Year of the Donkey: Mayoral Race 2013, Adolfo Carrion, the NYC Independence Party, and Political Snobbery and Dysfunction

Statement by the Independence Party of New York City on the results of the 2013 Mayoral race

Congratulations to Bill de Blasio and the Working Families Party on their win.

The political coalition taking over City Hall says it will take on the problem of economic inequality and poverty in our city.  We support that 100 percent!

We hope that the new Mayor's agenda will also include taking on political dysfunction.  With voter turnout at a 96-year low and a million independents locked out of primary voting, New York's electoral process clearly needs some drastic reform.  Fairness happens when a process is fair.  We urge Mayor-elect de Blasio to make political inclusion and participation key goals of his administration.


Below are notes by IPNYC Press Secretary Sarah Lyons from interviews after the election between Jackie Salit and the press:

Where is the NYC Independence Party headed post-election? 

The NYC Independence Party is part of a national movement concerned about the state of our political process and about political dysfunction -- a movement seeking nonpartisan reform.  We'll continue to pursue those reforms as we always have.

How we approach that with Bill de Blasio as Mayor is an open question.  After all, unlike Bloomberg, neither de Blasio nor the Working Families Party supports nonpartisan reform.  Quite the contrary.  But when you have a system that produces the lowest voter turnout in 96 years and a million independents locked out of the primaries, there is something very wrong with that system.

Adolfo Carrion received some 8,200 votes. How do you account for the low number of votes? 

First of all, this was the Year of the Donkey, meaning that after 20 years' exile from City Hall, the Democratic Party was going to win the mayoralty under virtually any circumstances.  Consequently, the mayoral election really took place in the Democratic primary, which the city's one million independents were banned from voting in.  To break through for an independent in the Year of the Donkey was nearly Mission Impossible.

That said, the Independence Party took a shot.  We chose not to run a fusion campaign.  We supported Adolfo Carrion, a political leader who is a man of color who had held public office, and served in the Obama administration, but who left the Democratic Party to become an independent.  He is a reformer who came up against huge resistance from all corners of the political marketplace.  The systemic change of nonpartisan elections that we sought during the Bloomberg years would have leveled the playing field in this election.  But, that hasn't been achieved yet.  So the election was tilted from the outset in favor of the major party candidates.

Independence Party members protest exclusion of Carrion from ABC debate

Carrion was excluded from the debates, marginalized by much of the media, and didn't have the financial wealth that Bloomberg had to overcome the differential of being an independent in a town in which the Democratic Party runs the show.  Many of his donors were afraid to support him as an independent, afraid of retribution from the Democrats. 





The fact that de Blasio refused to debate Carrion meant that the Democrats wanted to give the public no opportunity to consider another progressive option.  All of that meant the odds were severely stacked against Adolfo.  We knew that going in.  But we felt it was important to support a Latino independent looking to shake up the system and to carve out a new option.  Don't make the mistake of underestimating the 8,200 people who voted for Carrion this year.  Those who did made a very forward-looking statement about resisting the Democratic Party monopoly on progressive politics.  They are the nucleus or the core of a bottom-up independent movement.  All the independent votes we got for Mike Bloomberg were hugely important, they gave him a mandate for nonpartisan leadership, but they were votes for a winner. Everyone who voted for Carrion knew he couldn't win, but they voted for him to build something.

Won't the low vote total make people look askance at the Independence Party?

People have always looked askance at the IP, whether we got 150,000 votes, as we did for Bloomberg in 2009, or under 10,000 votes, so that isn't an issue for me.  I'm used to the political class looking askance at us.  Actually, I like it when they do.  

Does this vote total mean that the Independence Party's message is invalid? 

No. First of all, most New Yorkers didn't know Adolfo Carrion was running, they never got the message. But more than that, the main way that voters displayed their dislike with the system and their major party options this year was by staying home.  This year's voter turnout was the lowest it's been in 97 years.  That's shocking!  Everybody should look askance at that!  

IP is part of a very young movement that is in its infancy.  The Working Families Party, now being touted as having eclipsed the IP as the major minor party in New York City, is not an independent party.  It's an arm of the Democratic Party.  The Democratic Party has had a 200-year head start over the independents.  We are playing a long game, and this campaign was one moment in that long game.

We shouldn't forget that New York isn't even a bipartisan town, it's a one-party town.  The Republican Party did poorly because it has no message and no soul.  The Independence Party has both, but it's young, it's under-funded, it's considered illegitimate and it's operating in a city that is run by one party.

