Democrats in Queens this morning picked district leader Michael Den Dekker to replace Assemblyman Ivan Lafayette on the ballot in September.

“I am honored to be asked to replace such an esteemed member of the assembly,” Den Dekker told me in a brief interview. “I was amazed that this process even happened, and I was lucky enough to even be asked.”

“No one thought he would step down,” he went on, adding, “We just follow the rules on how to fill a vacancy.”

The vacancy was created when Lafayette submitted petitions to get on the ballot for reelection this fall and then declined the nomination to instead take a job with the governor.  read more »

The dean of the Queens Assembly delegation, Ivan Lafayette, is declining his party’s nomination for re-election and taking a job with the state, in effect creating an emergency vacancy on the ballot.

“It’s been 32 years in Albany, it’s a long time. It’s almost like a career,” Layfayette told me over the phone just now.

Because nominating petitions have already been turned in, the candidate who will run on the Democratic ticket will be chosen by the committee to fill vacancies that Lafayette selected while preparing his own petition. The assemblyman declined to specify the new job.

“I was offered a position and I thought I could do a lot more for the public in this new position,” he said.  read more »