Voters Demand for Open Primaries Increases Nationally

NONPARTISANS/ OPEN PRIMARIES

• We’ve moved away from political parties. Should government, too? (Bangor Daily News) For Jacqueline Salit, the structures used in almost every state to elect state officials, then to parse out power in state legislatures, perpetuate the power of political parties to run the system rather than act as engaged participants. Salit managed independent Michael Bloomberg’s three campaigns for mayor of New York City. Today, she is president of IndependentVoting.org and she’s trying to mobilize independents around political system reforms.
• Sunday: Tulsa’s ‘nonpartisan’ election format unlikely to seem that way in the near future (Tulsa World) “We all know that they’re Democrats and Republicans; that’s not the point,” he said. “The point is you run the two top candidates in the finals, and they may be both in same party or not.”
• Maryland GOP holds off on idea of opening primaries to independent voters (John Wagner, Washington Post) “I think that as a Republican party in Maryland, we need to do everything we can to reach out to new voters,” Katie Nash, a Maryland GOP activist who favors making a change, said outside the convention hall Saturday.
• An open primary would benefit Alaska (LETTER By Eric Treider, Soldotna, Peninsula Clarion) Washington, California and Louisiana currently enjoy the benefits of open primaries. The citizens love it and the party bosses hate it so you know it’s got to be good.

INDEPENDENT VOTERS
Morning Consult Poll Results on Politics of Healthcare Reform Shows Shift in Independent Voters (Sac Bee/ The Morning Consult) The poll reveals a significant shift in Independent voters heading into a midterm election year. 58% of independent voters now trust Republicans more on handling healthcare. Among all registered voters, President Obama receives a lot of the blame from more than 50% of respondents for the insurance cancellations, and over 60% say the president deserves a lot of the blame for the insurance exchange challenges. 

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

The Naked City: The Antidote to Corruption is Democracy

"There are eight million stories in the naked city. This is one million of them."

No, it's not the celebrated 1948 film noir... or *is* it???.....

The New York City Independence Party, which represents the nearly one million independent voters in the City, has endorsed Adolfo Carrion for Mayor in 2013 (see NYC independent strategist Jacqueline Salit's delightful and passionate introduction before the NYC IP City-wide County Committee here), released a comprehensive political reform package last week in the wake of the current political scandals (which apparently has moved Gov Cuomo to "Call for 'Open Primaries'") in New York, and which according the the IPNYC "expose structural weaknesses in the system that need to be addressed, but not in ways that entrench the powerful and preclude a more nonpartisan process."

Nonpartisan municipal elections, or open primaries at the state level, is a central tenent of the reform package and IP General Counsel Harry Kresky made a very succinct case in his recent amNewYork oped: Kresky: Nonpartisan voting would make NYC elections fairer:  "But if you eliminate the "gateway," then no "gatekeeper" can charge a candidate to pass through it. That's what nonpartisan municipal elections would do."

The New York City Independence Party Political Reform Package - The Antidote to Corruption is Democracy (PRESS RELEASE NYC Independence Party) From the release:

The Independence Party (IP) was first created in 1994 to bring political reform to New York. Unlike other minor parties, its purpose was not to influence the electoral process on the basis of ideology, but rather to influence the political process itself; to make it more open, less partisan and less corruptible. For nearly 20 years, the Independence Party built on that vision, using fusion and the appeal of political independence to push nonpartisan reforms.

Over the last few weeks, it has become evident that such reform is desperately needed. The current political scandals expose structural weaknesses in the system that need to be addressed, but not in ways that entrench the powerful and preclude a more nonpartisan process....

The reform agenda includes: 1) Nonpartisan Elections and Fusion, 2) Initiative and Referendum, 3) Term Limits for State Legislators, 4) Voter Mobility, 5) Nonpartisan Administration of Elections, 6) Campaign Finance Reform, 7) Nonpartisan Redistricting Reform, 8) Full Public Hearings on All Reforms. For the full statement go here.

And if you are one of the million, let us know!
Email TheHankster or catch us on Twitter or Facebook at The-Hankster.

See you in the streets!!
NH

What Would Get More New Yorkers to Vote? Make Elections Nonpartisan

From the New York Times yesterday

What Would Get More New Yorkers to Vote?

read more of the discussion here

  h/t to Nomi Azulay

Make Elections Nonpartisan

Randy M. Mastro is a former deputy mayor of New York City, under Rudolph W. Giuliani, and is now a litigation partner at the law firm of Gibson Dunn.

Updated June 26, 2012, 11:14 PM

New York City can reverse the alarming drop in voter turnout by adopting a nonpartisan election system where
candidates of any or no political stripe run in an open primary and get on the ballot through petitioning. Any candidate who gets more than 50 percent of the vote wins outright, but assuming no candidate reaches that majority threshold, the top two vote-getters in the primary then square off in the general election. This approach would permit more registered voters to participate in a meaningful primary process and attract more good candidates to run for office.
With the exception of the mayoralty, we remain essentially a one-party town, so the Democratic primary is the election, and that primary is closed to registered Democrats only.

Any candidate who gets more than 50 percent of the vote wins. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the top two vote-getters square off in the general election.