###

 

A note from The Hankster:

In a one-party town, what do you do? You organize, and build build build. It was a pleasure working with all of you on the campaign. Onward!

NH

Hankster News of the Day for Independent Voters - July 11

RISE OF INDEPENDENTS

• More Arizona voters going independent (by Alex Stuckey, The Republic) Of the 3.1 million registered voters in Arizona, about 36 percent are Republican, about 30 percent are Democrats and about 33 percent are independents, according to the report.
• Independent Voter Surge Cuts Democrats’ Swing State Edge (By John McCormick, Bloomberg) The collective total of independents grew by about 443,000 in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and North Carolina since the 2008 election, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from state election officials. During the same time, Democrats saw a net decline of about 480,000 in those six states, while Republicans -- boosted in part by a competitive primary earlier this year -- added roughly 38,000 voters in them, the analysis shows.
• Analysis: Independents jump in key swing states (By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY) In the 2008 election, Obama won 52% of the independent vote, according to surveys of voters as they left their polling places. He and Republican John McCain both handily won the vote of their party faithful, but the exit polls show it was the independents that made the difference.
• Swing states poll: Amid barrage of ads, Obama has edge (By Susan Page, USA TODAY) To be sure, Obama's ads have done more to win back Democrats than to win over independents or Republicans: Thirteen percent of Democrats say their minds have been changed by ads, compared with 9% of independents and 3% of Republicans.

NEW YORK POLITICS
Working Families Party Begins to Weigh in on City Council Races (By Colin Campbell, NY OBSERVER/Politicker) With a huge number of term-limited council members leaving open seats behind them, control of the Council’s powerful speakership hangs in the balance, creating a possible opportunity for the WFP to secure the position for a labor ally if they can win enough of these races. Which is likely why they’re weighing in so early.

Hankster First Read: Colorado Open Records Act Goes to Senate

CORA [Colorado Open Records Act] black-out bill goes to senate (Center Post Dispatch) Despite concerns voiced by election activists, a Senate committee passed a bi-partisan bill last Wednesday that will black out Colorado elections, preventing reporters and concerned citizens from viewing voted ballots and election records during the two-month election cycle... Election integrity activists Marilyn Marks of Pitkin County, Harvie Branscomb of Eagle County, Joe Richey and Mary Eberle of Boulder County, Kathleen Curry of Gunnison County and others also testified against the bill.  


INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Make independent voting easier  and Independents don't want partisan candidates:  Independents speak out about the election process in letters to the editor, while American Prospect puts its head in the sand...
• Linda Killian, Independent Rock Star! Maine Festival of the Book: Read on! (By Bob Keyes, Press Herald) With Snowe's announcement, Cecil found herself with a hot topic and a timely talking point for the festival. On Saturday, former U.S. Rep. Tom Allen and Washington political insider Linda Killian will present a panel discussion, "Politics Today: Swing and Independent Voters, Party Divides and Ideological Convictions."

OPEN PRIMARIES
Keep open primaries in S.C. (Post and Courier - SC) The hard-core party faithful might approve of legislation to require party registration in primary elections, since eliminating open primaries could strenghten their influence over the outcome. But it would remove a moderating influence that South Carolina needs as it elects its leaders.


WFP AND ALL THINGS NEW YORK

• Working Families Party raises for Hakeem Jeffries against Towns, citing CAFTA and Issa (By Reid Pillifant, CAPITAL NEW YORK)
• Pension and redistricting dominate the Albany conversation (By STEPHON JOHNSON, Amsterdam News)
• Boro pols slam new district lines - Accuse Gov. Cuomo of retreating on promise to veto (by Anna Gustafson, Senior Editor, Queens Chronicle) Some good government groups, including Citizens Union and the League of Women Voters, have praised the constitutional amendment, though Citizens Union has emphasized it did not support the 2012 lines as drawn. "Given the long standing resistance to enacting redistricting reform, and the high stakes involved, we applaud them in finding common ground on an issue that is at the core of political power in Albany and results in the legislature giving up power in the drawing of lines," Citizens Union said in a prepared statement.
  

PARTY-ISM
Have "outside" interested PR men hijacked the Republican Party? Kevin Baker explores the outsourcing of the body and soul of the Repubs...

EDUCATION
Eva Moskowitz expands Success Charter Schools network into middle-class Manhattan and Brooklyn neighborhoods.


