Let the winner take his Assembly seat

The red wave that swept over the region in last month's elections included Republican Lester Chang’s defeat of Democratic incumbent Peter Abbate in Brooklyn’s 49th Assembly District.

One would now expect the chamber’s Democrats, with their massive 107-43 majority, to simply accept the loss of Abbate after 36 years in the chamber and pick a new governmental employees committee chair. But Albany is the state’s clearinghouse for political manipulations. And that’s where the Assembly’s majority, under Speaker Carl Heastie, is due to take a first step Wednesday toward canceling Chang’s upset — with bleak political implications statewide.

If this extremely rare gambit works as planned, Chang will be blocked from taking the seat for which he is the certified winner, and the first Chinese American elected in the Bensonhurst-based district which now has an Asian majority. How cynical a message would this send to the community — and the rest of the electorate?

The Democrats’ legal angling here involves residency. The chamber’s judiciary committee, chaired by Assemb. Chuck Lavine (D-Glen Cove), is due on Wednesday to meet regarding evidence suggesting Chang did not live in Brooklyn for a year before his election as required by law. Depending what the panel recommends, the full Assembly in January can vote whether to seat Chang. Along the way, the targeted Assembly member-elect will be allowed to dispute the lack of residency charge.

Chang voted only last year in Manhattan's Chinatown. But even if his detractors prove right on the facts, Democrats skipped their chance to challenge the validity of his candidacy during the petitioning period — well before voting was underway. Residency challenges among rival candidates are fairly common. They always seem to have gray areas. They are fittingly decided by election officials and judges who do not have a direct stake in the outcome as Heastie & Co. do in this case.

The law seems to allow the Assembly majority to refuse to seat him. Having the option, however, doesn’t make it a good idea. A century ago, the same Albany chamber resisted the seating of Socialist Party candidates who had won several races, with mixed results. That was at the height of the “red scare” and history has not looked kindly on such purge efforts.

If the Assembly keeps the seat vacant, a special election might follow. Abbate may not even run again, and his party could turn to a different candidate. Why resort to this measure when the Assembly lines are to be redrawn anyway for 2024? Politically, this majority action against Chang could backfire. Expect to hear Republicans credibly campaign against a nullification of the voters' choice by the trickery of Democratic bosses.

Chang won the election. Denying him the seat now would amplify cynicism over the electoral process. The Assembly majority should reconsider its plans.