Which, if you’re a Democratic Party official, is sort of like having your house raided by cousins. They’re related, but don’t belong there.

In an interview today, the Assemblyman and former Manhattan Democratic chair Denny Farrell wondered what would happen if elected officials could have votes from only one line count towards their election.

"If they're that powerful, would they support a single party line, and would they feel comfortable believing they would get a majority of the members joining them?" he asked.

"That would answer the question of whether or you are the major party."

If only things worked that way.

The event is taking place at 6 p.m. tonight at Yorkville Gardens (225 East 93rd Street).

The outgoing leader, Assemblyman Herman Denny Farrell, is leaving the post after more than two decades, “but I’m still holding onto my district leader position,” he said in a brief interview this afternoon, which he conducted between incoming calls on one of two cell phones he regularly uses.

One challenge facing the incoming chairman will be the growing power of the Working Families Party to influence primaries and patronage, the traditional prerogatives of the Democratic organizations. Another, sooner or later, will be managing what could be a bloody fight for Representative Charlie Rangel’s congressional seat in Harlem, whenever that opens up.

“To begin with, I think Charlie has another 10 to 15 years to go,” Farrell said.

“The person I’d like to see next is a young person,” said the 77-year-old Farrell, “but we have primaries and we have people who run on their own.”

Farrell, who was first elected to the State Assembly in 1974, said, “New York City and New York State doesn’t tend to have a lot of people chairing powerful committees.” He said that was because “they don’t stay long enough. They run for city offices."

When I asked Farrell what he’d like to be remembered for, he said his ability to keep the Democratic Party in Manhattan growing, and the scandal-free slate of judges they’ve helped put on the bench.

“All of our judges, none of them have gotten into trouble,” he said.

I think he’ll also be remembered for a memorable on-air exchange with Fred Dicker. And for his shirts. Definitely the shirts.

He is now trying to clarify that remark.

When I asked his office for comment, they emailed audio the full conversation with the press, which includes the governor's attempt to soften the language.

At about the 7:30 mark, Paterson says, “I didn’t say that my colleagues were bloodsuckers. I said that there were certain people who listened to advocates, and as soon as they left, and it got dark, were acting in that way, like Count Dracula, because they really didn’t care or were not about to do anything about what the advocates were in Albany to try to persuade.”

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s office declined to comment.

Assemblyman Denny Farrell told me, sportingly, “As a member of the Dracula club, I have no comment.”

The letter, which was forwarded to me by the campaign, says:

It's an attempt to position Tingling, who has enjoyed a lot of party support, as a reformer in a race for an office that has been dogged by the issue of patronage for some time. He is running against John Reddy and Nora Anderson.

This copy of the letter, sent to me by a recipient, was sent out on official Assembly letterhead, which is only supposed to be used for legislative work. The letter doesn’t ask for money, but it does ask people to attend a political club meeting, which falls under the category of political work. It's not the biggest deal in the world, but certainly the sort of thing that could provide fodder for a future oppponent. (Farrell is unofficially planning to run for City Council in 2009.)

When I called Farrell just now, he said it was a mistake made by his staff, and that he’s usually very careful to separate legislative work he conducts in his office from the political work that he does at the Tioga Democratic Club, which is right across the street.

UPDATE: Farrell just called to say the letters were only sent to 10 people, and that he's going to pay for it out of his own pocket.

The same article also quotes an unnamed aide to Assemblyman Herman “Denny” Farrell, the former chairman of the state Democratic Party, saying he won't run for speaker of the City Council if he gets elected to the Council next year.

I called Farrell just now, and he told me, “I never put myself in for the speakership so I couldn’t pull myself out for the speakership. I’ve always said I was supporting Inez Dickens.” He added, “If I were to become a City Council person, I would support Inez Dickens.“

Already in contention for the speaker's job are a number of current City Council members: Dan Garodnick, Jessica Lappin and Dickens of Manhattan, as well as Letitia James and Vinny Gentile of Brooklyn.

Pollak had previously run the group Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century, which brought political leaders in front of young professionals and provided a place for those leaders to recruit campaign operatives and legislative employees.

Pollak, along with chair June O’Neill, was hand-picked by Eliot Spitzer to run the party after the departure of former chair Herman Denny Farrell. Pollak was charged (naturally) with bringing the party into the 21st century.

The departure comes amid a number of personnel changes David Paterson has made to replace Eliot Spitzer's hires with his own.

Here is the official statement:

But there are other candidates worth acknowledging, like Dan Garodnick and likely incoming member Denny Farrell, both of Manhattan.

Gonzalez’s spokesman Michael Schweinsburg makes the most colorful argument for considering a non-Manhattan candidate for the speaker’s job.

From the article:

“They [other boroughs] have licked on their lollipop too many times, so enough is enough already.”

None of the institutional players like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, state party Chairman Herman Denny Farrell, are on stage. That's a bit different from the scene 12 years ago when George Pataki won, surrounded by people like Charles Gargano, Al D'Amato and state Senator Roy Goodman of Manhattan.

And the room is emptying out , with everyone heading to the real after parties that I presume is where all the shirt ties get undone, and the fun really starts. But some are sticking to bask in the glory of the night's victory to the Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" pumping from the speakers.

-- Azi Paybarah

Ray Hernandez refers to the latest iteration of that lament this morning in a story about despairing Senate Dems. Here's the passage:

Certainly, complaints about legislative leaders have always been a common feature in Democratic politics, and Silver's standing has been secure enough among his own members to have exceeded the amount of time it normally takes for a Speaker to fall victim to legislative mutiny.

But are the charges that he's not a team player really "outrageous"?

It's always been somewhat difficult for us in the media to separate anonymous griping about Silver - of which there has never been a shortage - from legitimate complaint.

For that matter, it's been famously hard for anyone outside of Silver's inner circle to tell what he's really thinking on any subject at any given time. (The New York Times has described him as "inscrutable" at least four times since 1998, according to Nexis, as did some unoriginal reporter in The Observer.)

Can anyone -- particularly those of you with longer institutional memories than we have - share some stories of Silver helping, hurting (or just ignoring) other Democrats in their hours of need?