INDEPENDENT CULTURE
Charles E. Rogers, Amsterdam News, sez: Trust me you, your family and friends don’t want to miss the Castillo Theater’s fantastic “Sally and Tom (The American Way).”
   Full disclosure: The Hankster is a very big BIG fan of the Castillo Theatre and I could not agree more with Charles Rogers -- trust us, you do NOT want to miss this show -- and the run has been extended, so you get another chance. Watch for new dates in April/May

Working Families Party Leader to Challenge Brooklyn Councilman Dilan?

NEW YORK

• From City Hall News (via email) John Duane, brother to State Sen. Tom Duane, is making moves towards running for the City Council seat held by Republican Dan Halloran, two sources say.
• WFP Honcho Mulling Dilan Challenge (By Chris Bragg, City Hall News) Larancuent has deep ties in progressive labor circles and among immigrant rights groups. He has run the 5,000-member, largely immigrant Laundry, Dry Cleaning and Allied Workers Joint Board for the past 11 years, has been a key player in the national labor movement, and helped devise the strategy for the WFP’s considerable successes in the 2009 election cycle.

Working Families Party Organizing Campaign in Support of Taxing Wealthy

OCCUPY WALL STREET
Pressure to Raise Taxes - Democrats, Labor Push Cuomo to Drop Opposition to New Levy on the Wealthy (By JACOB GERSHMAN, Wall Street Journal) Entering the ring is the labor-backed Working Families Party, an influential force in state politics that stood on the sidelines during budget season last spring. Its detente with Mr. Cuomo appears to have ended, as party officials say they're organizing a media and field campaign in support of taxes on the wealthy. "We're in this fight full-throttle because the times simply demand no less of us," said Dan Cantor, the party's executive director.

Working Families Party to Dismantle Campaign Consultant Firm

NEW YORK
Working Families Party Settles DFS Case (BY Celeste Katz, NY Daily News/ Daily Politics) “This is the death knell of DFS and a great day for our democracy because the Working Families Party will longer be able to so blatantly ignore our local campaign finance law,” Randy Mastro, the lawyer for the plaintiffs (who will collect $100,000, although he did the case pro bono) told our Erin Einhorn.

Here's the settlement document

Occupy Wall Street Hits a Stride

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Tent Pressure (Gotham Gazette/ Wonkster) It is getting cold out there and the protesters at Occupy Wall Street are starting to notice. So, Bill Lipton of the Working Families Party sent out an e-mail to supporters this morning asking them to put pressure on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to allow tents  in Zuccotti Park.
• Occupational Therapy (By Lisa Fabrizio, American Spectator) However supportive he may be of their aims, Barack Obama and his messiah-like campaign of light did much to erase the memory of the left's propensity to participate in angry demonstrations against the American Way of Life and so attracted many independent voters to his side. But riding to the rescue like so many socialist cavalrymen come the largely unoccupied occupiers of Zuccotti Park, just in time to remind America what a nation where 99 percent of its population consisted of slackers and malcontents would look like. And if the Obama Administration makes the critical mistake of hitching their wagon to this group of losers, he will soon join their ranks.
• Poll: Election 2012 Shaping Up To Pit Doom Against Gloom (by Frank James, NPR) Seniors, who gave Romney an advantage in August, have begun to desert the Republican front-runner, who is now losing these voters by a 3-point margin. More dramatically, Romney was winning 52 percent of independent voters in August; he is now at 45 percent with this key bloc. His biggest drop has come among independent women—who swung for Romney by a 22-point margin in August. Obama is now winning independent women by 2 points.
• Occupy Politics (Democracy Corps, Carville-Greenberg) The biggest shift against the Republicans has come from independents, who are increasingly turned off by what they see and hear out of Washington.  According to exit polls, Republicans won independents last November by a 19-point margin.  Their advantage had narrowed to 17 points in August.  Strikingly, Republicans are now winning independents by just 7 points. Seniors have also pulled back from these Republicans in big numbers.  In last November’s exit polls, Republicans won seniors by a 21-point margin.  This advantage has completely disappeared, with the vote among seniors now basically even (45-46.)

