The Green Party NY candidates Howie Hawkins for Governor and Gloria Mattera for Lt. Governor urged the NYC Charter Commission to include preferential voting – also known as Instant Runoff Voting – for all single member elections.
The Greens also urged the Charter Commission to adopt proportional representation for City Council elections. Proposal representation, the election system used by almost all of the world’s democracies, allocates seats in legislative bodies based on the percentage of votes that each party represents. The Greens said proportional representation would be far more democratic than Bloomberg’s push for non-partisan elections. While the Greens would benefit from non-partisan elections, since the Greens win about a third of the non-partisan elections they enter nationwide, they also said that in NYC it would greatly benefit rich, self-financed candidates like Bloomberg. The three current Green Party Mayors in New York were elected in nonpartisan village elections.
“Despite what we are taught in school, our present system of winner-take-all (plurality) elections actually makes the US once of the least democratic democracies in the world,” said Gloria Mattera, a Park Slope resident who is the Green Party candidate for Lt. Governor.
Contact: Roger Snyder, Green Party of Suffolk Chair 631-351-5763
Green Party Supports Council Districts In Huntington, NY
“The Green Party of Suffolk supports the proposition to bring council districts to Huntington town,” said its chair Roger Snyder, a Huntington resident. “A key value of the Green Party is Grassroots Democracy, and it is clear that at-large districts are the farthest from that ideal.”
On Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2009, voters in the Town of Huntington will be able to vote in favor of setting up council districts, or a ward system, to elect their town council members. “A system that offers better representation from all parts of a town, with smaller districts and an opportunity to be closer to one’s elected representative is a win for all a towns residents,” said Snyder. “Experience in other towns in Suffolk and Nassau counties has shown that a system of Council Districts works better for residents and their representatives.”
The current Huntington at-large electoral system diminishes the voting power of some residents, reducing representation of all of a town’s neighborhoods. Council districts make it easier for citizen candidates to participate by providing more reasonable sized districts. Currently the town council district, with over 200,000 residents, is three to four times the size of Suffolk County legislative districts.
“This change would be a good step towards insuring a representative government in Huntington,” Snyder continued, “and we urge a yes vote on Dec. 22, 2009.”
The Green Party is an alternative party to the Democrats and Republicans. The four pillars of the Green Party are: Nonviolence/Peace; Grassroots Democracy; Social and Economic Justice; and Ecological Wisdom. You can enroll in the Green Party by checking the box marked “Other” on the voter registration form and writing in the word “Green” on the line next to it.
Green Party of Suffolk
14 Robin Drive,Huntington, NY 11743-4712
631-351-5763
Dan Kairis is running for Congress, 14th District, in Illinois. Kairis filed signatures to run on the Green Party line. Those challenges are being brought by someone who is receiving help from lawyers connected to the Democratic Party of Illinois. Among the accusations is that the signature of Dan Kairis’ mother on the petition is forged. So, basically, Democratic Party operatives are saying “Yo Mama!” to a citizen, trying to run for office in Illinois.
(excerpt from) Daily Herald
Foes try to knock Green Party off ballot in 14th Congressional District
By James Fuller / 11/20/09
…Kairis is facing the possibility of getting booted off the ballot, at least temporarily, in what seems to be an attempt by Democrats to cut down the field of challengers early on.
Jean Cattron, of Elgin, filed the petition challenge…
…rules require Kairis to have only 38 signatures from registered voters in the district to appear on the ballot. Kairis, of South Elgin, filed 62 signatures. Cattron’s challenge is based on the validity of the bulk of those signatures. Namely, her challenge argues the signatures are forgeries.
Christina Tobin and the Free & Equal, Inc. are representing Kairis in the challenge. Free & Equal specializes in ballot access and petition challenges. Tobin said the lawyers for Cattron’s challenge are well-connected to the Illinois Democratic Party and represent “frivolous objections.”
“This is literally an objection in bad faith,” Tobin said. “The voters deserve voices and choices. There’s no limit to how far these (party) leaders will go to ensure voice and choice stays off the ballot.”
Kairis said every signature on his petitions is either a friend, neighbor or direct relative. Cattron’s challenge questions the validity of signatures belonging to both his son and his mother…
Often with petition challenges, the lawyers for the challenger forces the candidate-hopeful to get affidavits from the people who signed, or drag them into court to testify. So, among other things, this may have been a way to hassle Dan Kairis and his family. And, to send a message to people to be afraid of using their closes support networks to do politics and social change.
Various asides from Kimberly:
-I feel a sense of empathy with Dan Kairis, because I ran for the 14th Legislative District in Suffolk.
-I think it is fascinating that the Herald story notes Jean Cattron claims that the reason she filed the challenges is because, “”I just feel like everybody should play by the same rules.” If Illinois is anything like NY, those rules are written by the Democratic Party and Republican Party incumbent politicians, in order to keep the competition out. So, nothing noble about those rules!
