Dems sue Viv over Elex pick

The Manhattan Democratic Party is filing a lawsuit Monday to block City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito from appointing a pal as Board of Elections commissioner.

By custom, the county party leaders make the appointment to the top patronage post. But in an ongoing feud, Viverito and her council allies have rejected recommendations made by Manhattan Democratic leader Keith Wright and instead recommended her friend Andy Praschak for the post.

Twice in the past two weeks, Viverito sought to have the 48 Democrat council members approve Praschak (right, with her). But she couldn’t get a quorum after party leaders from the other boroughs — in solidarity with Wright — advised their council members not to show up, sources said.

“The City Council did not have a quorum at its Democratic Caucus on Nov. 30, 2017, but it could have one within a matter of days,” Arthur Schwartz, the Manhattan Democrats’ lawyer and a district leader, said in papers being filed in Manhattan court.

Wright, the lead plaintiff, is joined by Democratic activists. Viverito and the City Council are named as defendants.

“This is not just a fight between Keith Wright and Melissa Mark-Viverito. The NY County Democratic Party consists of more than 50 elected district leaders, like me, who have a right, under the New York Constitution, to designate an Election Board commissioner,” Schwartz said.

Wright last week nominated lawyer Sylvia DiPietro to be the Democrats’ next Elections Board commissioner representing Manhattan. But most members favored Praschak, an environmental lawyer.

The election law states that the council can reject a party’s recommendation and make its own appointment. Schwartz argues the law runs afoul of the state constitution.