Is the Coffee Party Nonpartisan, Progressive, or a Commodity?

Who owns the COFFEE PARTY?

• Schism brews in Coffee Party (Ben Smith, Politico) "I feel the name Coffee Party attracted so many people because they assumed it was a reaction to the Tea Party and a progressive counter. I get comments, emails, and etc. On this point all the time. I think this is how the Coffee Party got the numbers but why now so many are inactive," Bouldin wrote in an exchange with one of the Coffee Party state coordinators explaining why he wanted to remain active with the group a few moths later.

Open Primaries and National Popular Vote -- Reforms We Could Use

•  Coffee Party hopeful fights runoff law (By Rick Orlov, LA Daily News) Because the Coffee Party (slogan: "Wake Up and Stand Up") is so new, Chamness is not allowed to list it as his political affiliation.
• Pennsylvania lags in women officeholders (By Jeremy Roebuck, Philadelphia Inquirer) "From the perspective of society and its willingness to accept women as leaders in government, we're there," Ferman said. "The question now becomes: Why are there so few?" Balchunis-Harris and others argue that while the electorate may be ready, Pennsylvania's deck remains stacked against women. Structural factors such as the state's old political machines and closed primaries have made it difficult to break through.
• In nonpartisan mayor’s race, some candidates wave party colors (By Delen Goldberg, Las Vegas Sun) Scholars argue that nonpartisan races tend to be more democratic because they remove parties’ influence over the nomination process and reduce patronage. Studies have also shown they increase voter access, especially as the number of independent voters rises.
• A Better Way to Hold a Presidential Election (By PAUL BEDARD, US News & World Report/Washington Whispers) Welcome to the growing debate over National Popular Vote, a private, nonpartisan effort which aims to convince state legislatures to switch to a system that guarantees that the popular vote winner becomes the president.

 

 

 

No Labels, No Partisanship! Monday in New York City

Independent strategist Jackie Salit will be among the nolabelarties on Monday... See Solomon Kleinsmith's post here...
NO LABELS

• Bloomberg to join in launch of new group that will emphasize non-partisan solutions (By: CNN Senior Producer Kevin Bohn)

OBAMA

• The triangulation Obama is guilty of (BY STEVE KORNACKI, Salon) To the extent Obama is triangulating, then, it represents a strategy to extract from Congress the most meaningful, substantive economic concessions possible. Politically, that makes a lot of sense.
• Will Obama's rift with the left matter? -- The left is hopping mad, not just that Obama cut a tax-cut deal with Republicans, but that he didn't put up much of a fight. But the breach may help him woo back independent voters in time for the 2012 election. (By Linda Feldmann, Christian Science Monitor)

BLOGGING

• Salit: What Obama’s Tax Package Says to Independents (BY: THE HANKSTER, on CenterMovement.org)  NOTE: CenterMovement.org has syndicated The Hankster, featured as "The Hankster, By Nancy Hanks, a committed political independent and populist." 

Jackie Salit and Michael Lewis on Coffee Party USA BlogTalkRadio

INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Jackie Salit & Michael Lewis of Independentvoting.org (Coffee Party USA BlogTalkRadio)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• LETTER: Party registration a good idea if voters can be Independent (Daily News Journal - Rutherford County TN)
• EDITORIAL: Close the primaries in Tenn.? (The Tennessean) Ironically, two years ago, it was the Democrats who claimed that Republicans crossed over in the State Senate District 22 primary and voted for then state Sen. Rosalind Kurita. Tim Barnes contested Kurita's 19-vote victory on several points. The state Democratic Party, and party leaders in the district's counties, supported Barnes, who then replaced Kurita on the Nov. 4 ballot and went on to win the election.
• Closed primary has little appeal - Changing the system would help loyalists (Paris TN Post-Intelligencer) The current system seems to work all right. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
• Some Conservatives Ready To Shrink State GOP (By Frank Cagle, Knoxville Metro Pulse)

REDISTRICTING

• Dan Walters: California's interior could gain under redistricting (By Dan Walters, Sac Bee) The greatest impact of independent redistricting may be felt in the 10-county San Francisco Bay Area, which has been particularly slow-growing but has retained its disproportionate political clout through the manipulation of districts.

