Josh Skaller

Level
District

Constituency
Assembly District 44

More Information
Josh’s Twitter

2020 LID Questionnaire Response

What is a district leader?

District Leaders are volunteering positions in the Party. In Brooklyn, we also serve as the state committee members of our respective districts. Historically there is by law one male and one female district leader per assembly district, however this year the party has taken steps to remove binary language from our party rules. There is still a good bit of legal work to be done, perhaps on the state constitutional level, before we will see this reflected on the ballot hower.

A large portion of district leader work revolves around making sure our elections function properly. This includes recruiting and placing poll workers at the polls, helping candidates qualify for the ballot (particularly judges, who often face a variety of hurdles). We also spend time recruiting and organizing the county committee, representing our Assembly Districts at county executive committee meetings, and generally being a liaison between the community and our elected officials.

One particular role that has been important to LID's concerns has been advocating within county for judges. I have been proud to support and have played a role in the advancement of both civil and supreme court justices Lambda has identified as priorities.

Do you support creating a non-binary option for district leaders (e.g., district leaders can either be male, female, or gender-non binary).

Yes, I have outspoken in my support. The state committee, and Democratic District Leadership should be inclusive to all who wish to participate.

What is your vision for a more open and transparent county party organization?

I have worked alongside LID, CBID, IND, and others over many years in the 52 to further the reform cause. Much of what I know about how to interact with county I learned from my predecessors: Alan Fleishman, Chris Owens, and Jo Anne Simon. Arguably some of the most important reformers we've had in brooklyn in a long time. Their work on establishing the county screening panel speaks for itself.

Fundamentally, the party must continue to transform and represent all of the myriad of constituencies that exist here in brooklyn. And in order to do that, we must continue to insist on greater transparency and party that isn't beholden to insiders or real estate money (as was the case with Vito). Over the years we've seen what happens without this accountability. County Leaders have gone to (or should have gone to) jail, judges have been denied fair shots at elections, and incumbents who have long outstayed their welcome have been continually propped up.

The 52nd has long had the largest county committee, and the most committed. I continue to work to make sure that the many constituencies in the 52nd all have a space and a voice on our county committee. A number of rules reforms I have proposed have, I believe, moved us in the right direction. Last year I proposed far reaching proxy reform rules, that unfortunately did not make it out of the executive committee. However, I was able to propose and pass some lesser reforms that I am pleased with, including mandating a blank line be provided for committee members to fill in rather than only the county chair, and some clear language letting people know what it means to sign over their proxy.

Currently I have a complete package of financial transparency rules that will go through the rules committee, and hopefully be adopted by county. These rules I think will go a long way towards encouraging party members that the county finances are well accounted for, and open for all to see.

Finally, I have recently been appointed chair of the rules committee, and I am hopeful that the work we do there will continue to shine sunlight into more and more aspects of the parties operations.

Tell us how a district leader can best support the LGBTQ community? Please be specific.

There are three areas in particular where I feel the DL's can be supportive.

First, we must continue to use the party apparatus to further elect both members of the LGBTQ community, and officials that understand and support the needs of the community. Yes, we've had some great success over the years together, but there is still plenty of work to do in this area. To this end I would like to see a permanent LGBTQ spot on the county judicial screening panel

We can continue to encourage and support LGBTQ county committee members as well as rank and file members of the party to exert influence on party position in regards to both legislation and candidates

We must continue to push for full inclusion in our party electoral platform, which means creating an equal space for non-binary candidates and party members.

Do you commit to using inclusive and gender neutral language in press releases and other announcements (e.g., “the people of the…” instead of “the men and women of the…”)?

I do!!