Occupy Wall Street Grows

OCCUPY WALL STREET

• Wall Street Protests Have ‘Tea Party’ Potential, Professor Says (By Esmé E. Deprez, Washington Post) The coalition of thousands of anti- Wall Street protesters in New York and cities across the U.S. has the potential to grow into the “Tea Party of the Left,” said Brayden King, who’s written on social and political movements at Northwestern University.
• Anti-Wall Street Protests Grow in New York as Other Cities Join (By Esmé E. Deprez, Bloomberg Businessweek) “It’s very much evocative of Woodstock and all of the demonstrations against the Vietnam War and for civil rights,” said Richard Koral, 62, an attorney from Westchester County who joined hundreds of demonstrators yesterday in Manhattan’s Zuccotti Park.
• Occupy Wall Street Could be Disaster for Democrats (Abe Greenwald, Commentary magazine - "Since its inception in 1945, and increasingly after it emerged as the flagship of neoconservatism in the 1970s…") With all these ill-suited messages and hypocritical messengers it’s easy to overlook the one timely half-truth among the Occupiers’ gripes: government and big business have grown entirely too close. I say half-truth because the protestors fail to understand that the road to change runs through Washington and not Wall Street.

Round-Up From Tuesday Special Elections in New York

NEW YORK

• Opinion: Special Elections Show the Waning Power of the Party (By Justin Krebs, WNYC/It's a Free Blog) The Democratic Party in New York City should feel like it's being challenged on all sides -- because it is. This isn't just about sinking poll numbers on a national level, though that doesn't help.  It's about transforming loyalties in local and state politics.
• Working Families Party and Green Party Both Set New Record for New York Legislative Nominees (Ballot Access News) Gonzalez’ showing is the best ever for a New York WFP nominee for the legislature.
• NY-9: Winners and Losers (By Alex Isenstadt, NBC-NY from Politico) LOSERS: Downstate Democrats – With New York losing two seats in reapportionment, Weiner’s vacant seat was a perfect target for elimination – a way for Democrats tasked with redrawing the state’s congressional map to protect long-serving incumbents. But with the seat now in GOP hands, the ripple effect is that a downstate Democratic incumbent could now be axed.
• GIANARIS BILLS STRENGTHEN VOTING PROCESS (John Toscano, Queens Gazette/I On Politics) •S 1972 allows for Election Day Voter Registration so new voters can register to vote up to Election Day itself.
• Mayor To Testify In Haggerty Trial? (John Toscano, Queens Gazette/I On Politics)
• Democrats vow to pursue Medicare message after N.Y. and Nevada losses (By Felicia Sonmez and Paul Kane, Washington Post/2chambers) The main problem, Burton said, is that too many Democrats are not taking the Republican field seriously given some of the positions candidates have staked out - on Social Security and Medicare, for example - that could turn off crucial independent voters.
• The Rise of Democratic Discontent - After this week's election defeats, unhappiness with the president is sure to build. (By KARL ROVE, Wall Street Journal) Mr. Obama's main political challenge between now and November 2012 is winning back independent voters. After voting for him by a 52-to-44 margin in 2008, only 41% approve of his job performance and only 34% approve of his handling of the economy in the latest Resurgent Republic Poll. On big issues, independents look a lot more like Republicans than Democrats.

235 Years Later, One Man (and Now Woman), One Vote Achieves Judicial Legitimacy in New York!

Congratulations to the minor party coalition Conservative Party, Working Families Party and the Taxpayers Party that brought the lawsuit that reviewed the double-count "glitch" --  it took a lawsuit to correct a computer glitch? Ahh, the world we live in!

NEW YORK

• State Heeds Minor Parties on Voting-Machine Complaint (By SAM ROBERTS, NY Times/City Room) Under a consent decree signed approved Thursday by Judge Jed S. Rakoff of United States District Court in Manhattan, the board agreed to reprogram voting machines before the 2012 general election to prevent people from voting more than once for the same candidate.
• Editorials - The Daily News endorses Jesus Gonzalez to represent Brooklyn's 54th District in the Assembly
• Forget Rome: Jesus Gonzalez Takes on Brooklyn (Village Voice) Gonzalez, meanwhile, has the Working Families Party line, which is working to reestablish its political potency ahead of the 2013 citywide cycle after a rough few years with nearly losing its ballot line amidst an investigation of its apparent collaboration with Data and Field Services, a nominally independent private company that seemed to only work for WFP picks and at remarkable discounts.
• Democrats now likely to lose Anthony Weiner's seat (By Alex Pareene, Salon/New York City) Siena college now has Turner at 50%, with Weprin at 44%. That's within the margin of error, but it's obviously a bad sign for Democrats.
• NY-9: A referendum on Obama? (By Jennifer Rubin,Washington Post/Right Turn) Whaa?
• Turner blows past Weprin, leads by 6 points in latest NY-9 Siena poll (by Colby Hamilton, WNYC/The Empire)

Two Party System is a Disgrace

TWO PARTY SYSTEM
Building the Perfect Political Party: Oregon's Working Families Party (Kyle Curtis, Blue Oregon) For many people, the two-party system behind our country’s political system is a disgrace and actually is an impediment to the democratic process.

