New York - A day after a resolution was passed by the Democratic convention symbolically removing him from the party, Senator Simcha Felder has vowed to continue doing what he was elected to do:  representing the interests of the residents of the 17th Senate District.

In a telephone interview with VIN News this afternoon, Felder admitted to being upset by the resolution and said that he was disappointed that partisanship appeared to be a higher priority than coming to the aid of New Yorkers who are struggling with massive financial burdens and other important issues.

“It is disheartening to see so many Democratic party operatives focused on throwing me out,” Felder told VIN News. “What is more important to me is serving my constituents.”

Still, Felder said it is will be business as usual for him, despite the censure by Democrats.

“I was elected to represent my constituents, not a particular party,” said Felder.

A second resolution passed last night at the convention had Democrats agreeing to throw their full support behind whoever opposes Felder in the September 13th primary, but any hopes the party may have had of completely removing Felder from their ranks were quickly dashed by Brooklyn Democratic party chairman Frank Seddio who voiced his support for Felder.  By law, Felder could only be ousted from the party at the county level, something that could not happen without Seddio’s approval.

“The Brooklyn democratic chair is opposed to the resolution,” said Seddio spokesperson George Arzt.  “Frank Seddio will take no action against Simcha Felder.”

There was no actual count of votes on the resolution to evict Felder, explained Arzt. Instead, delegates called out their “nay” and “yea” votes on a group of resolutions, including the two to expel Felder and another to legalize the use of marijuana. 

Just seconds after announcing the final resolution in the group, the one to remove Felder from the Democratic party, executive party director Geoff Berman slammed his gavel down and proclaimed the “yea” votes as the majority, passing the resolutions.  Brooklyn delegate David Schwartz disagreed with Berman’s decision to pass the measures, calling it a “sham.”

As previously reported on VIN News (http://bit.ly/2xa1IZn), Governor Andrew Cuomo made clear his intention to rid the Democratic party of Felder who continues to caucus with Republicans, preventing the democrats from gaining a highly sought after majority in the Senate.

Blake Morris, Felder’s likely contender in the September primary, took to social media to gleefully announce the passage of yesterday’s resolution, but warning that Felder could still be a tough opponent to beat.

Referring to a Daily News article, Morris tweeted, “Here is good coverage of what the NY State Democratic Party ‘kicking Felder out’ actually means:  not much.  This is why I still need your support as the only way to ‘kick Felder out’ is to beat him at the polls.”