Most other cities in this country have changed their local electoral systems. Today, more than 80 percent of American cities have nonpartisan elections for local office. Indeed, major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco and Boston all elect their mayors through some form of nonpartisan election. And the voters have embraced the change. In Los Angeles, for example, voter turnout has risen nearly 20 percent over the last two mayoral election cycles, far surpassing New York City's rates of participation. Indeed, the last time New York City exceeded Los Angeles's voter turnout in a mayoral primary election was in 1989.
The time for change has come. Instead of lagging behind the rest of the nation, New York City needs to do the what it does best -- lead. The benefits are obvious. In our closed primary system, nearly one-third of registered New York City voters are not eligible to vote in the Democratic primary that typically determines the ultimate winner. And the party organization or, to a lesser extent, special interest coalitions that can influence low-turnout Democratic
primaries, dictate the outcome. But with an open primary/"top two" run-off election system, all voters could participate, and more good candidates would be encouraged to run, having a greater likelihood of prevailing in open primaries, than in the current closed system.
It's really a simple proposition: If we want to turn around this alarming trend and, instead, encourage increased voter participation in our local elections and attract more good candidates to run for local office, we need to learn a lesson from the rest of the country: Nonpartisan elections work to accomplish those goals.
Join Room for Debate on Facebook and follow updates on twitter.com/roomfordebate. 

Voters should be given the option to vote on whether Newark OH should eliminate political labels

NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS
Election is important to Newark, Ohio (Written by Marc Guthrie, Newark OH Advocate) A few words about nonpartisan local elections: Well more than 50 percent of Newark voters are registered "independents." The majority of Ohio's charter communities have eliminated partisan labels from local elections. Voters should be given the option to vote on whether Newark should eliminate political labels. Council doesn't need a majority leader and a minority leader because Ohio's sunshine law prohibits political caucusing about legislation, outside of public view. Newark needs eleven council members who are committed to serve citizens, without regard to partisanship or personalities.

Tiffin Ohio City Council Discusses Non-Partisan Voting System

OPEN PRIMARIES
Council OKs charter issues (By Nick Dutro, The Advertiser-Tribune - Tiffin OH) The most discussed was a proposal for an open-primary voting system, which would allow candidates to declare party affiliation or run non-partisan but would move the top two vote-getters to the general election regardless of party.

Late Nite Friday Nite Hankster Chat April 15, 2011: Lenora Fulani and Former NYC Comptroller Bill Thompson

11:27pm -- Approximately 2 hours past my bedtime, but a last Good Night -- Tune in over the weekend to hear 2013 NYC mayoral candidate Bill Thompson talk about what he thinks about nonpartisan elections...

10:32pm -- So anyway, I attended Dr. Fulani's Interviews by a Black Independent tonight, which was I think a sort of a non-political or maybe extra-political kind of a gathering among some very political New Yorkers. Upon reflection, I thought this was an important dialogue between two important political leaders in New York City. Again, video -- or at least pix at 11!


10:20pm NY time:
Hey Hanksteristas! Buon Nuit... Goeienag / Nag, (tiṣbaḥ 'ala kẖayr) تصبح على خير
response - (winta min ahla)وأنت من أهله , , Buonanotte, おやすみなさい (oyasumi nasai) おやすみ (oyasumi), 안녕히 주무십시요 (annyonghi jumushipsiyo) - frm
잘자 (jal jja) - inf,  Спокойной ночи (Spokojnoj noči), Chúc ngủ ngon

Actually I think that's wrong -- I asked for an international lexicon for Late Nite and I got Good Night. But it is late, and this is Late Night Friday Nite Hankster Chat... So what the H...

Just got home from Dr. Lenora Fulani's Interviews by a Black Independent (monthly at the Harlem State Office Building) with 2013 NYC mayoral hopeful Bill Thompson. Video at 11...

Also watching Channel 13 PBS NY Grace Potter, an interesting musical artist, songwriter, performer, singer Grace Potter -- diggin' this!....

What am I - Rolling Stone??? 

Partisan Legislatures Challenged by Independent Movement

Charter review in Tiffin Ohio brings nonpartisan elections into relief in a partisan city council culture... New York's partisan ever-lasting ever-failing Reform Albany quest (a high-priority partisan campaign issue of any state-wide election) is failing again... Independents attempt to intervene in South Carolina Repub lawsuit to exclude voters...

OHIO

• Elections last step in review of charter (By Nick Dutro, Tiffin Advertiser Tribune) Commission members decided candidates could not declare themselves as "independent," but had to either choose party affiliation or run non-partisan.

NEW YORK

• Redistricting bill quickly bottled up (By Erik Engquist and Jeremy Smerd, Crain's New York) A rule change made by Senate Democrats when they controlled the chamber makes it possible for the minority party to bring bills up without the leadership's consent. But that does not apply to legislation assigned directly to the Rules Committee, which is where Senate Republicans have sent Mr. Cuomo's independent redistricting bill.

SOUTH CAROLINA

• Independent Voting Asks to Intervene in South Carolina Republican Party Lawsuit to Close Primaries (Ballot Access News) On February 4, IndependentVoting.org filed a request with a U.S. District Court in South Carolina, asking that it be allowed to intervene in the lawsuit called Greenville County Republican Party Executive Committee, and South Carolina Republican Party, et al., v State of South Carolina, 6:10-cv-01407.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 9/2/10

NYC NONPARTISAN ELECTIONS

• The case of the missing data (Crain's New York) Fiala: “As sad as it is that the data was not provided to the research analyst, the report wouldn't have made a difference,” he says. “The majority of these commissioners did not want to take this up.”

TEA PARTY

• Is the tea party becoming the new Grand Old Party? (By LIZ SIDOTI (AP) Some Democrats privately worry that the party risks alienating important numbers of independent voters who already are trending toward the GOP, identifying with the tea party's disgust with what it calls out-of-control spending and the growth of government under President Barack Obama.

COLORADO

• 10th Circuit Upholds Colorado Ballot Access Restriction, Even Though the Legislature has Already Repealed That Restriction Effective in 2011 (Ballot Access News)

PENNSYLVANIA

• ACLU appeals ballot ruling on Pa. House candidate - Carl Stevenson, an Independent, was seeking to challenge Doug Reichley in the 134th District. (THE MORNING CALL) "Requiring petition circulators to be residents of the election district is a serious burden on independent and minor party candidates' ability to gather the signatures necessary to get on the ballot, and there is no good reason for the requirement," Walczak, who is representing Stevenson, said in a news release.

FLORIDA

• The Role of Independent Voters (by Andy Corty, Florida Trend) But today, this other group has grown to more than 22% of the electorate, which means that 2.5 million of Florida’s 11 million voters don’t affiliate with either major party. Those 2.5 million voters are disenfranchised from our closed primaries so don’t play a role in selecting major party candidates. With these moderate citizens on the sidelines, the major parties tend to gravitate left or right to appease their hard-core voters. - Quotes John Avlon
• Florida Governor's race shake-up (WINK News - CBS) Indy candidate Chiles drops out of gov race
• Alternative political parties hold some sway in Florida (By Scott Powers, ORLANDO SENTINEL) If they voted as a bloc, Florida's third-party members could have a decisive impact on close races throughout the state, including some in Central Florida.
• Dude, you're not getting my Bud Chiles vote (By John A. Tures, Associate Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College, Southern Political Report) Democrats think the Chiles move will help them.  The governor’s mansion is in Republican hands (Crist) and Chiles will no longer split the vote among those dissatisfied with the politics of Tallahassee.

NEW YORK

• Bloomy: Only 'total incapacitation' or death would end term early (Maggie Haberman, Politico)
• Bloomberg, Shermanesque (Ben Smith, Politico)

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• Speak Out On The NYC Charter! (BY CELESTE KATZ, NY Daily News/Daily politics)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 8/3010

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• NEWSWEEK Poll: Democrats May Not Be Headed for Midterm Bloodbath - Obama's approval continues to slide, but Bush's legacy still haunts the GOP. (Newsweek) Democratic voters appear just as willing as Republicans to vote for their party. But independents skew heavily toward the GOP. Forty-five percent of independents say they’ll vote for Republican candidates, compared with just 33 percent for Democrats.
• Poll: Nevada voters unhappy with Senate candidates (By Associated Press, Boston Herald) Two-thirds of Angle’s supporters said they would have preferred another GOP nominee, and nearly 80 percent of registered voters who are undecided or don’t like Angle or Reid said they would have preferred a moderate rather than the conservative, according to the Mason-Dixon Polling & Research survey.... Independent voters and those who say they don’t prefer Reid or Angle said they might vote for "none of these candidates."
• Most N.M. Voters Give Congress Poor Ratings (By Michael Coleman, Albuquerque Journal) A majority of independent voters in New Mexico — 57 percent — said they disapprove of the job Congress is doing, with 20 percent voicing approval. Twenty-three percent of those independents responding to the Journal poll said they were either undecided, had mixed feelings, didn't know or were unsure of their opinion of the current Congress.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Hasten: Say goodbye to party primaries (BY MIKE HASTEN, The Town Talk - Central Louisiana) In most states, party primaries really thin out the crowd of candidates and often only the party winners are on the ballot in the general election.
• Debate Over Primary Elections Heats Up (Memphis Daily News) Wiseman: Our community is not well served by partisan primaries. … We have enough divisions in the community. Creating these further divisions does not serve our community well.”

FLORIDA

• FL: Candidates put faith in No Party Affiliation voters (BY DEREK CATRON, Daytona Beach News Journal) They were the fastest-growing segment of registered voters, even before Gov. Charlie Crist bolted the Republican Party for an NPA designation in his run for the U.S. Senate. Now, nearly 1 in 5 voters in Florida carries the NPA designation, making it the third-most popular "party," behind Democrats (41.5 percent) and Republicans (36 percent). And, while the major parties have been watching their percentages decline, NPAs have been on the rise, their percentages increasing almost 2.5 times since 1994.
• Crist looks for middle ground between two opponents (From CNN's Jeff Simon) According to a Quinnipiac University poll conducted August 11-16, Crist, who is running as an independent candidate, holds a 39 percent to 32 percent lead over Republican candidate Marco Rubio. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who secured the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, trails the two front-runners with 16 percent.
• District 3 candidate supports open primaries (Submitted by Matt Dixon, Florida Times Union/Death, Taxes & Politics) Martin Terry-Back, an independent candidate running against Corrine Brown, has signed a pledge to support an open primary system.
• Open primary could heal Florida's low voter turnout (By Matt Dixon, Florida Times Union - Jacksonville) "I think clearly [an open primary] would improve voter turnout," said Aubrey Jewett, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida. "It just seems like the best way to [increase turnout]."

WFP

• Working Families Has Nominees This Year in Six States (Ballot Access News)

NEW YORK

• DAs expanding probe of Independence haul (David Seifman, NY Post)
• Lew Fidler Challenges Charles Barron's "Freedom Party" Petitions (BY CELESTE KATZ, Daily News/Daily Politics)

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• Lauder Won’t Bankroll New Term-Limits Campaign (By Michael Howard Saul, Wall Street Journal/Metropolis) According to Rubenstein, Lauder is mostly “pleased” with the commission’s decision on term limits, though he disagrees with the panel’s decision to allow all incumbents to serve three four-year terms, no matter what the voters decide in November.
• Voters will weigh in on term limits in November (By Howard Koplowitz, Your Nabe Queens)
• Getting Your Say on Charter Revision (Gotham Gazette) The Campaign Finance Board is asking for pro and con submissions on the charter reform proposals to include in its voter guide.

It's Primary Day - Do You Know Where Your Independents Are?

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• 10 things Republicans must do in 10 weeks (By Ed Hornick, CNN) #8 - Appeal to Independents: "The Republicans know that independents were an absolutely critical partner to Obama in the presidential election in 2008," said Jacqueline Salit, president of independentvoting.org, a national strategy and organizing center for independents. "So there's a lot of energy going into trying to peel independents away and turn them back to center-right."
• Independent voters getting stronger (by Robert Robb, The Arizona Republic)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• AZ: New poll: Arizonans want open, nonpartisan primaries (Arizona State University) Results showed that three-quarters of Arizona voters favor a primary election in which the two candidates, regardless of party affiliation, who receive the largest number of votes face off in the general election. This change is favored across party lines and among all age groups.
• AZ: Hear Me Out: Independent voters surge in Arizona, is two-party system not meeting public's needs? (ABC15.com)
• AZ: Get out and vote: Primary elections are today (BY BILL HESS, Sierra Vista Herald/Review) As for this primary, he would not forecast the turnout of the 76,641 registered voters in the county — independents may ask for Democratic, Republican or Green party ballots, but not Libertarian, to vote in those parties’ primaries.
• WI: Ross Kinzler: Declare winner with 51 percent of votes (LETTER Madison State Journal)
• WI: Bill Broydrick: Make our primaries more open (By BILL BROYDRICK, Wisconsin State Journal)
• VT: It's Primary Election Day in Vermont (By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer, WNCT Channel 9) Vermont has an open primary without advance party registration. That means a voter doesn't register as a party member, but selects one party's ballot and selects only from that one in the primary.
• FL: Other views: Florida should mandate open primaries (BY AUBREY JEWETT, Florida Today)
• LA: GOP endorses closed primaries (By MARSHA SHULER, Advocate Capitol News Bureau)
• LA: State Republican Party endorses return to party primaries for federal election (Ed Anderson, The Times-Picayune)
• WV: Citizens to determine format of city elections (By Kara Van Pelt, Register-Herald Reporter)

THIRD PARTIES

• In Mich., A 'Tea Party' Is Denied Spot On Ballot (by DON GONYEA, NPR) Richard Winger, who publishes a newsletter called Ballot-Access News, says independent voters are worth watching closely. "When times are bad, people are more interested in getting outside their normal habits," he said. And, Winger says, Michigan's Tea Party controversy aside, it could be the best year for independent candidates and third parties in many decades.

NEW YORK

• Republicans Look to Pick Up a Seat in Queens (by Ray Katz, Gotham Gazette) The 26th Assembly District features tree-lined streets, houses with American flags, parks -- and voters who switch from one party to the other.

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• Commission Votes to Put Term Limits on November Ballot in New York City (By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ, NY Times)
• Term Limits Vote Won't Apply to Sitting Pols, Commission Rules (By Jill Colvin, DNAinfo)
• Mike loses on limits (By DAVID SEIFMAN, NY Post)
• Limits & loopholes (NY Post) How many times do New Yorkers have to say, "Two terms is enough," before the political class gets the message? It's a relevant question, as Mayor Bloomberg's handpicked Charter Revision Commission today finishes up recommendations meant to appear on the November ballot -- with term limits chief among them.
• Fritz Schwartz Calls On Goldstein Not To Do Revote On Term Limits (By Chris Bragg, City Hall News)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 8/21/10

Please check out Hankster Blogger of the Week (noted below at NEXT TO LAST WORD

• 10 Political Practices That Should Hit the Road (by New Hankster blogger friend The Indy Express) Partisans want to eliminate anyone who does not vote the party line, which is a recipe for gridlock and hardship for the country. Nothing will be accomplished except more videos and sound bites for the media and bloggers. The Indy Express

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• PRIORITY READING: Wedge issues divide politicians from independents (By Ed Hornick, CNN) "This is party politics as usual with respect to all of these wedge issues," said Jacqueline Salit, president of independentvoting.org, a national strategy and organizing center for independents. "I think there's more and more of a steady recognition that these kind of wedge issues and political manipulation, sensationalism and opportunism is exactly what is degrading the American political process and our democracy." NOTE: This article also ran on WTSP Channel 10 - Tampa Bay

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Nonpartisan Elections in CA, NYC, and the Nation (By William J. Kelleher, Ph.D., opednews.com
• Maldonado asks to join defense in Proposition 14 lawsuit (Sac Bee/Capitol Alert) "I could not stand by and watch the transparent effort to undermine the voters' right to an open primary system," Maldonado said in a statement. "Voters were crystal clear that they wanted to change business as usual in Sacramento and the effort to derail Proposition 14 is not only without merit, it's more of the same political game-playing that has gridlocked the Capitol for years.
• Independent testing (Arizona Star) Working in conjunction with the League of Women Voters and relying on funding from groups such as the Southern Arizona Leadership Council and Greater Phoenix Leadership, the project contacted about 33,000 independents in Legislative Districts 26 and 30, which are Tucson districts with a Republican voter edge.

MIDTERMS

• The 2010 Elections: What's at Stake? (Bob Burnett, Huffington Post) The GOP has claimed the coveted political mantle of "outsider" and, at least for the moment, convinced Independent voters the US is best served by dividing power between Democrats and Republicans. Imagine that in November's mid-term elections, Republicans win control of the House or Senate. What difference will that make?
• Quinnipiac Poll: Crist Still Ahead In FL-SEN Race (Eric Kleefeld, TPMDC)
• August 19, 2010 - Sink Inching Up In Close Florida Gov Race, Quinnipiac University Poll Finds; Crist Leads Three-Way Senate Race (Quinnipiac)

COLORADO

• Riddle sues state over campaign finance (by Joe Hanel, Herald Denver Bureau)
• BLAKE: Lawmaker without a party takes political career to court (By Peter Blake, Colorado Springs Gazette)

GEORGIA

• Independent voters being courted in race for governor (Rome News Tribune)

OREGON

• Progressive Party skips Oregon governor's race, aiding Kitzhaber (Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian ) The season for nominating minor-party candidates is drawing to a close and it looks like the winner is...Democrat John Kitzhaber (who also happens to be the candidate of the Independent Party of Oregon)... But a write-in candidacy won't have nearly the power to draw votes. And the way it shapes up, Kitzhaber won't have any candidates running to the left of him....

