There has been some discussion on this list about the issues of multiple political parties, and the idea of multiple endorsements or "fusion" (where a candidate can be endorsed by more than 1 party on the ballot), including references to this working in NY state. Here is an excerpt from another email list, where someone from NY discusses what he sees as a problem with this system: >Hi Everyone, > >Tonight I attended an Executive Committee session of our County Democratic >Committee (Suffolk County, NY). The main business of the meeting was for us >to vote on our selection for several countywide races, including the >District Attorney, which is the "top of the ballot" race for this November's >election. > >To make a long story short, our newly elected County Chairman decided to >support a candidate because he is convinced that this candidate has the >best shot (out of 4 Democrats) to receive the endorsement of the Conservative >Party. This is not the only race in which a candidate's possible endorsement by the >Conservatives has been a factor in considering whether to give the candidate >the Democratic designation -- I know this because I served on the County >Screening Committee. > >Today, Newsday ran an article on the Chairman's plans to back Mr. Spota, the >candidate possibly receiving the Conservative line (see Newsday.com - Thursday > AROUND THE ISLAND - ON POLITICS "What Gave Spota The Edge in DA Race" http://www.newsday.com/columnists/stories/thursday/nd3678.htm >This story makes mention of Spota's >ability to get the Independence (Reform) Party line as well as the >Conservative line. However, it is my understanding that the Independence >Party would have backed anybody but the incumbent Republican. So the issue >really turned on the Conservative line. I am absolutely certain that if Mr. >Kelley received the Conservative line, he would be the Democratic candidate >tonight. > >When it came time to vote tonight, I was the lone voice to oppose the >designation of Mr. Spota. Not because I think Spota is homophobic (he's >fairly good on gay issues) but because it sickens me to think that we as >Democrats are essentially allowing a small, right-wing party decide who OUR >candidate should be. I think it is a dangerous precedent and only serves to >strengthen the influence of the Conservative Party. > >I'm all for being pragmatic and I know that in politics we sometimes have to >put our ideals on the shelf. But I believe that as Democrats we should be >working to educate voters on how radical the Conservative Party is -- not >embracing it and encouraging Democratic candidates to seek the line. In my >opinion, the short term gain of extra votes does not nearly outweigh the >long term damage to our party. > ...[the email goes on to suggest letters, emails, etc. to try to change this decision.] (By the way, the idea that the County Chairman can select the candidate to be endorsed just astounds me -- maybe I need to get outside Minnesota more!) But this brings up some issues that I had not thought about in previous discussions about multiple endorsements -- the idea of endorsing candidates based on what other party endorsements they are likely to get. As a earnest good-government Minnesotan (I actually read those position papers candidates put out) this idea kind of disturbs me. It seems like instead of choosing our candidate on his/her stand on issues, we would get into political games about guessing other party's likely endorsements. I think that would lead us away from choosing the best "Democrat" toward choosing a "moderate" who might be acceptable to other parties. This would seem to lead to more & more lukewarm candidates from the 'mushy middle', instead of clearly different candidates representing their party's views. (That trend is bad enough already!) What do people think about this? Would this happen if Minneapolis had "fusion" candidates on the ballot? Tim Bonham, 12th Ward. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
