Wondering why it took all this time for the DSA to admit their Brooklyn poster children Chi Osse’ and Shahana Hanif to it’s official DSA Council block? So are we. As those who are just looking at this on the surface can’t help but celebrate the increase in City Council DSA members, sources say there was some jealousy there. It’s par for the course in any political jockeying for sure. Both council people are not always in lockstep with the organization’s leadership, (Osse’ joining, then quitting then joining again) he might not be trusted. But he did seem to manage to get over- whelming support from the membership at large and his crushing win in the election showed true. Hanif won easily too.
Complex, but quite organized
The complex, but quite organized, voting structure that the DSA has in place for its endorsement process has proven to fill a void in the electoral engagement process in NYC, which has energized a mass number of voters. ‘Get people to feel they actually have a voice in who their group endorses, and you will get engagement,” said one veteran political consultant we deal with often and who spoke with us about the DSA, “and you get relevance. Hey, for generations, the other political parties have a ‘leadership structure’ that has left out the little guy and they survived pretty well till now, but as we all can see, especially here in Brooklyn and Queens, they are losing their grip. Let’s see how things go when electeds in the DSA have to meet with leadership weekly and they might not always ‘tow-the-line.’ Tiffany Caban, one of the now four anointed DSA Council members made waves as soon as she won the election in Astoria in 2021 by snubbing the council budget. She was punished by then city council speaker Adrienne Adams, and some of her funding stream was threatened. AOC came to her defense on social media and the threatened money was restored to the children’s services in her district that were threatened. But the act of defiance against the bedget earned Caban that badge of honor the DSA leadership loves. Some question just how long that leadership group of the city’s DSA remains in tact.
