Metro

Indies in party uprising

State Independence Party Chairman Frank MacKay — under investigation by two DAs in the city — faces a revolt within his ranks and will be challenged for his job in the fall by a former party executive, The Post has learned.

Charles Flynn, who helped install MacKay in 2000 and served as his first vice chairman for six years, said he plans to take on his former boss in the fall because MacKay has abandoned the party’s reform principles and has “done exactly what we campaigned against.”

Flynn said he helped MacKay replace former state Chairman Jack Essenberg when that chief became too autocratic and routinely overruled local party leaders a decade ago — the same charge now being leveled against MacKay.

Last week, longtime Staten Island party activist Frank Morano resigned abruptly, angry that MacKay had promised to back the local organization’s selection for state Assembly, Nicole Malliotakis, only to reverse himself and endorse Democratic incumbent Janele Hyer-Spencer.

Following a series of reports in The Post, two DAs — Daniel Donovan on Staten Island and Cyrus Vance Jr. in Manhattan — are investigating the Independence Party’s role in last year’s mayoral race and a special election for a City Council seat.

david.seifman@nypost.com