State Democratic Chairman Steps Down After Party’s Sweep

By JONATHAN P. HICKS

Citing the victories by Democrats in all of New York’s statewide races on Tuesday, Assemblyman Herman D. Farrell Jr., said yesterday that he would step down as chairman of the State Democratic Party at the end of the year.

“After winning everything we won, there doesn’t seem to be a better time to move on,” Mr. Farrell said in an interview. “We’ve built a very good structural operation throughout the state. I just don’t see how things could get any better.”

Mr. Farrell, who is 74 and has been the state party chairman for five years, said he would remain chairman of the Democratic organization in Manhattan.

He has represented part of Upper Manhattan in the Assembly since 1975, and is chairman of the powerful Assembly Ways and Means Committee. He is also a close ally of the Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver.

Mr. Farrell said that the decision to step down was his and that he was under no pressure from Eliot Spitzer, the governor-elect, to leave.

Several Democratic leaders, however, said that it was customary for an incoming governor to select the person who will lead the party.

It is unclear whom Mr. Spitzer might select as the replacement for Mr. Farrell.

Possible replacements include Richard H. Schaffer, the Suffolk County Democratic chairman, and Leonard R. Lenihan of Tonawanda, a suburb of Buffalo, who is the chairman of the Erie County Democratic Party.

People close to the governor-elect say he is interested in choosing someone who is not from New York City. Also, some officials close to Mr. Spitzer said he had some concerns about conflicts that heading both the statewide party and the Ways and Means Committee might create. At a news conference yesterday, he said that he had just learned of Mr. Farrell’s decision, and praised Mr. Farrell’s performance as chairman of the state party.

“Denny has been a friend, he’s somebody whom I respect,” Mr. Spitzer said. He said that given the results of Tuesday’s election, Mr. Farrell did a ‘’superb job.”

Mr. Farrell succeeded Judith Hope of East Hampton, who was once an aide to Gov. Hugh Carey.