New York Democrats: Voters Be Damned!

Do catch the editorial in yesterday's New York Daily News Editorial about the anointment by the Queens DP of David Weprin to fill the scandalized-out-of-office Anthony Weiner (guilty of showing too much flesh on Facebook or something...) -- and by the way, when the NY media uses the term "open primary" what they mean is an election where there is a Republican running... Hmmm.... And in other parts South and West, real open primaries are being discussed and implemented!


OPEN PRIMARIES

• Republican or Democrat? You decide (Natchez Democrat) “It is kind of frustrating the way the process is,” Massey said… “I feel like open primaries would be more representative of public opinion,” Massey said.
• La. poised for return of open primaries (Written by Mike Hasten, The Town Talk - Baton Rouge) Walsworth argued "this is complete change. This is going to make total change in what independents do. It throws our entire election this year into the Justice Department," which must approve election law changes for them to go into effect. Under the closed primary system, voters who were independent and those belonging to other organized political parties were banned from voting in Republican primaries. Independents were allowed to vote in Democratic primaries.

VOTING RIGHTS

• Chafee Signs Voter ID Law, Touts Minority Support For Photo Requirement (Ryan J. Reilly, Talking Points Memo) Chafee's announcement came the day that former President Bill Clinton compared the Republican-lead efforts to pass new restrictions on voting to the Jim Crow laws of the past.
• Critics challenge ‘Voter ID’ plan (By GINA SMITH, The State) Called the Voter-ID bill, the measure will require all voters to present a picture ID at the polls, such as a passport, military ID card or a valid S.C. driver’s license. Without a complete birth certificate, Freelon and others like her cannot get an S.C. driver’s license. 

2012

• Entitlement Cuts Divide Democrats (By JONATHAN WEISMAN, Wall Street Journal) Senior White House officials believe a bipartisan deal that cuts spending while ending narrow tax breaks would boost Mr. Obama's standing with independent voters, help his claim to be a "postpartisan" problem solver and buoy his re-election chances.
• GOP leader: Rise in unemployment rate could sink Obama (By Dave Cook, Christian Science Monitor) Mr. Gillespie is referring to a series of focus groups conducted among independent voters in June by Resurgent Republic… The focus groups included 41 independent voters. These independents – 31 of whom voted for Obama – don’t hold the president solely responsible for the economy’s problems, but are skeptical of his leadership and spending policies. They “don’t think he has made things better,” Gillespie said.
• THE UNTRANSFORMATIONAL PRESIDENT (The Daily Beast, in msnbc/PowerWall) Oh, I know the arguments. He has to win back independent voters, and they'll be impressed if he is seen as having orchestrated a deal.

NEW YORK
David Weprin is the bosses' choice -- not the people's -- to replace Anthony Weiner in Congress (EDITORIALS, Daily News) Weprin's father, Saul Weprin, was a product of the Queens machine who rose to be Assembly speaker. When he died in 1994, the party anointed David's brother Mark in a special election.