NY: Can We Make Progress Over Partisanship?

NEW YORK

• Working Families Party Demands More Probes Into News Corp.'s "Criminal Activity" (BY ALEX KATZ, Daily News) "It's time for the political class in New York to stand up to these bullies," he added. "The New York Post, Col Allen, and Roger Ailes have set the agenda for our state for far too long. It's time to move on."
• UPDATE: Bloomberg gives $10,300 to Independent Democrat Conference members (WNYC/The Empire) “He’s been very supportive of us when we formed and what we stand for, and certainly what we’ve done this session,” Azzopardi said. “Above all else we [all] value progress over partisanship.”
• Cuomo Plays Both Sides In Political Duel (By HENRY STERN, Queens Tribune) The reform movement in New York State public affairs, which consists of traditional, well-regarded government organizations, joined by Mayor Ed Koch’s New York Uprising, has made independent redistricting a priority for 2011. So far the legislature has ignored their wishes, instead convening its own instrument for redistricting, called LATFOR, an acronym for Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment.

New York: Liberal, Conservative, Working and Independent

NEW YORK

• Former NY Liberal Party boss avoids prison (Associated Press, Wall Street Journal) It was Andrew Cuomo who ultimately sunk the Liberal Party. In 2002, Cuomo walked away from his race for governor for lack of support and money. However, he already had the Liberal Party line, and without campaigning Cuomo failed to get the 50,000 votes needed for the Liberal Party to secure its automatic line on state ballots. The progressive branch of the Democratic Party is now the Working Families Party.
• Data and Field Services Pushes Back Against Judge’s Order (By Jon Lentz, City Hall News) DFS also changed some of its board members to strengthen their independence. Ed Ott, former head of the New York City Central Labor Council, which gave the WFP a small donation in 2006, resigned from the board; so did Professor Francis Fox Piven of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. United Nations worker David Carter joined the board.
• In Final Marriage Push, Cuomo Faces Increased Pressure (BY PAUL SCHINDLER, Chelsea Now) On the Republican side, the role of the state’s Conservative Party, a small but sometimes influential minor party, is always a concern on gay rights questions. As Gay City News reported two weeks ago, 12 of the 32 Republicans elected last year, including six of the seven freshmen, relied on the Conservative and Independence Party lines to bring their vote totals over 50 percent. When the state’s gay rights law passed in 2002, however, 11 of the 12 Republicans who voted yes had been endorsed by the Conservative Party in their previous election. Of the eight who sought reelection in 2004, seven had the Conservative line again. Only Joe Bruno, the Republican leader, was punished for his yes vote by being denied the Conservatives’ endorsement. Still, he faced no primary challenger –– and no general election opponent, from either the Conservative or Democratic Party.
• Despite Scant Results, Bloomberg's Anti-Poverty Project Goes National (by Glenn Pasanen, Gotham Gazette) Despite minimal local impact, the center has just received a federal grant to replicate some of its New York programs in other neighborhoods in the five boroughs and in cities across the country. There is, it seems, a fundamental disconnect between the poverty commission's goal and what it has actually done to change anti-poverty policy and practice in the city.

Independents' Growth a Good Sign of Shift to More Open Political Environment

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independents' growth a good sign (LETTER Arizona Republic) As the balance of power shifts from a two-party system to a more open political environment, we will see politicians begin to listen to their constituents, knowing their tenure is at risk with another player on the field.
• Arizona Secretary of State says voter registration climbs to 3.2 million (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, The Republic) Figures released Friday show that 48,023 new voters have registered as either independents or with no party affiliation since last year's election. The number of new Republican registered voters is 10,243. Democrats have added 4,187 voters.
• Beware ‘Mission Accomplished’ on Budget Debate (By NATE SILVER, NY Times/FiveThirtyEight) As these debates evolve, and voters learn more about the proposals, opinion may detach from its partisan moorings, and independent voters may begin to take sides. (So far, a relatively high 17 percent of independents are undecided as to which approach they prefer.)

NOTE: Whatever Jonathan Chait and John Sides are talking about below, we hope you won't mistake it as having anything remotely to do with being about independents.

