NY DUers: What do you think of the Working Families Party?

[mot78]

Although I wasn't suprised that they defeated Geoff Davis (brother of the slain Councilmen) in the NYC City Council race. Besides that, they seem to be emerging as a strong regionl 3rd Party. Are they a party to work with, or to loathe like the Greens?

[w4rma]

1. 3rd parties that drain votes from Dems are our opponents.

The Democratic tent is big enough for them to join us.

[sangh0]

2. Doesn't apply to the WFP

The WFP's first choice is to endorse Dems. The WFP is not running against Dems.

[ithacan]

3. they don't "drain votes"...

in fact the WFP almost always cross endorses Democratic candidates, thinking that this is a way for them to have influence within the Democratic Party. In cases like this, where there is no serious threat from the right, and where the WFP is based (Brooklyn), it ran against a Dem. But in general they do not, because in NYS you can have candidates cross-endorsed.

So in the mayoral race here in Ithaca, the winning candidate ran on the Democratic Party line but also on the Working Families Party line. In cases like this I always vote on the WFP line as a way to push the Dems in that WFP direction.

WFP in my understanding purposelly does not run candidates that would "drain votes" in a way that would allow a repug to win.

Check out their website:

http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/

[SadEagle]

4. New York is different.

In New York, the same candidate can run on multiple party lines. So you often see Republicans running as Republican + Conservative (and now also Independence , since they've practically hijacked that party), which many democrats are often listed as both Democratic and Working Families candidates. (There also used to be a Liberal party, but it really collapsed in 2002 when they ran Andrew Cuomo, who withdrew from the democratic primary, for governor). A lot of WFP's electoral standing came from people voting for people like Hillary Clinton and Carl McCall and their ballot line.

So this isn't really quite as simple as the Greens and similar parties, as there is a lot of balancing they have to do in order to not tick off more loyal dems, while sometimes challenging the Democratic party in safe liberal districts, where no republican would set their foot. (I see a bit of a reverse image in my hometown: it's so right-wing that all the races are between the Republicans and the Conservatives. Ouchie)

[IrateCitizen]

5. NY allows cross-endorsement, so it's not an issue

9 times out of 10 they are endorsing the Democratic Candidate. That 1 time out of 10 is an instance in which the Democrat is not sticking up for "kitchen table" issues. And in most of those instances, they simply do not endorse.

Having grown up in PA, I find NY politics to be a MESS! Reading the ballot is, at times, like reading alphabet soup mixed with spaghetti. There will literally be ten different party lines for a race, with only three candidates between those ten parties!

Personally, I pull the WFP lever as much as possible for the Dem candidate, to cast my vote not as much for the candidate as for the issues advanced by the WFP.

[Kanary]

