Independent's On The Move

FEB 12 CONFERENCE OF INDEPENDENTS

• America's independent political activists meet in New York (Mark Wachtler, Independent Examiner) As a 25 year veteran of the independent political movement, your author is no stranger to CUIP, Jackie Salit or the annual attempts to organize this nationwide movement of independent voters into one united political force. However, under the decade-long vocal leadership of the activists in New York, independents have made little or no progress even though the political environment across the nation has been screaming for independent candidates and a legitimate third party. One glance at the program highlights reveals little has changed this year and desperate independents throughout America will have to wait even longer, or look elsewhere for leadership.
• Unpeeling the power of Independents: Part III (Posted by Nia Ngina Meeks, Nia Means Purpose) "I don't think it [Prop 14] is just a big moment for California," Fulani said. "It's a big moment for the country. But you can't skip over the basic hard work of what's created this room, and what's created this movement overall."

CALIFORNIA PROP 14

• First Two California Elections Under “Top-Two” System Produce Low Turnout, Fewer Candidates (Ballot Access News)

PARTISAN POLITICS FROM THE LEFT

• Obama and the GOP's Spending Cuts: Where's the Outrage? - Why the president's walking a fine line on the Republicans' slash-and-burn budget proposals. (— By David Corn, Mother Jones) The president also is striving to be Washington's adult-in-chief, talking up the need for bipartisan negotiations and the potential for agreement across party lines. He's ceding the politics of defiance to the Republicans. This could well be because his approval ratings have ticked upward since he hammered out the bipartisan tax-cut deal with the Republicans in December. He seems to be content to let the Republicans be the food-fighters, so he can position himself as a rise-above-them leader—which, presumably, will enhance his appeal among independent voters. But there's something else: recent public opinion polling. At a retreat of Democratic senators last week, Democratic pollster Geoff Garin presented bad news: Republicans had gained the edge in the debate over government spending. Voters, especially independents, he told the Dems, care first and foremost about improving the economy, but they believe the better way to do so is by cutting spending, not investing. That is, many voters have accepted the GOP's fundamental talking point.

NEW YORK

• Indy Boss Holds onto Bloomberg Donation, Accounts Frozen (By Azi Paybarah, WNYC/The Empire) “If there is a victim in this very strange case, it is either the Independence Party or Mayor Bloombeg. Why would we give the money to anyone else?” MacKay told me. [Article links to NY Post David Seifman BELOW]
• DA raps Indie Party in $1M Mike-elex theft (By DAVID SEIFMAN City Hall Bureau Chief, NY Post) In a bombshell development, Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. is accusing the state Independence Party of complicity in the theft of $1.1 million from Mayor Bloomberg, and the DA has frozen all party bank accounts in preparation for seizing its assets.
• Suit Suggests Political Party Knew of Fraud (By JOHN ELIGON, NY Times) The Independence Party may have helped a Republican political consultant cover up a scheme to steal more than $1 million from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg during his 2009 re-election bid, the Manhattan district attorney’s office alleged in court filings released on Thursday.
• New York Independence Party Faces Legal Woes (Ballot Access News)
• Barron leads ‘shame on you’ chant against Cuomo (by Jimmy Vielkind, Capitol bureau, Albany Times Union) Four people, led by New York City Councilman Charles Barron and his wife, Assemblywoman Inez Barron, chanted “tax the rich” and “stop the cuts” as Cuomo addressed the 40th annual gathering of the Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators.