Major Parties, Minor Parties and Anti-Parties

Momentum continues to build for open primaries in California, and most but not all partisans (including minor partisans like Libertarians and Greens) don't support primaries that would allow everyone including nonpartisans to participate in the first round of voting... NYC Independence Party (aka the "anti-party Party" because of its support for nonpartisan elections and open primaries) brought in $65K at Monday night's Anti-Corruption Awards recognizing grassroots activists. Not a bad follow-up to the final count 150K votes in November's citywide election for Mayor... Meanwhile, the Working Families Party is under the gun....

OPEN PRIMARIES

• Make party bosses cringe by voting for open primary (By thomas d. elias, Mercury News)
• The problem with open primaries (By Richard Winger, San Fransisco Bay Guardian) Washington used top-two once, in 2008. Out of eight U.S. House seats, 8 statewide state races, and 123 legislative races, only one incumbent was defeated in the primary. The only real change in Washington in 2008 was the elimination of minor party and independent candidates from the November election.
• Low turnout? Of course, because primaries are a farce (LETTER Boston Globe) Why do we hold publicly funded elections for private political parties? Why can we not belong to more than one political party at a time? Why is one’s political party affiliation a matter of public record? Does this not violate the premise of the secret ballot?
• Misguided move to the middle (By STEVEN GREENHUT, Special to the Orange County Register)

2009 ELECTIONS

• New York Finally Releases Final Figures for 23rd District Special Election (Ballot Access News)

GOVERNORS RACES

• Siena poll: Gov’s ratings get ‘modest boost’ (by Casey Seiler, Albany Times Union/Capitol Confidential)
• Coakley balking at 1-on-1 debates-Rebuffs Brown over exclusion of 3d rival (By Matt Viser, Boston Globe) But Coakley, the state’s attorney general, said she is reluctant to participate in any debates that do not include a little-known independent candidate, Joseph L. Kennedy.
• Friedman gives up second bid for governor--Humorist joins Democratic primary for state agriculture commissioner. (By Jason Embry, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF)
• Jim Boren: Lieutenant governor job for the ambitious (Merced Sun Star) Abel Maldonado reshapes California

NYC IP

• Islander hailed for work on behalf of Independence Party (By KIAWANA RICH, STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE) The Tenth Annual Anti-Corruption Awards ceremony was held last night at Wolfgang's Tribeca Steakhouse, Manhattan, and the honorees included a Stapleton resident who was recognized for her efforts on behalf of the Independence Party.
• Course Of Bloomberg's Charter Commission Still Uncharted (By Chris Bragg, City Hall) And as he sought the Independence Party line this spring, Bloomberg told party leaders he was open to again looking at non-partisan elections, which is also a pet cause of party activists.
• New York City Council Races Get More Competitive (by Rachel Fauss, Gotham Gazette) Incumbent Kendall Stewart did not fare as well in District 45. In the Democratic primary, six candidates appeared on the ballot, and Jumaane Williams won by a margin of 11 percent, getting 3,426 votes to Stewart’s 2,392. Stewart remained on the ballot for the general election on the Independence Party line, and Williams won by a margin of 60 percent.

WORKING FAMILIES PARTY

• Working Families Party Documents Subpoenaed (By DAVID W. CHEN, NY Times)
• Feds asking WFP for 'information' (By DAVID SEIFMAN, City Hall Bureau Chief, NY Post)
• WFP Subpoenaed (BY ELIZABETH BENJAMIN, Daily News/Daily Politics)
• U.S. Attorney Subpoenas Working Families Party, and Bill de Blasio Too (By Azi Paybarah, NY Observer)