6. cancel my question....

~~~

[bread_and_roses]

20. In its' current incarnation

...I would have to disagree. (Though I will state again, the candidates I end up working for are 99.99% Dems. That old lesser of two evils again.)

[On the Road]

7. They are a Regional Incarnation of the New Party

which I was a part of about five or six years ago.

The New Party had a straight progressive agenda and what I think of as a very constructive approach. They worked at the grass roots and only enetered elections which they thought were winnable. This was done by: (1) By running candidates in local races where major party affiliation was not important, (2) by supporting Democratic candidates running on the Democratic line who were involved with the New Party, and (3) by running a candidate on a "fusion" line.

Fusion voting means creating a second voting line for a major party candidate. In 2000, for example, you might have been able to vote for Al Gore as either the Democrat or the Working Families candidate.

What's the point, you might ask? A small party can demonstrate the size of its constituency, and can field its own third-party candidate if the mainstream candidate strays too far to the center. The Greens might have accomplished more if they had been able to put Al Gore on the ticket, but wring certain concessions from him to do so.

Fusion voting was used by the populists about 100 years ago to increase their influence and was banned at the state level in most places. The New Party filed a lawsuit attmepting to overturn these laws as a first amendment violation (freedom of association). It went before the Supreme Court and was argued by Lawrence Tribe. Unfortunately, SCOTUS did not buy their arguments (bad decision).

New York is one of the few places that still allow fusion voting -- the "Liberal" and "Conservative" parties usually choose the major party candidate, but their vote often provides the margin of victory in a close race. NY law is probably the reason the Working Families party is successful there.

In my experience, New Party people are good progressive Democrats who are looking for ways to strengthen the political power of progressives rather than form a splinter group. I do not know much about the NY party, their recent positions or activites, but that's some of the history.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

8. WFP is what the Greens should be

In New York WFP cross-endorses Democrats most of the time. That means your vote gets counted for the Democratic candidate, but also the WFP as well. It's a great system to show third party support without running spoilers. The Greens should be so smart.

http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/

The Working Families Party is a grassroots community and labor-based political party with local chapters throughout New York State.

The goal of the Working Families Party is to forcefully inject the issues of working, middle-class, and poor people -- like jobs, health care, education, and housing -- into the public debate, and hold candidates and elected officials accountable on those issues.

We're well aware that creating the Working Families Party won't be easy. But we're confident that it can be done. And when we look at the sorry mess of politics today, we're convinced that we must try -- out of self-respect, out of principle, and out of the love and responsibility we feel for our children.

Our organizing strategy is to start local, think long-term, combine campaign work with organizing and education, and not waste supporters' votes on candidates with no chance of winning.

We are building from the bottom up -- from local communities and the elections that are decided in them -- rather than the top down. This isn't a flashy approach, but it will get us something real: experience, capacity, organization, and a meaningful and actively participating base in communities across the state.

[IrateCitizen]

10. I've hit NY Greens I know up with that suggestion...

... and they contend that the WFP is a bunch of sellouts who give their endorsement to the highest bidder. :eyes:

Unbelieveable.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

18. I'd take the WFP over the Greens *any day*

I know lots of Greens in NY and CA, and let's just say if I'm going to join a third party it's going to be the Working Families Party.

[IrateCitizen]

9. I pull their lever whenever I can, to support the issues they push

Are they a party to work with, or to loathe like the Greens?

Are you a NYer? If so, you'd better get better acquainted with our political process. Cross-endorsement means that the WFP usually endorses the Dem candidate. Pulling the WFP lever is more of an exercise of supporting issues than anything else.

Of course, I did vote for one WFP judge candidate over a Dem -- but it was only because the Dem was a Republican who got into the primary and actually won a spot. Otherwise, all the times I pulled the WFP lever it was for the Dem candidate.

[mot78]

11. I am a NYer and I know about cross-endorsing

but that doesn't mean that the other party isn't trying to play a Green-like role in NY politics.

[IrateCitizen]

13. They're the good guys -- probably moreso than the state Dem party

They have helped defeat Democratic nominees in the primaries who didn't stick up for issues that affect working families. They actually helped defeat my former incumbent assemblywoman in the Dem primary for her failure to stand up on reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws and her failure to support continuation of a White Plains sales tax that would have severely reduced revenues for the city.

[youngred]

22. When have they ever?

I've never seena case of them endorsing anyone but a dem. If they do its for a minor office, or one where there is a DINO.

It doesn't have to be D to be good

[Renew Deal]

12. I don't know much about them but...

I have seen them attached to many of the repuke candidates.

[bread_and_roses]

17. What???

I am WFP, and yes, we will endorse Republicans in the rare cases (and I am upstate, Southern Tier, where this sometimes happens) where the R is the more progressive candidate. However, it is infrequent, so I can't imagine how you could see WFP attached to "many" R candidates.

[Red_Storm]

14. Why is the Green Party, a Party to loathe ?

I'm not a member, just curious why you said that ?

[mot78]

16. WFP wants to WORK with us, while Greens want to DESTROY us

[BurtWorm]

15. Progressive Dems tend to be both WFP and DP

I don't fear or loathe them and have voted for Dems on the WFP line, though a serious Dem apparatchik from my local club warned me not to do that or risk sapping something from the DP.

[bread_and_roses]

19. I am WFP

and it is good to see a fairly broad understanding in these posts of what the WFP stands for and is working to accomplish. Most WFP candidates are Democrats, and in my area, we work very hard for candidates we endorse. To their benifit. But we are issue based, and particularly here upstate some Ds are as bad or WORSE on the issues as some Rs. If WFP did not exist here in NY, I would be Green; I think some people are out of touch with how many are disaffected by the "lesser evil" of most Dem candidates.

[youngred]

21. I like them

and vote for their cross-endorsements of Democrats. I throw votes to the greens and socialists who cross-endorse as well. That way the Democrats still win office, and there are more voices in the political debate.

PS. I don't loathe the greens, i love their ideas, i just would rather see them work with the dems and the dems with them