NEW YORK

• WHAT’S AT STAKE IN THE MOSQUE CONTROVERSY? (Harry Kresky, Legal Briefs blog)
• Feds drop probe in how Working Families Party spent money in 2009 city elections (BY CELESTE KATZ AND ADAM LISBERG, DAILY NEWS) Still, the controversy has deterred Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo, a strong favorite to be the next governor, from running on the WFP line.... If Cuomo doesn't accept the line, the WFP will be stuck with its placeholder candidate, Legal Aid lawyer Kenneth Schaeffer - and may not meet the threshold to stay a major party.
• 'Families' Party: We dodged fed charges (By BRUCE GOLDING and CATHY BURKE, NY Post)
• Cuomo Pressed On Issues Throughout Western N.Y. Campaign Tour (By: Josh Robin, NY1) Asked what his priority is ethics-wise, such as campaign finance reform or outside disclosure, Cuomo said it is "all the above."
• Probe of Working Families Party Ends (By JACOB GERSHMAN, Wall Street Journal) Working Families Party leaders have feared that without Mr. Cuomo's support, the party could lose its automatic spot on the state ballot, a key source of its potency. Parties in New York must get at least 50,000 votes for governor to preserve their official ballot status.
• Working Families Party to Face No U.S. Charges (By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE, NY Times)
• Now that WFP Won’t Face Federal Charges… (By Azi Paybarah, WNYC)
• Working Families Party claims it's no longer subject of federal probe (By BRUCE GOLDING and CATHY BURKE, NY Post)
• Working Families says inquiry ends without charge - The U.S. attorney's office, which was reportedly probing Data and Field Services, a for-profit arm of the Working Families Party, is said to be closing the case. (By Jeremy Smerd, Crain's New York)
• Working Families Party: U.S. Attorney Won't File Charges (BY CELESTE KATZ, NY daily News/Daily Politics)
• Addabbo Booted from WFP Ballot Line [UPDATED] (By Chris Bragg, City Hall News)
• Group Targets Working Families Party (Politics on the Hudson)
• Tea Party Activists Pulling Together For New York -- And Then National -- Ballot Line Push (BY CELESTE KATZ, Daily News/Daily Politics) Tea's gubernatorial candidate is a Long Island commercial and personal injury lawyer named Steve Cohn. Their organizer is one Sam Zherka of Westchester, a real-estate owner and club operator. And maybe, just maybe, the possible state chairman of the new party -- should it be constituted -- could be Bobby Kumar, the current chairman of the Nassau County Independence Party.

BLOOMBERG ENDORSEMENTS

• Bloomberg Busy Backing Candidates Of Both Parties (by BRIAN NAYLOR, NPR) "Since I've been one of everything in my career at one time or another, I don't think that party matters," he said. "What you want are people who are independent in their views. That they don't listen to the party bosses. That they listen to the issues. They're smart enough to analyze it. [That] they have the experiences that we need in the legislature to know how to address the problems."
• INDEPENDENT FOR PRESIDENT IN 2012: A VIEW FROM 2010 (by Damon Eris, CAIVN)

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• De Blasio Takes Aim at Bloomberg (By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL, Wall Street Journal) On Thursday night, Mr. de Blasio urged the Charter Revision Commission to reject the mayor's suggestion that the panel reconsider awarding incumbents with a special exception that would allow them to serve three consecutive four-year terms, even if the electorate votes in November for a two-term cap.
• Charter Commission Weighs Extra Term For Incumbents, Ignoring Public Referenda (By HENRY STERN, Special to the NY Sun)
• One standard for all: Two terms is two terms, incumbents included (EDITORIAL NY Daily News) Claiming that fairness demands three terms for incumbents and two for newcomers is simply preposterous. Not least because everyone on the Council won election based on a campaign that was financed by taxpayer dollars. Not least because most of these same Council members changed the rules abruptly on the public by self-servingly voting to shift from a limit of two terms to three.
• Nonpartisan elections are a no-no for Black, Latino and Asian leader -- and for Bloomberg (By Stephon Johnson, Amsterdam News, Voices That Must Be Heard - NY Community Media Alliance) Under pressure from Democrats and leaders in communities of color, Mayor Michael Bloomberg has decided to end his push for nonpartisan elections in New York City.
• Changing the City’s Charter. Again? (By Mark Green, NY Observer) Admittedly, there may be hotter subjects this month than the City Charter Commission's ballot proposals. But an absurd state law nevertheless allows our mayor to hand-pick a commission to deliberate city governance in the dog days of August and put profound changes on the ballot for November. So it's worth examining.
• Fair Share Charter Fix Could Reduce Truck Traffic Burden for Some Nabes (by Noah Kazis, Streets Blog)

NEXT TO LAST WORD

• 10 Political Practices That Should Hit the Road (by New Hankster blogger friend The Indy Express) Partisans want to eliminate anyone who does not vote the party line, which is a recipe for gridlock and hardship for the country. Nothing will be accomplished except more videos and sound bites for the media and bloggers.

