Up until last week 2019 was a good year for the
Libertarian Party in New York.
In 2018, Libertarian candidate Larry Sharpe ran a
spirited gubernatorial campaign. His voice and vision were so fresh, so different
that he became the only political candidate this writer has ever endorsed in 14
years of this column. Nearly 100,000 New Yorkers shared my assessment and cast
votes for Sharpe. By surpassing the State’s 50,000-vote threshold, the Libertarian
Party (LP) gained true ballot access in 2019 for the first time ever in the LP’s
47-year history in the Empire State.
Feeding off the energy of Sharpe’s efforts and the
very-important ballot access which led to the Party’s increased visibility and
viability in New York, more people joined the LP (36% growth since February)
and more people ran for the LP (there were 60 candidates on local ballots throughout
the State in November’s elections). Seven Libertarians won their elections and,
come 2020, they will be serving a variety of roles from city councilman to town
clerk to district attorney.
But, after all those successes came news last week
from the State’s Commission on Public
Finance that could potentially close-off inroads being made by the
Libertarians and other so-called third parties.
Instead of achieving ballot access by securing 50,000
votes in the race for governor every 4 years, the minor parties would, under
the Commissions’ plan, have to requalify every 2 years by receiving either 2
percent of total votes or 130,000 votes in a presidential year or 140,000 in a
gubernatorial year.
The nine-member commission, made up solely of
Democrats and Republicans, looked at this as throwing a bone to the third parties
as the original proposal called for a minimum of 250,000 votes per executive
election.
130,000 is just as bad as 250,000 when it comes to
ballot access. It’s still a quantum leap from today’s standards and it creates
a significant hurdle for parties attempting to woo electors and elected to the
fold.
How significant?
Of the most popular minor parties in New York only
the Conservative Party would have been left standing after 2018’s election were
the rules in play, they having secured nearly 239,000 votes. Struck from 2019
and 2020 ballots would have been the Libertarians and parties that have for the
most part become widely-recognizable across the state – Working Families,
Green, Independence and the Serve America Movement.
The loss of ballot access makes things very difficult
for those that want to break up the status quo. Rather than putting all of their
grassroots and administrative efforts in developing ideas, candidates, and
support the unqualified parties have to complete a petition process in order to
get a candidate listed on the ballot.
Of course, the Commission has chosen to make that
more difficult, too. Currently, it takes 15,000 signatures. Under the commission’s
plan minor parties will need 45,000. Just imagine the roadwork, hustle, and
hassle that is needed to canvas the state for 3 times as many John Hancocks than
are needed now.
Removing ballot access from a party also removes
some democratic principles from party members. An unqualified party is unable
to have a primary for state-wide offices. That means it’s up to party heads to
decide who’s running under their title; it’s not up to the people of the party.
That not only silences different voices it can also lead to infighting among
the power brokers of the party.
This is all part of the Commission’s plan.
They want the infighting.
They want alternative ideas to be quieted.
They want the minor parties to be unrecognizable
and forgettable.
They want the two-party system to continue its
domination.
They want to control every one of us and everything
we do.
It’s not the least bit coincidental that the de facto
chairman of the Commission is Jay Jacobs, the head of the state’s Democratic
Party. It was a commission doing the work of the two Parties, not of the many People.
If the Commission’s very significant policy changes don’t tell you that they
think the minor parties could really pose a threat to their power, then nothing
will.
Some will say that’s conspiracy talk, that minor parties
are meaningless and can have no positive impact. I could say the same about the
major parties.
Look around the state. What have Governor Cuomo and
his Democratic cronies done to improve our economy’s standing? What did
Governor Pataki and his Republican cohorts do to stave off economic decline?
Nothing and nothing.
Look around the country. Too many Americans are
all-in with the Democrats or the Republicans. That partisan divide has made our
nation an ugly mess.
It time for something a little different, even if
that difference is sprinkled in a little at a time.
The LP won 7 seats this year. That’s where
revolutions start.
State commissions? That’s where revolutions end.
From the 02
December 2019 Greater Niagara Newspapers and Batavia Daily News
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