‘Judge’ for yourself if it’s political machine

A Bronx lawmaker is set to step down at the end of the year after securing a judicial nomination, a move that critics say reeks of machine politics.

The Bronx Democratic Party nominated Councilman Andy Cohen for a supreme court judgeship on Monday, a position he seems certain to win in November's general election.

He plans to step down from the Council at the end of December, triggering a special election by the end of March 2021.

The move comes after years of speculation that Cohen (inset) had been holding the seat for local Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz's son Eric, who is indeed running for the position.

A special election could play to the son's advantage, critics said. They noted his father's base of supporters is likely to turn out for the son even as other candidates suffer from the traditionally lower turnout for special elections.

“That is their obvious plan. That is not really a secret,” state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Bronx), a critic of the Bronx political establishment, told the Daily News. “Special elections historically benefit machines.”

Cohen and both Dinowitzes rejected such criticism, but Cohen declined to comment any further about the matter on the record.

“Nonpartisan special elections create the most level playing field for candidates,” Eric Dinowitz said. “Voters are smart and I have to earn their support.”

“Every candidate is on the same footing, exactly,” Jeffrey Dinowitz said. “The election is months away, so nobody has any advantages over anybody else.

“If candidates want to use this as an issue, perhaps they don't have any other issues,” he added.

Still, Cohen's nomination has echoes of recent maneuvers by the Bronx Democratic Party.

In 2016, Maria del Carmen Arroyo stepped down as a City Councilwoman, triggering a special election and preventing competition from gaining strength against party-backed Rafael Salamanca, who won.

A year before that, Robert Johnson abruptly quit as Bronx district attorney, paving the way for an easy win by Darcel Clark, the current incumbent.

“It puts us in a position where we need to adjust the timing of our campaign and it reduces the amount of time that we have to connect with voters and get our message across the district,” Dan Padernacht, who's running for Cohen's seat, said of the expected special election.

As voters become increasingly disenchanted with the Bronx machine, which is suffering from a stunning series of losses, Biaggi said the latest maneuvers could backfire. Primary and general elections for the seat are expected to take place even if there is a special ballot first.

“I don't know that it benefits anybody to have two members of the same family in the same area at the same time,” she said. “I don't know how that's not a negative.

“This whole entire move is so predictable, it's almost boring.”