BLOOMBERG 2012

• Bloomberg's Non-Campaign for President - If he ultimately decides to invest some of his vast fortune in an independent run for President, he will be entering dangerous terrain (By GABE PRESSMAN, NBC New York)
• Bloomberg 2012? Don't rule it out (Cullen Linebarger, DC Political Buzz Examiner)
• Mogul may try to Trump GOP White House hopefuls in 2012 (RBR.com TVBR.com voice of the broadcasting industry)
• Nader: Bloomberg Could Win (by Ralph Nader, The Daily Beast) 7. The percentage of voters registering as independent is at an all-time high. In some states there are more independently registered voters than those registering as Republicans or Democrats. Independent voters are more likely to shift their allegiance than loyal partisan voters.

EDUCATION REFORM

• Opinion: The Missing Link in Education Reform (Elanna S. Yalow, Special to AOL News)

Kentucky Coffee Party Hosts "Rise of The Independent Voter" Panel

Link to live-stream clip from "The Rise of The Independent Voter" workshop last week at the Coffee Party gathering at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky.

Gwen Mandell and Michael Lewis

 Independent voters are the fastest growing segment of the American electorate. There has been much conjecture by the media and political pundits about which way independents will swing, but less is being written about the up from the bottom political reform movement against partisanship that is growing across the country. This workshop will focus on the Rise of the Independent Voter. Who are independents? What does this political reform movement look like and where is it headed? On this panel, Gwen Mandell and Michael Lewis of Independentvoting.org will discuss important fights independents are waging for political reform around the country. Linda Killian, award-winning journalist and author, will discuss her recent travels swing states researching her book on Independent and Swing voters.

Reach Michael Lewis at Independent Kentucky. Reach Gwen Mandell at IndependentVoting.org.

Also see A Trans-partisan Dialogue moderated by Joseph McCormick (Amy Kremer of Tea Party Express, progressive blogger Elisa Batista, Michael Lewis of Independentvoting.org, Annabel Park of Coffee Party USA, Lawrence Lessig, Mark McKinnon)

Independents to Speak at Coffee Party Convention Saturday, September 25

This weekend, the national Coffee Party is holding its first convention in Louisville, Kentucky. Independentvoting.org is a sponsor of the event and has been invited to do a workshop. Gwen Mandell, a national organizer with Independentvoting.org and Michael Lewis of Independent Kentucky will present a workshop on "The Rise of the Independent Voter." on Saturday, September 25 at 1pm. Mandell commented, "In these times of political upheaval, we're happy to have the opportunity to talk with and work in coalition with others who want to do something about the extreme partisanship of our political process and to report on the important fights independents are waging for political reform around the country." The Independentvoting.org workshop is on Saturday, September 25 at 1pm. The GALT HOUSE 140 North 4th Street Louisville, KY 40202-4227 The conference will be held Friday September 24 through Sunday September 26. Use the promotion code"collaboration," and get 25% off the advertised price. Please contact Gwen at gmandell@cuip.org if you plan to attend.

Dr. Omar Ali: No Such Thing as "Centrism"

Dr. Omar Ali speaks at the DC Coffee Party meeting last week, cautioning  -- what does it mean to be a "centrist" in a right-shifting political environment? Captured here by dubabagato's YouTube camera. The left-center-right paradigm is no longer applicable and keeps us divided. See what you think.

Tiresome Two-Party System, Open Primaries and Unholy Alliances

Our two-party system creates a point-counterpoint tiresome spin cycle, says Bonnie Erbe on the Thomas Jefferson Street blog. She likes multi-party democracy but doesn't see any quick path to that result. Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-York, with support from Pennsylvania Independents, has introduced an open primary bill into the PA legislature. Some conservative anti-Proposition 14 California Repubs think the multi-party opposition to the Prop 14 open primary initiative is an "unholy alliance". Maybe these forces think ANY alliance is unholy by definition? You might notice that The Hankster occasionally covers the Tea Party, but hardly ever the Coffee Party. The reason for that is that The Hankster covers the media that covers the independent movement and the MSM associates independents with the conservative Tea Party movement, but not the Coffee Party. However, I've got my eye out for welcome signs from the progressive Coffee Party to independents.... Meanwhile, some gays want a separate nation-state.


