New BOE Counsel is a Boundary Breaker and a Shrewd Political Choice
After a year in which both the BOE and the Brooklyn Democratic Party that partially controls it were pummelled with accusations of corruption and incompetence, Patel s appointment is seen as a broadly popular decision across the borough’s fractured political landscape.
Hemalee Patel at a political event in 2020. Liena Zagare/Bklyner
Last week, the city’s Board of Elections named Brooklyn attorney Hemalee Patel as its new General Counsel, replacing scandal-laden Steve Richman as the Board’s top lawyer.
The BOE’s appointment of Patel, a 20-year court system veteran who is the first South Asian woman to hold the role, was a win for those looking to elevate women of color in government. But the appointment was also notable because, after a year in which both the BOE and the Brooklyn Democratic Party that partially controls it were pummelled with accusations of corruption and incompetence, it represented a bro
NYPD Reformer s City Council Candidacy Finds Financial Support From Fellow Officers
arrow Edwin Raymond GRIFFIN LIPSON/BFA/SHUTTERSTOCK
When NYPD Lieutenant Edwin Raymond blew the whistle on alleged arrest quotas pushed by the department, he became a target of scorn and derision from his superiors who wrote poor job evaluations, which hobbled his career. His revelation that a numbers-obsessed NYPD was purposefully arresting Black and brown New Yorkers as a means of being proactive which he opposed despite confidants advising he keep quiet earned him national prominence and exhortations from supporters to run for office.
Five years after secretly recording superiors pressing him to meet arrest quotas, which resulted in an ongoing federal class action lawsuit filed by 12 officers (Raymond included) against the city, he took his supporters advice by running in this year’s Democratic primary for Brooklyn s 40th Council District. The winner of the pri