I read this NYT story about candidates running for County Committee in Queens, New York in disbelief (though that really shows my naïveté).
The New York Times called dozens of the Queens party machine’s nominees for county committee. The candidates for 21 seats were running without their consent.
…
The total number of unsuspecting candidates could be considerably higher: Party leaders fielded more than 1,300 nominees, at least a hundred more than in the last race in 2016.
Meanwhile, progressive candidates that the party machine disfavored (mainly from the New Queens Democrats) were disqualified based on various technicalities:
the machine is press-ganging nominees even as reform-minded candidates seeking the same entry-level seats at the table, inspired by Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, are being disqualified in droves for falling afoul of complex filing rules.
…
any seats filled by party candidates would not be filled by insurgents.
The people at the top of machine consisted of those close to party boss and recent primary-loser Joe Crowley, which the insurgents were frequently people from the New Queens Democrats.
Is there any excuse for this kind of mafia-like behavior? No wonder people don’t trust the political process and don’t trust Democrats.
In the bluest city in a blue state — this kind of obscenity continues to happen!