plays.
We’re tired of politicians bending and twisting the processes of democracy to inflate their own power – it’s bad for Jews, and bad for all of us. Which is why we’re here to say: it’s not too late for the commissioners to change directions and instead show the state, the nation, and the people of New York City what responsible, thoughtful, transparent, governance should look like in a democracy.
Delay any ballot items until 2025 and do this right.
Video footage of Sasson delivering this statement at a press conference alongside other grassroots organizers and criminal legal system reform advocates can be found here or below.