• The Irrationality Of Independent Voters (Jonathan Chait, The New Republic) Indeed, it's pretty clear that independents don't rationalize their votes on the basis of what drives them. They say they're voting this way or that because John McCain is too mean, or because they think Al Gore wants to cut Medicare, or that Walter Mondale is a wimp. They may be trying to grope toward explanations for behavior that's determined by factors they don't consciously realize, but that's irrational.
• Independents Are Not a "Confused Horde" (John Sides, The Monkey Cage - "Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage. - H.L. Mencken") But more importantly, independents actually vote in predictable ways. Much more than partisans, they vote for the party advantaged by two fundamental factors: the economy and war. Let's consider the relationship between economic growth and war and the presidential vote for only the 10% or so of the population that is truly independent. In particular, I rely on a measure from Doug Hibbs that combines income growth and military fatalities in war, and American National Election Studies data on presidential voting by party.

2012
An Anti-War Candidate Announces for President (by: Robert Naiman, Truthout) Many states have open primaries: any voter can vote in any primary. In other states, you have to register with a given party in order to participate in that party's primary. New Hampshire - a critical, early state, where the Eugene McCarthy campaign showed the Lyndon Johnson administration the depth of anti-war sentiment - is in between: if you register as an "undeclared" voter, you can vote in any primary.

CALIFORNIA
Has California's Reform Moment Arrived? (William Bradley, California-based Political Analyst, NewWestNotes.com, Huffington Post) As a result, a cottage industry of political reformers has sprung up. But though they've gotten a large share of ink at times, they haven't gotten very far, politically speaking, besides the initiatives successfully championed by Schwarzenegger on redistricting and open primaries. Here is the paradox. The need for reform is spurred by gridlock. But reform can't be achieved until the gridlock is broken, or at least surmounted or circumvented. Or maybe just sideswiped.

NEW YORK
FBI probes scope of Troy vote fraud case - Feds scrutinize allegations of selective prosecution in Troy ballot fraud scandal (By BRENDAN J. LYONS, Albany Times Union) The allegations stem from the September 2009 primary elections when Republican operatives unearthed evidence that dozens of absentee ballots for the Working Families Party line had been forged. The ballots were handled by Democratic campaign workers and elected officials.

Political Reform Tops Indies' List

NO LABELS
Member throws yellow flag on No Labels (Ken Bingenheimer, National Common Ground Examiner) David Gilmour, a full-time No Labels volunteer, replied that "John, those are great points and I applaud your keeping us focused on our essentials. I do want to reassure you that I think more and more as this movement grows we are very much doing practical things in three categories. Number one, in throwing yellow flags about the way legislation is getting done or not getting done in Washington. Number two, in the sort of big issues that relate to open primaries, redistricting, caucuses, rule changes--all the things that will ultimately control the amount of partisanship that will exist in our system. And finally, in the great hidden secret that in these primary contests it's very easy to have a great influence and encourage candidates that actually support bipartisan action and working across the aisles. Those are very, very practical things."

OBAMA BLOOMBERG SCHWARZENEGGER

• Obama To Meet With Bloomberg, Schwarzenegger On Immigration Tuesday (By Jared A. Favole, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES, Automated Trader) Bloomberg, an independent, last summer organized a coalition of mayors and business leaders to advocate for an overhaul of immigration. Others expected at the White House meeting include San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey.
• Obama urges push for immigration reform (AFP Google) Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and Bloomberg -- a Republican who left the party ahead of the 2008 presidential election -- was joined by Texas Mayor Julian Castro and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey among others.

DONALD TRUMP'S NON-RUN

• What Is Trump's Exit Strategy? (John Ellis, Business Insider/Politix) Such an exit would enable Trump to continue to flirt with an "independent" presidential candidacy, thus giving him the publicity he craves, while he assessed his next move.  Running for president as an independent candidate is a cash-intensive, labor intensive business.  It takes an enormous amount of preparatory work, as Michael Bloomberg can attest from his "run" in 2007.
• Donald Trump To Raise Money For Hometown GOP (By Laura Nahmias, City Hall News) Donald Trump will deliver the keynote address at the New York Republican County Committee’s annual Lincoln Dinner on June 14 – another sign the real estate magnate and reality television star is mulling a serious run for president in 2012.