LAST WORD

• Obama, Islam And The "Other" (By Reid Wilson, National Journal/Hotline) A higher proportion of self-identified GOPers, 31%, say he is Muslim, while just 10% of Dems and 18% of independents believe it to be so.... Obama won election thanks to a diverse coalition, part of which includes a segment of Dems and independent voters who typically vote GOP in federal races. But, according to the Pew survey, the very voters who put Obama in office are the ones whose opinions seem the most malleable.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 8/17/10

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Independents’ Day (Steve Macoy, Republican American) Pollsters and politicians naturally are fretting over independents, who reportedly favor Democrat Dan Malloy over Republican Tom Foley by substantial margins in the governor’s race. Interestingly, they’re showing a narrow preference for Republican Linda McMahon over Democrat Richard Blumenthal for U.S. Senate.

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Washington State's 'Top-Two' Primary May Thwart Tea Party (Mark Memmott, Vermont Public Radio)
• Campaign reform needed (Times Daily - Florence AL)

THIRD PARTIES

• Minor parties silenced by funding laws (By Mike DeRosa, New Haven Register)

NEW YORK

• The teachers and Cuomo: Divorce is a good thing (By GREG DAVID, Crain's New York)
• Bloomberg backs Sestak in Pennsylvania (By Shane D'Aprile, The Hill)
• Bloomberg to endorse Fenty Tuesday (Washington Post/DC)
• Mike Bloomberg to back Joe Sestak (By MAGGIE HABERMAN, Politico)

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• Neighborhood Advocates See Push For Power Blocked (By Jarrett Murphy, City Limits)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 8/16/10

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Rochelle Riley: Time to change Mich. primary system (Livingston Daily - MI) For frustrated independent voters, the Aug. 3 primary forced them to temporarily join parties they didn't want to belong to in the first place.
• State first in Supreme Court campaign costs (By Phillip Rawls, Montgomery Advertiser) Alabama's hotly contested partisan races for state Supreme Court seats were by far the most expensive in the country during the last decade, according to a new national study by Brennan Center.

NEW YORK

• Democratic Bigwigs Show At Rangel's Birthday Fundraiser (Gothamist)
• Rangel’s Birthday Party ‘Damn Sure Ain’t No Funeral’ (NY Magazine/Daily Intel)
• Poll: D.C. elites rate Congress higher (By: Andy Barr, Politico)

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• Fine-tuning city's tribunal system (Peter N. Spencer, SI Advance)
• $110K grant kept Rev. Al Sharpton quiet about Mayor Bloomberg changing term limits (ADAM LISBERG, Daily News) On Aug. 7, Sharpton said he would fight any push to make city elections nonpartisan - which Bloomberg hoped to do this fall. His public stand helped kill the idea. Barely 48 hours later, Bloomberg pulled the plug.

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 8/15/10

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Tom Eblen: Coffee Party prepares for national convention in Louisville - Group responds to Tea Party effort (Lexington Herald Leader) Another discussion topic will be independent voters. "Why is it that so many people are leaving both parties and registering as independents?" Park wondered. "To me, it's a statement about the two-party system itself, not just the state of the two parties." Park said Coffee Party organizers, who promoted get-togethers in coffee shops across the country in March, wanted to hold their first convention in the Midwest. "We wanted to get away from the East Coast-West Coast mentality," she said.
• Independents’ vote vital to state’s House race (Kevin Woster, Rapid City Journal) NOTE: Recommended by Kim Wright

OPEN PRIMARIES

• CT: Open Primaries To Unaffiliated Voters (LETTER Hartford Courant) I think California has figured it out.
• FL: Don't shut out independent voters (EDITORIAL Daytona Beach News Journal) A lot of potential voters are shut out of the decision-making on key primary races. Independent voters may cast ballots in nonpartisan races, but usually they can't play a role in choosing Republican or Democratic nominees. Florida should open the party primaries to independents. The parties would benefit from giving this growing part of the electorate a say in their nominating process. Independents represent a crucial voting bloc in the general election in November. Party nominees would better represent the electorate as a whole if the No Party helped choose them. 
• LA: Early Voting Begins For Aug. 28 Primary - La. Voters Can Cast Ballots Through Next Saturday (WDSU NEW ORLEANS) Registered Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians may vote only in their party’s primary. Independent voters or those belonging to an unrecognized party can participate in either the Democratic or Libertarian primaries. Voters registered with the Green or Reform parties are not eligible for the primary.
• OK: Pointless election (by: WAYNE GREENE Editorial Writer, Tulsa World) Excluding independent voters doesn't serve the political process..
• CA: Marin Voice: California's open primary - a real voice for a change (WILLIAM T. BAGLEY, Marin Independent Journal) That fact is worth acknowledging because of the recent strange action by the Marin Republican County Central Committee, ousting its chair Sashi McEntee for supporting the "Open Primary" initiative.
• LA: Closed-primary to be last, low turnout expected (By William Johnson, Opeloupus Daily World - LA)

