Queens Campaigner

Sanders boots Council opponent off Community Board

Posted on July 1, 2009 by Howard Koplowitz in City Council, District 31

James Sanders

A former Community Board 13 member and City Council candidate from Laurelton said City Councilman James Sanders (D-Laurelton) did not reappoint him to the board because he is challenging Sanders for his seat.

Marquez Claxton said he met with Sanders several months ago at the councilman’s Far Rockaway office when the councilman bluntly said he could not let him serve on CB 13 because he was running against Sanders in the Democratic primary.

“He said, ‘I’m not going to reappoint someone for the board who’s running against me,’” Claxton said.

“It’s disgusting, political gamesmanship and when you’re talking about effective representation, there’s no place for that,” he said. “What he tried to do was undercut me. What he ended up doing was a tremendous disservice to my community.”

Sanders aide Donovan Richards said the move was not “retaliation” for Claxton running and contended Claxton used the community board for selfish reasons, a charge Claxton denied.

“The community board shouldn’t be politicized and not used by anyone for a narrow agenda,” Richards said. “That’s not the purpose of the community board. The purpose of the community board is to help protect our communities.”

Richards said Sanders replaced Claxton with a Laurelton resident “whose goal is to see the local betterment of the community.”

Claxton, a former NYPD detective and member of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, was first appointed to the board by Sanders two years ago and served as chairman of CB 13’s Public Safety Committee.

He said Sanders could not have had another valid excuse for refusing to reappoint him because he attended all his committee meetings and was an active board member.

“He was just arrogant enough to put before me honestly why he wouldn’t reappoint me,” Claxton said.

The Laurelton resident said if he were in the same position as Sanders he would have reappointed a board member challenging him.

“When I’m the councilman, I won’t deal with things politically as Councilman Sanders did,” he said. “I’m not a political animal, as he is.”

Claxton’s last meeting as a CB 13 member was in March.  The board covers a number of neighborhoods stretching from Glen Oaks in the north to Queens Village and Laurelton along the Nassau border.

In the board’s April newsletter, then-CB 13 Chairman Richard Hellenbrecht said Claxton was welcome to stay on the Public Safety Committee “as a community member.”
Claxton has not been seen at CB 13 meetings since.

Late last month, CB 13 elected former Executive Secretary Brian Block as its new chairman after Hellenbrecht chose not to seek re-election.

Tags: Community Board 13, featured, James Sanders, Marquez Claxton