NEW YORK

• Data And Field Services Held In Contempt (BY CELESTE KATZ, Daily News/Daily Politics) The upshot is that DFS was required to do a number of things the court felt it didn't do. Instead, it changed its status from for-profit to non-profit, decided the costs of its own services rather than getting an estimate of fair market value, didn't make sure board members had the required degree of independence from the WFP and failed to get an independent evaluation of the software it uses for its clients.
• Contemptible, and in contempt (NY Post) Alas, Judge Giacobbe only fined DFS $250 and court costs for repeated instances of "contumacious behavior" -- a slap on the wrist.
• Harsher Penalties Could Stem From Court Ruling Against Data & Field Services (By Chris Bragg, City Hall News) A February 2010 settlement between DFS and Mastro’s clients compelled the firm to reshape its operations under the enforcement of State Supreme Court Justice Anthony Giacobbe. Mastro and his clients alleged that DFS massively undercharged Council Member Debi Rose, a Staten Island Democrat, and other WFP-backed campaigns for services, though DFS and the WFP acknowledged no wrongdoing in the settlement.

New York Ballot Shuffle; Money Incoming, Money Outgoing

NEW YORK

• In Recent Elections, WFP and Greens Leave Their Mark (By Azi Paybarah, NY Observer/Politicker) After the 2010 governor's race, which determines permanent ballot positions for political parties in New York, the WFP moved up from Row E to Row D (after they grudgingly endorsed Cuomo). But the Green Party, who went with the surprisingly compelling Howie Hawkins, got more than the 50,000 votes needed to establish a permeant ballot line, landing them on Row F.
• Reshuffling the ballot in NY: WFP and Conservatives moves up, Indys drop (By Azi Paybarah, WNYC/The Empire)
• David Koch and Wife Gave Gov. Andrew Cuomo $87K (Chris Good, The Atlantic)
• David Koch Continues NY GOP Support (Capital Tonight on YNN) Koch has spread his campaign cash around in New York. He and his wife, Julia, contributed $87,000 to Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo as he ramped up his 2010 gubernatorial bid.
• Koch scolds Senate GOP leader on redistricting (Posted by: Cara Matthews, Politics on the Hudson) New York Uprising, a reform group founded by former New York City Mayor Ed Koch, is taking Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Nassau County, to task over comments he made on NY1 last night. Skelos told NY1 that redistricting reform is a dead issue and would not be taken up by the GOP-controlled Senate now that a budget agreement has been reached.
• Dadey: Don’t Fund LAFTOR In State Budget (Posted by: Nick Reisman, Politics on the Hudson) Citizens Union Executive Director Dick Dadey is disappointed that the 2011-12 tentative budget includes funding for the Legislative Task Force on Demographic Research and Reapportionment, also known as LAFTOR, which is the traditional mechanism for redrawing legislative districts.

Money Talks, Nobody Walks in New York

NEW YORK

• Council Progressives Say Tax Millionaires To Stave Off Cuomo Cuts (By David Freedlander, NY Observer) The Progressive Caucus of the City Council—a bloc of 12 members elected with the support of the Working Families Party—is out with a statement today reiterating their call for Mayor Mike Bloomberg to institute a tax on the city's wealthiest in light of Albany budget that will greatly reduce New York City's operating expenses.
• Former Bloomberg campaign adviser accused of stealing millions not keeping a low profile (NY Daily News/GATECRASHER) Haggerty has refused to cop a plea in the case, and our source says he and his legal team are preparing a "spirited" defense in which quite a few lawyers could take the stand to testify that he ran an effective Election Day operation for the Independence Party and had discretion to spend the mayor's money as he saw fit.

Independent Hotspot: Arizona

It's common knowledge that independent voters decide elections. Lately the number of independents is growing, and not just those who recognize themselves as independents, but voters who register as independents. Arizona, specifically, will be a hot state in 2012. Independents in the state have reached an historical milestone in having more registered independents than the other major parties this year.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Obama, not Clinton, favored over McCain (Des Moines Register) Barack Obama would carry Iowa if he were the Democratic nominee running against McCain, if voters feel in November the way they do now. But McCain would carry Iowa in an election matchup with Democrat Hillary Clinton if the election were held now, according to the new poll.
• Independents could change tone of voting (BY TERRY ROSS, Yuma Sun) There is a complication, however, in the independent movement. Under our election process candidates are picked by the parties. The choices available to voters — including independents — mostly come from the two major parties. Independents are outside this system.

NEW YORK

• Weaseling Families Party? Labor leaders backtrack on budget cut promises to Gov. Andrew Cuomo (EDITORIAL NY Daily News) The labor-backed party's leaders pledged to support Cuomo's fiscally austere agenda back when there was something in it for them - space alongside his name on the November ballot.