MIDTERMS/PRIMARIES

• Two Different Electorates (Wall Street Journal/CAPITAL JOURNAL, By Rhodes Cook) A basic rule of thumb for midterm elections is that the turnout is smaller, older and whiter than that for a presidential election.... But party officials are hoping to offset the lack of energy evident among Democratic loyalists by making a big effort to motivate the 15 million or so first-time voters in 2008. Many of them are young, African American or Hispanic, and at least two years ago were ardently pro-Obama.
• Liberal criticism of Obama is out of tough-love (By Robert Kuttner, Boston Globe) With his temporizing, Obama has left independent voters perplexed and the Democratic base dispirited. Democrats are now at risk of an epic legislative defeat this November, leaving Obama with even less running room to provide the recovery program that the country needs.
• Obama and Independents: What Happened? (Posted by Sarah Dutton, POLL CNS News) But his support among independents - those Americans who don't identify with either the Republican or Democratic party - has dropped significantly since last year. In the CBS News Poll conducted in July, the president's job approval rating among this group was in net negative territory. Just 38 percent approved of the job he was doing as president, while more, 46 percent, disapproved.
• AP-GfK Poll: Independent voters sour on Democrats (By ALAN FRAM and TREVOR TOMPSON (AP) Poll results here http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com/
• Democrats face uphill battle in midterm campaign (By Dan Balz, Penninsula Qatar) Through Organizing for America, the offshoot of Obama’s massive 2008 grass-roots network, Democrats are bombarding those first-time voters with e-mails and following up with conversations at their doorsteps. On Aug. 28 they will kick off their fall push, in conjunction with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The goal is to knock on 400,000 doors that weekend in targeted states and congressional districts.
• CNN Poll: Who's on top in hunt for 2012 GOP nomination? (CNN/Politicker, From CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser) Full results here http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/08/13/rel11d.pdf
• The Battle for America 2010: Signs of a Gathering Superstorm in November -- The forecast is getting ominous for Democrats as the trends continue to tilt toward a GOP wave that will inundate the majority and bring Republicans back to power. (by Scott Elliott, Pajamas Media)
•  NOTE: Pajamas Media is a right-leaning purporting to be a nonideological hybrid left-right "citizen journalist" major blog started in 2005 by Johnson and Simon (who insist that ideology does not play a role in their quest to locate the best blog posts. Both are former liberal Democrats who turned to the right after 9/11. For background see National Review article from 2005...

THIRD PARTY CANDIDATES

• INDEPENDENT AND THIRD PARTY CANDIDATES STILL FIGHTING FOR THE RIGHT TO PARTICIPATE IN AMERICA'S DEMOCRACY (by Damon Eris, CAIVN) If a group of people told you that elected officials, influential civic groups, the mainstream media, and independent polling organizations were all engaged in a systematic effort to effectively silence them by ensuring that the wider public was not exposed to their views and opinions, you might conclude that this was nothing but an elaborate conspiracy theory. Yet, this is the reality faced by third party and independent candidates for elected office all across the United States. 
• Georgia Independent Congressional Candidate, Denied Ballot Access, Will Pursue Strong Write-in Campaign (Ballot Access News) Comment: An Alabama Independent Says: Filing fees in lieu of petitons is the only way. When will we ever learn?

NEW JERSEY

• Voters Think Gov. Christie is Stubborn but Independent and Smart (POLL Rutgers) Asked how strongly they agree with a random list of four positive (smart, independent, strong leader and reformer) and four negative traits (stubborn, uncaring, arrogant and bully) to describe Christie, three-quarters say stubborn “very” (42 percent) or “somewhat well” (34 percent).... Independents are mixed; a majority agrees that all the positive traits apply at least somewhat to Christie, as well as two negatives – stubborn (76 percent) and arrogant (69 percent).

NEW YORK

• Tenants bi-partisan endorsements (by Rick Karlin, Albany Times Union/Capitol Confidential) New York City-based Tenants PAC is targeting Pedro Espada Jr. for defeat, and they’ve rescinded endorsements of three Democratic Senators: David Valesky, Brian Foley and Darrel Aubertine.... The tenants also are crossing party lines, backing longtime GOP Sen. Frank Padavan as well as Democrat Bill Perkins.

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• Bloomberg says he won't spend any money to campaign against two-term limit for city politicians (BY FRANK LOMBARDI, DAILY NEWS) The November ballot will ask city voters whether to approve a two-term limit and ban the Council from ever extending its own terms again, but allow incumbent politicians to still run for three terms. Voters had twice approved the two-term limit for city politicians before the Council extended it. Bloomberg said he was disappointed the Charter Revision Commission he appointed will not ask voters whether to make city elections nonpartisan - a crusade he spent $7 million backing in 2003 before it failed 70% to 30%.
• $110K grant kept Rev. Al Sharpton quiet about Mayor Bloomberg changing term limits (ADAM LISBERG, Daily News)
• 2010 NY politics: The spirit is weak (By Greg David, Crain's New York)  Mayor Michael Bloomberg's dispirited retreat from his plans to push nonpartisan elections represents one large red flag about the prospects for the rest of his third term. His entire handling of the City Charter commission, which rejected the idea, seems to have been half-hearted—hardly the strategy of someone determined to leave important legacies during his last term in office. There is also the news from the Post that First Deputy Mayor Patricia Harris is spending most of her time working on the mayor's foundation, a telling development.

BOOK REVIEW

• 'California Crackup: How Reform Broke the Golden State and How We Can Fix It' by Joe Mathews (a fellow at the New America Foundation) and Mark Paul (a UC Berkeley visiting scholar and a former deputy state treasurer) - (REVIEW Newsweek)

TODAY'S NEWS HEADLINES for INDEPENDENT VOTERS 8/13/10

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Why People Hate Politics (Gautam Dutta, Huffington Post) If SB 6 kicks in, California will switch to a radical version of "Top Two" elections.
• Limiting voters' choices (LETTER Marin Independent Journal by Eugene E. Ruyle, Oakland, Peace and Freedom PARTY candidate for Congress) We need a publicly funded electoral system with proportional representation. Only then will we be able to elect officials who represent working people instead of corporations and the rich.

IDAHO

• Gubernatorial candidate charges City Club of Boise of debate cover-up (By Dustin Hurst, Idaho Reporter)

MASSACHUSETTS

• Independent candidate for governor Tim Cahill proposes redistricting commission changes (The Associated Press, MassLive) Three members would be Democrats, three would be Republicans and three would be independents.