INDEPENDENT VOTERS

• Can Voters Change the Two-Party, Democrat-Republican System? (Bonnie Erbe, US News & World Report/Thomas Jefferson Street blog)
• Voters in Yuma County feeling independent too (BY TERRY ROSS - NEWS AND INFORMATION CENTER DIRECTOR, Yuma Sun - AZ)

OPEN PRIMARIES

• PA: 1 million voters left out in primary (By Brad Bumsted, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW) "We pay taxes, and we can't participate," said Stephen Bouikidis, a software company executive from Jenkintown in Montgomery County, who is a founder of Independent Pennsylvanians, a group advocating open primaries. "This is the biggest issue for us. We're locked out of the system."
• PA: Editorial: Pennsylvania primaries should be opened (Chambersburg PA Public Opinion Online)
• FL: Reform the primaries and untie our hands (Mary Ann Lindley, Editorial Page Editor, Tallahassee Democrat) To vote for whom you like in this state, you have to be more cunning than party organizations that hold more power than any individual candidate, that hold the purse strings, that call the shots and that are so good at this manipulation that politics has become more like the NFL than representative government. Too many voters are left sitting on the bench.
• OH: Officials talk directive (By MIKE BURKHOLDER, Managing Editor, The Evening Leader - OH) "Failure to enforce the challenge statutes essentially changes the nature of the primary into an unconstitutional open primary," Ortega said.

PROP 14

• Open primaries, better government (Daily Breeze - LA) The unlikely bipartisan coalition of opponents to Proposition 14, the "top-two" open primary initiative on the June 8 ballot, tells us a lot about who's worried about their power.
• Reader Rebuttal: Jeannie English: Proposition 14 (By JEANNINE ENGLISH, President, AARP California, Co-Chair of Californians for an Open Primary, OC Register)
• LOCAL VIEW: Prop. 14 will shutter political process (North County Times) Unfortunately, the opposite is true. Prop. 14 would, in fact, abrogate primaries and replace them with two general elections, causing the effective disappearance of all minor parties from the November election. No surprise, then, that an unholy alliance of the California Democratic and Republican parties, the Libertarian Party and the ACLU all forcefully oppose it.
• The Buzz: More than 650 candidates running in June 8 primary (Sac Bee)

TEA PARTY

• State GOP doing aggressive outreach with Tea Party movement (by Betsy Sundquist, Politics In Minnesota blog)

LAST WORD

• Graham Elected President of FIGS, International Gay Independence Party Grows; Launching Int’l Gay News Network Part of Platform (Street Insider PRESS RELEASE) Members are known to one another as “Figgies” and advocate for a politically autonomous Gay Nation-State and stress their demands for Gay independence.

Tea Party, Coffee Party -- Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

Things have come to a pretty pass
Our romance is growing flat,
For you like this and the other
While I go for this and that,
Goodness knows what the end will be
Oh I don't know where I'm at
It looks as if we two will never be one
Something must be done
 (from Let's Call the Whole Thing Off by George & Ira Gershwin)


If the Tea Party is a conservative element seeking to pull the Repubs (more) to the right, what's your guess as to the role the Coffee Party wants to play? Is it MoveOn in disguise? Maybe.... Whatever it is, the notion of rallying people around an agenda of civil discourse makes me a little wary, not because I think screaming and yelling is a productive mode of social dialogue, but because it seems to me it's more like using a silver spoon where a backhoe would do just as well. Is it really ok to destroy the country with a smile on your face and a "so sorry" on your lips?

And isn't this the basis of the independent movement in the first place? We need innovative solutions to very serious problems we're facing, and those solutions are not coming from the two major parties, no matter how polite or nasty they might be. You can't turn a corrupt partisan special-interest driven political culture into something it's not, no matter how carefully you chose your words. That's why 40% of the American people are independent. Politely or rowdily, we're leaving. Here's to an irreverent independent movement for all voices who want to help move the country forward.
-NH

