Pol keeps his 'own' council

Times exit so he can pick his replacement

City Councilman David Greenfield suddenly dropped his reelection bid Monday — timing his announcement so he could handpick his successor.

Greenfield, a Brooklyn Democrat who heads the Land Use Committee, said he’ll take over as executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty in January after completing his term.

He claimed that he’s been in talks with the scandal-scarred nonprofit for a “couple of weeks” and reached a deal on Sunday.

The timing makes it impossible for other candidates to get on the Democratic primary ballot since the deadline for filing petitions was nearly four days earlier, midnight on Thursday.

As a result, Greenfield’s campaign will be able to choose the Democratic nominee — and it looks likely to select longtime campaign aide Kalman Yeger (far right, with Greenfield), who is almost certain to win the November election in the district, which includes Midwood and Borough Park.

“Councilman Greenfield’s conveniently timed resignation comes right after petitioning, effectively allowing him to hand pick his successor,” said Susan Lerner, executive director of watchdog group Common Cause.

“This kind of cynical tactic props up insiders and elites at the expense of voter confidence in our democratic institutions.”

Dick Dadey, director of the good-government group Citizens Union, said the move “disenfranchises voters.”

Greenfield insisted the initial job offer came unexpectedly.

“The process started two weeks ago,” he said. “It happened very quickly.”

The Met Council was rocked by scandal in 2014 when thenhead William Rapfogel pleaded guilty to charges connected to a $9 million kickback scheme.

His replacement, David Frankel, earned over $500,000. Council members are paid $148,500.

Greenfield, who took office in 2010, isn’t the first politician to take advantage of a loophole in the election calendar.

The late Queens Rep. Thomas Manton declined the Democratic line on the last possible day in 1998, allowing his campaign to substitute then-Assemblyman Joseph Crowley as the Demo- cratic candidate. In overwhelmingly Democratic New York City, Crowley easily won the general election. He still holds the seat nearly two decades later.