NEW YORK

• The Cuomo Conundrum: Can the King and the Court Find a Way to Get Along? (By Reid Pillifant, NY Observer) Mr. Wright, who doubles as Manhattan's Democratic chair, had just peeled away from an array of Democratic officials gathered on the steps of City Hall, who were baking in the mid-afternoon sun. While the partisans wiped their brows and fiercely defended the prerogative of the Democratic Party, the top of the ticket was upstate, pledging to clean up a government that's already controlled by Democrats.

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• It's Official — Term Limits Will Appear on Ballot, Charter Commission Says (By Jill Colvin, DNAinfo Reporter/Producer) After months of passionate protest and debate, the commission, which was convened by the mayor to examine flaws in the city's Charter, chose not to include a referendum on nonpartisan elections as a means of increasing dwindling voter turnout.
• The Charter Revision Commission has its final say, at length (BY COLBY HAMILTON, Capital New York) As the meeting began and Goldstein laid out what the commission would tackle that evening, what wasn't mentioned was as significant as what was. Term limits was on the agenda. The issue of nonpartisan elections, once an important goal for Michael Bloomberg and his allies in the Independence Party, but which voters rejected in 2003, was not.
• Bloomberg: Term Limits Issue Up To The Voters (By: Grace Rauh, NY1)
• Mayor Faults Term Exception (By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL, Wall Street Journal) The current Charter Revision Commission considered placing nonpartisan elections on the ballot again this year, but opted against it. The mayor said he was "disappointed" that the panel "didn't seem to have a lot of stomach for it."
• Suddenly, Bloomberg Has Nothing To Say About Term Limits (BY ADAM LISBERG, NY Daily News)  Nonpartisan elections will not be on the ballot, after a quiet effort by Bloomberg operatives to win support for it failed. The mayor made clear, though, that he thinks the commission missed a golden opportunity:

  “I’m disappointed that the commission, which is independent, didn’t seem to have a lot of stomach for it. I have always believed, as you know I financed a campaign when I first came into office to try to change it and I do believe that is the way the system should be. And without that, most people don’t t realize that they don’t have, in a practical sense, a vote.”

  
  

NYC Charter Revision Commission: Yes on Term Limits, No on Top Two Nonpartisan Elections

Photos are from last night's NYC Charter Revision Commission meeting at Baruch. After a "spirited debate" on term limits and votes on 3 different proposals that failed to pass, the commission decided to put a measure on the ballot that will allow voters to restore a 2-term limit for city offices (city council, boro presidents, mayor, comptroller and public advocate) but that would not affect the council members who were elected under the 3-term "extension" that was engineered by Mayor Bloomberg and City Council last year. Is it just me, or do you too feel a little breeze on your face from a back-hand motion?  Hmmmm.... Boy, do we need nonpartisan elections, or what!?  

Speaking of which, Commissioner Goldstein repeated his mantra on the hard-fought "top two" proposal recommended by Citizens Union and supported by the NYC Independence Party and many black and Latino community leaders throughout the city: needs more study. No one else on the commission chose to speak on the issue. End of (commission) discussion. 

The commission voted to sort of slightly improve the Fair Share section of the charter but omitted power plants from the language. Fair Share is the part of the charter that could address the gross disparity that puts harmful waste disposal and pollution-producing plants in poor neighborhoods.

Living with this commission and its process for the past six months has been very growthful for New York City voters, I think. The people spoke. We came together -- independents, youth, election law attorneys, government watchdogs, university professors, ordinary people black, white, Latino who truly represent our communities -- and we engaged ourselves, if not the commission, in powerful dialogue about what we need in this city to go forward. Let's continue the conversation--it's going on all over the country!

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Editorial: Don't Discount the Weight of Primaries (by Dennis Maley, Bradenton Times - FL)
• Some Lawmakers Push To Close Primary To Some Voters (Reported By Cara Kumari, WSMV NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- ) "Right now you can go on Election Day and say, 'Today I'm a Republican,' and then next year you can go in and say, 'Today I'm a Democrat,'" said Rep. Debra Maggart, a Republican from Hendersonville. But some lawmakers are discussing closing primaries. Two years ago, state lawmakers proposed a bill to require party registration to vote in a primary. It was sparked by concerns of what's called crossover voting.
• City of Bell salaries: Robert Rizzo is only a symptom (By Ben Boychuk, LA Times) What ails our state is a sclerotic, dysfunctional, largely unaccountable "progressive" system of government, the roots of which date back more than a century. In the quest to purge politics of corruption, cronyism and the undue influence of "predatory" special interests, "reformers" have erected an activist, bureaucratized and centralized administrative state.

TUESDAY'S PRIMARIES

• Concern Over Centrists as G.O.P. Leans Right (By JEFF ZELENY, NY Times) The results leave Republicans facing a critical question heading into the general election: Can the added enthusiasm of their conservative base for the insurgent candidates offset a potential loss of appeal to independent and centrist voters? Senate primaries in Colorado and Connecticut on Tuesday, where the preferred choices of the Republican establishment lost, have given fresh hope to Democrats that Republicans may not be able to fully capitalize on a favorable political environment.

NYC CHARTER REVISION

• Term Limits Measure Heading To The Ballot This Fall (By: Grace Rauh, NY1)
• Term Limits to Go on Ballot Again in the City (By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ, NY Times)
• Pol term limit to be voted on by New Yorkers after Mayor Bloomberg elected for third time (BY ADAM LISBERG, DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF)
• Charter Commission Approves Ballot Proposals (by Courtney Gross, Gotham Gazette)
• Term Limits Back to Voters (By MICHAEL HOWARD SAUL, Wall Street Journal)
• Voters Will Get to Decide on Term Limits Come November (By Richard Yeh, WNYC)
• Term Limits, Fair Share To Be On November Ballot (By Jarrett Murphy, City Limits)
• Bloomberg Abandons Nonpartisan Elections, but Not Rangel (By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ, NY Times/City Room)