A longtime district manager claimed she was “abruptly” fired from a Queens community board because she’s a “middle-aged white woman” who doesn’t gel with the group’s progressive politics.
Debra Markell Kleiner claims she has been subject to escalating “harassment” in the years before she was fired by Community Board 2 last month, but members brushed aside those claims and said the she simply wasn’t doing her job.
Markell Kleiner, 66, said the axing from the local government advisory group will cost her a full pension in her first public comments on her firing.
“I’m a middle-aged white woman and I’ve been clearly told that the demographics have changed and this board will never go back to the way it once was by the chair,” Markell Kleiner told The Post. “Those were his words: Demographics have changed and the board itself will never go back to the way it was.”
Debra Markell Kleiner was fired from her role as Community Board 2 District Manager, a gig she held for 18 years. Queens Community Board 2
Markell Kleiner said that by the time she was served the termination letter last month, she had served the role CB 2’s district manager for 18 years. District manager is a non-partisan and non-political job that involves running the office, collecting complaints and concerns from the community — and facilitating the volunteer board and its committee’s meetings.
District managers do not vote in meetings or offer their opinions during discussions.
Her firing also comes just two months after the city Democratic Socialists of America called for its members to take over “lower-level” government entities to supercharge their far-left policies.
The Floral Park resident — who ran a failed bid for City Council in 2020 — still has not been told why she was canned, though CB 2 board chair Anatole Ashraf chalked it up to a “personnel matter.”
Ashraf — who sources described as “super socialist” — said the cause for Markell Kleiner’s termination would remain under wraps, but told The Post the decision was “all performance-based and following proper procedures and protocols.”
Anatole Ashraf, center, said the termination was a “personnel matter.” Queens Community Board 2
Markell Kleiner, however, alleged that the move was “absolutely” discriminatory and that she was being ousted to make room for a more left-leaning and non-white staffer who would align with the board and be willing to bend the rules for them.
“This latest regime, our views are politically different, but my job is to execute the wishes of the board,” Markell Kleiner said.
“They have just unjustly harassed and terminated me in secrecy,” she added. She claimed that members have repeatedly hounded her to release passwords that only district managers are allowed access to, which she refused to.
Markell Kliener said the termination was even more of a “gut punch” because the board decided to fire her just weeks after she filed papers to retire in June.
“They basically took the food out of my mouth and didn’t let me qualify for 28 years in the city of New York,” she said.
“It’s less money in my pension,” she said. “These are people that talk about how they want to make sure everybody is served, and people have jobs and people have food on their table and serve their family. They actually decided they didn’t care how that affects one’s livelihood.”
Dozens of city leaders and fellow community board members rushed to Markell Kleiner’s defense, including 47 fellow district leaders who penned a letter printed in the Queens Chronicle alleging that a “personal animus” had driven her firing.
Joseph Marziliano, who leads Queens CB 11 in Bayside, said the board’s decision was suspicious because the voting was held in an exclusive executive committee meeting despite community boards being subject to the city’s open meetings law.
“In the absence of any hard evidence being presented to the community or to the city employee herself, no other determination can really be drawn or no other assumption could really be made [that this was personal],” Marziliano said.
“It just doesn’t make sense to us as to how this had any merit because if you were going to discipline someone, you would put the information out there.”
Another source close to the matter reiterated that the firing was politically motivated, telling The Post that Markell Kliener’s Democratic centrist politics weren’t “left-leaning enough.”
“That board has been totally infiltrated by the DSA and far-left people, and they were trying to smoke out everybody who wasn’t in lockstep with their agenda,” the insider said.
Several politicians also jumped to Markell Kliener’s defense, which Republican Councilmember Joann Ariola slammed as a “witch hunt” and former Councilmember Bob Holden (R) described as a “disgraceful political purge.”
“Socialism is the order of the day now that we’re seeing in New York City and board two is probably one of the most radical,” Holden, whose district overlapped with CB 2, told The Post.
“I’ve noticed that my colleagues on the far left are far less tolerant. They don’t like different political opinions. If they perceive you as not being with them, they’re going to try to stifle you and, in this case, get rid of you … It actually reeks with a political decision and it’s disgusting.”
Markell Kleiner also alleged that her firing was “in retaliation” for a prior feud with Ashraf’s predecessor, who was dropped by the board in 2020.
“That would make sense if those same people were still on the board,” former chair Denise Keehan-Smith told The Post.
The pair had a tense relationship that escalated when Markell Kliener filed a formal discrimination complaint against Keehan-Smith over the chairperson’s demands that she return to the office post-Covid. Those allegations were dismissed by the borough president.
“That’s her M.O. When she sees the writing on the wall, all of a sudden she starts with accusations,” Keehan-Smith said, adding that she had plans to initiate the termination process for Markell Kleiner if she was approved for another term.
“She was not meeting our expectations … She was a city employee making six figures, and I couldn’t find her. It was just the perception that she’s untouchable.”
Another former board member, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Markell Kleiner overstepped her role as an unbiased staffer so frequently that she was put on a Performance Improvement Plan last year.
“Debbie’s issues were follow-up, not taking direction, the manner in which she spoke to certain people, failing to follow the chair’s direction and basically she always did what she wanted,” the former member said.
“Hopefully, now they can get back to board work and not focus on the internal drama.”
Markell Kleiner has since retained an attorney and is seeking justice.