David Pollak resigned Friday as co-chair of the NY State Democratic Party. According to the Albany Times Union, he will serve instead as "director of new voter outreach."

In the absence of hard facts, the speculation on why Dave resigned could get very interesting. We all cheered when he was named co-chair, seeing his appointment as a confirmation that the grass roots progressive movement had "arrived." While I feel that Dave is perfectly suited to his new role, I view his stepping down from the co-chair position (which certainly wasn't entirely voluntary) as a slap in the face to the grass roots.

I won't speculate on the behind-the-scenes machinations that led to Dave's resignation until I have some verifiable facts. Feel free, however, to post any hard information here.

It appears that there is far more to this story than meets the eye. The following is cobbled together from several sources, all of whom are highly placed enough (for the information they have given me) and well enough known to me that I am convinced of their authenticity, but all of whom have requested anonymity for one reason or another:

Apparently, the state Democratic Party is not behind Republican-turned-Democrat Christopher Bodkin’s recent conversion, nor are they behind his appearance on the scene as a possible opponent to Caesar Trunzo. It may also be true (although I cannot get specific information on this) that the state Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) wasn’t directly involved either, at least at first. According to my sources, the catalyst is even higher.

Congressman Steve Israel represents the 2nd Congressional District, which includes much of that state Senate district. Congressman Steve Israel also raises a lot of money for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC, a.k.a. “D-triple-C). As a result, to a large extent, whatever Congressman Steve Israel wants, Congressman Steve Israel gets.

What does this mean? Read on...