• Tea Party Avoids Divisive Social Issues (By KATE ZERNIKE, NY Times)
• Move over tea party, here comes coffee (By BRIAN MCNEILL, Charlottesville VA Daily Progress) “The tea party is fine, except they’re kind of radical about stuff,” Dick Wilz, a Louisa resident, said at the Barracks Road Shopping Center coffee shop. “This is about civility.”
• Coffee Party; grass roots movement brewing nationwide (KTNV Las Vegas) "Their agenda is to restore respect, accessibility and civility to the process. It's not demean or put fear," said Sandra Myer, a Coffee Party follower.
• Coffee or tea? Naples group holds first meeting for political dialogue (By CATHERINE HOWDEN, Naples News) In addition to his involvement with the Coffee Party, Burkett plans to run for the U.S. Senate this year as a “strategic” Democrat who describes himself as a “conservative independent hawk.”
• 'Coffee party' movement: Not far from the 'tea party' message? - The coffee party movement held its political kickoff Saturday at 370 locations across the US. At one Georgia meeting, the message didn't seem that different from the rival 'tea party' message. (By Patrik Jonsson, Christian Science Monitor) While asserting to be independent, coffee party activists tend to back President Obama and want “obstructionists” in Congress and the media to get out of his way. To attendees like Mr. Landers, the tea party, though demanding a return to American representative ideals, seems co-opted by social conservatives such as Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, and even Ralph Reed (though tea-partyers see themselves as stressing fiscal and size-of-government issues).  NOTE: Salit's Opinion: Tea party activists: Don't confuse them with independents is linked as a related article here
• Sacramentans plan political 'coffee party' (By Anna Tong, Sac Bee) Castro, a registered independent voter, said he will encourage people at today's gathering to discuss politics in a respectful manner. It remains to be seen whether they will be able to mobilize like the tea party has. "I would like to see us develop a platform based on issues and not on any agenda that would be categorized as left or right," Castro said. "I would also like to see us possibly support candidates."

California Proposition 14 Ballot Wording Decision Expected Today

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Allen Sumner is expected to rule today on the ballot language for Prop 14.

The California School Employees Association has sued the Secretary of State (presumably on behalf of the California State Legislature) to change the ballot wording:

From California Independent Voter Network:

The lawsuit would alter the way the initiative is presented to voters:

The original language approved by the legislature last year:

     Elections. Primaries. Greater Participation in Elections.

     Reforms the primary election process for congressional, statewide and legislative races. Allows all voters to choose any candidate regardless of the candidate’s or voter’s political party preference. Ensures that the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes will appear on the general election ballot regardless of party preference.

The CSEA’s proposed language:

     Changes primary election process. Changes primary election procedures for congressional, legislative and statewide races. Allows all voters to choose any candidate regardless of the candidate’s or voter’s political party preference. Does not require candidates to disclose their registered political party preference. Eliminates political parties’ rights to be on the general election ballot. Ensures that only the two candidates receiving the greatest number of votes will appear on the general election ballot regardless of their registered political party preference. Does not change primary election for President, party committee officers, and nonpartisan offices.

Keep reading below...

PROP 14

• Leading Independent Attorney Speaks on the Legal Fight over Ballot Wording For Proposition 14 (independentvoting.org)
• Open Primaries in California: The Future of Proposition 14 (Rose Report, Claremont McKenna College)
• Prop 14 Lawsuit: People-1, Politicians-0 (By Jeannine English, President of AARP California and Co-Chair of Californians for an Open Primary, Fox & Hounds Daily)
• EDITORIAL: Mad as hatters in state Capitol (Freso Bee)
• Open-primary ballot measure faces legal challenge (The Associated Press, Mercury News)
• Finally, a California Newspaper Story Mentions that Prop. 14 Would Increase Legal Requirements for Parties to be Recognized (Ballot Access News)
• Christina Tobin, Libertarian for CA Secretary of State, announces schedule and opposes Prop 14 (Independent Political Report blog)
• California’s Prop 14: Power to the People — or to the Party Bosses? (The Moderate Voice)
• Green Party Endorses Only 1 June Ballot Measure; Slams Prop. 14 (News Blaze)
• CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE TRIES TO BACKHAND VOTERS BY SUING THEMSELVES (by Chad Peace, CAIVN)

TEA PARTY - COFFEE PARTY

• The “Coffee Party” Is Brewing For America for March 13 “National Coffee Party Day” (Paul Silver, The Moderate Voice)
• Meet the people who are percolating in the Coffee Party (Jessica Ravitz, CNN)
• Circling the Wagons: The Tea Party Has Liberals on the Run, or Does It? (Politics Daily)
• How tea party politics might play out in Minnesota (by Mark Zdechlik, Minnesota Public Radio)

NEW YORK

• Albany Is At Stake: - Queens Special Election To Define Balance Of Power In State Senate (By DOMENICK RAFTER, Queens Tribune)
• Term Limits, City Law Focus Of Charter Panel (By DOMENICK RAFTER, Queens Tribune)
• Charter panel has two from Queens (BY PETE DAVIS, Queens Courier)