-Also, if Illinois is like New York, expect that Jean Cattron or someone in her family will fall into a paid patronage position soon…
- Free & Equal is a start to getting legal help to third parties and independents for petition challenges. But, we really need lots of Green Party and third party lawyers. People say it all the time. But, for real, we need a scholarship fund or something to start creating a pool of helpful lawyers.
Having had to deal with a number of petition challenges, I know of these games first hand. The almost always accuse you a fraud. The always challenge perfectly good signatures knowing it cost you time and money to prove them as good. The use sheets that have check boxes of claimed errors, and here and they they just check off some boxes. There is no penalty for doing so.
Since those attacking petitions use lawyers and others that have patronage positions, it costs them nothing, (these folks already being paid by their patronage jobs). Smaller parties find it much harder to compete. (Working on one challenge was an ex Commissioner of the local BOard of Elections, now working as a OTB VP.)
But you can fight them, and we have successfully sometimes. Just be hand in the best petitions you can, gets lots of extra signatures, and be prepared for a challenge. –RS
Jeff Green Town Board, Kent
(Two Seats)
Louis D. Tartaro 1,238 22.53%
John A. Greene 1,115 20.29% Jeff Green (Grn) 998 18.16%
Karl R. Rohde 771 14.03%
Thomas F. Maxson 704 12.81%
Edward C. Durkee 669 12.17%
David Pechefsky City Council, 39th district, Brooklyn
Bradford Lander (Dem) 15,279 69.7%
Joe Nardiello (GOP) 3,650 16.6% David Pechefsky (Grn) 1,524 7.0%
Roger Sarrabo (Lib) 815 - 4%
George Smith (Con) 658 – 3%
William Talen Mayor, New York City
Michael Bloomberg (GOP) 557059 50.61%
William Thompson (Dem) 506717 46.04%
Stephen Christopher (Con) 18277 1.66% Billy Talen (Grn) 8964 0.81%
Francisca Villar (PSL) 3517 0.32%
Jimmy McMillan (Oth) 2615 0.24%
Joseph Dobrian (Lib) 2004 0.18%
Daniel Fein (SWP) 1496 0.14%
Russell Ziemba City Council, 3rd district, Troy
Bodnar R/I/C 513 42%
Hoffmeister D/TA 394 32% Ziemba WF/G 321 26%
Election Day is upon us today. This year the Green Party in New York State has a dozen strong candidates across the state running for election or re-election. The Green Party represents a real choice in the usually sordid world of New York State politics.
Help us put them over the top by contacting their campaigns to volunteer on election day, getting the word out to friends and family in their districts, and being sure to Vote Green!
As inevitable disillusionment grows with Barack Obama, thanks to his lackluster performance, unfulfilled promises and often indistinguishable variation from his predecessor, it is perhaps time to put our toys away and return to real life.
The Obama campaign was in many ways just a misleading trailer hyping what’s turned out to be a third rate film. And as one does not remain the prisoner of Hollywood’s puerile productions, there is no reason to give politics’ any greater loyalty. You just admit you blew the evening and move on.
The record is indisputable: the expansion of the AF-Pak imperial war, a stimulus package that bailed out the largest banks and left workers and struggling homeowners as “lagging indicators,” a plan designed to improve the health of insurance companies more than that of all Americans, and a continuation of contempt for the Constitution.
One of the reasons Obama has felt comfortable pursuing such conservative politics is that, commencing with Clinton, a large segment of the liberal constituency has come to accept the view that incumbency is a reasonable substitute for sound policy. The depressing healthcare debate and lack of opposition to the Af-Pak war reflect the disappearance of a vigorous liberal base that actually believes in something and presses for it with the same sort of passion those on the right demonstrate so frequently.
In fact, if you scrap traditional presumptions and look at the American political spectrum based on specific issues, you find that the layout is not anywhere close to what we are told. Most striking is that traditional liberals, Obama and Democrats in general are closer to the GOP on many more these issues than they are to true progressives, Libertarians or Greens. In fact, on about a half of current big issues, Libertarians are closer to progressives or Greens than they are to the GOP.
The lesson? It helps to know who your friends are. But also how few they are. Pollsters generally give those who are left of center – including Greens, radicals or populist progressives – only one choice of self-identification: liberal. Yet even this inflated category is much smaller than generally acknowledged. Here’s a chart from American Election studies, showing the percent of those calling themselves liberal since 1972. The percentage has varied merely nine points over this period, with the peak tally at 23%.
And it gets worse. Of those calling themselves liberal, 8 to 11 percent described themselves as only “slightly liberal,” whereas the number who described themselves as “extremely liberal” never got above two percent. According to Gallup, the only groups in 2003 that comprised a quarter or more of liberals were those who had gone to grad school and 18-38 year olds. Continue Reading »
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