The Brooklyn DA is investigating a district leader. She tried to honor him.

Brooklyn Democratic District Leader Dionne Brown-Jordan tried to honor Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez at a holiday party – even as his office has an open investigation into allegations that Brown-Jordan nominated folks for county committee without their knowledge or consent, including a dead woman, as the Daily News reported. It may look like Brown-Jordan is trying to curry favor with the Democratic prosecutor, but Gonzalez’s team says he isn’t going, and has asked that his name be removed from the invite. Ironically, Brown-Jordan may have added Gonzalez’s name without his full knowledge or consent. 

“This came in as a holiday party. After we found out it was a fundraiser we realized we couldn’t attend,” said Oren Yaniv, a spokesperson for Gonzalez. DAs’ code of conduct effectively bars them from speaking at political events outside of election years. The Dec. 14 party at Gargiulo’s in Coney Island is raising money for Brown-Jordan’s political club, the Southern Brooklyn Democrats. Brown-Jordan and the club didn’t respond to a request for comment, but Brooklyn Democratic Party Executive Director Yamil Speight-Miller spoke to her, and told City & State that honoring Gonzalez wasn’t meant to sway him on the case, but that the main focus was “to reach the hearts of children across the city” with donations of presents. 

“All of those allegations that came up are still under investigation,” Yaniv told City & State, regarding Brown-Jordan. But history suggests that prosecution is unlikely. Previous allegations of people unknowingly getting added to county committees – such as in the Bronx in 2016 or Queens in 2018 – have rarely, if ever, resulted in charges.