EDUCATION REFORM

• Charter Schools Behind NYC School Closures (Examiner.com NY) In short, the closing schools were at the epicenter of the economic crisis that ensued in 2008 and reflect the particular kinds of damage it did to communities of color in NYC. This crisis accelerated the already deteriorating conditions in the schools creating an opportunity for privatizers looking to intensify the dismantling of public education.
• Scholar Ronald Ferguson To Speak on Racial Achievement Divide at Brown (GoLocalProv Features Team)

Partisans Grumble About Open Primaries

Open primaries became a national issue in 2008 when independents threw their support behind the anti-establishment candidacies of Barack Obama and John McCain in open primary states. Partisans are beginning to grumble now in the run up to 2012...


OPEN PRIMARIES

• 10 candidates file in 28th Senate race to replace Oropeza (By Eric Bradley, LA Daily Breeze) Critics of Proposition 14 feared that it would destroy California's minor parties and, for his part, Chamness said he was running partly as a response to the law that he said "disenfranchises third-party candidates."
• Plug up the primaries (By Markos Moulitsas, The Hill) Open primaries should be eliminated. Not only should members of political parties be allowed to select their own nominees, but open primaries provide too many opportunities for mischief by their political foes.
• Candidates for RNC post make their case at Washington forum (By Jo Mannies, St. Louis Beacon) During the forum, Wagner did take a stand that could put her at odds with Republicans back home. She came out against open primaries, long used in Missouri, which don't require voter registration by party and allow anybody to vote in any party's primary.
• Our View: Arnold yields the stage to Jerry (Appeal Democrat) Perhaps most destructive [accomplishment] is the open-primary election system championed by Schwarzenegger, which effectively eliminates the two-party system of primary nominations and general elections.
• Left ready to launch own version of Operation Chaos for Palin? (POSTED BY ALLAHPUNDIT, Hot Air) All things being equal, people like Palin and Huckabee want closed primaries to shut out centrist independents and maximize the impact of base voters; on the flip side, people like Romney and Daniels prefer an open primary for the opposite reason.

REDISTRICTING

• Fall into the GAAP (EDITORIAL Downtown Express) The New York Uprising reform pledge signed by a majority of members of both houses of the Legislature had three points: independent, nonpartisan redistricting; ethics reform; and, finally, the implementation of a GAAP budget process.

NATURAL LAW PARTY

• Michigan Natural Law Party Keeps Qualified Status for 2012 Election (Ballot Access News) In 2010, new parties in Michigan needed 38,024 signatures to get on the ballot; statewide independents needed 30,000; but a party could remain on (for 2012) with only 16,083 votes.

NEW YORK

• Vote probe gambit rejected by judge (By KENNETH C. CROWE II, Albany Times Union) An acting state Supreme Court justice has dismissed questions raised about the status of a Rensselaer County grand jury investigating ballot fraud and a judge overseeing it in a 2009 WFP primary in Troy.

Independents couldn't care less about red-blue fights -- want problems solved.

Independent redistricting is high on the list of reforms that independent voters want. Apparently the Texas state legislature has missed that boat -- and we'll see what Gov-elect Cuomo stirs up in Albany....

REDISTRICTING

• Editorial: Bush draws a point Texas GOP, Obama should heed (Dallas Morning News) As they start this chore, legislators should recall that the country just finished an upheaval of an election, where voters stated clearly that they're tired of politics as usual. Independents, in particular, signaled that they couldn't care less about red-blue fights and want problems solved.

NEW YORK

• Public Advocate hires Maloney Challenger (By Azi Paybarah, WNYC/The Empire) De Blasio – whose ties to the Working Families Party and labor movement – make him a contender for the 2013 mayor’s race, now, conceivably, has a bit more access to the Wall Street crowd...
• Nation's worst Legislature must mend its evil ways and follow Cuomo's reforms (EDITORIAL NY Daily News) Those same brief weeks must also bring dramatic reforms in Albany itself - to ensure that lawmakers stop shilling for special interests, stop grubbing for perks and protecting privileges and start putting the public first.
  

EDUCATION REFORM

• School reform: A chance for bipartisan governing (Arne Duncan, Washington Post) This common-sense agenda also reflects the quiet bipartisan revolution underway at the state and local level. With the incentive of the Race to the Top program, governors, states and districts across America are implementing comprehensive plans to reform education systems and boost student achievement.