New York election, coming right up....

by: WorkingFamiliesParty

Sun Sep 13, 2009 at 16:51

At a time when health care, Joe Wilson, Glenn Back and Van Jones are uppermost in so many people's minds, I'd like to do my best and draw some attention back to base level politics: local elections.

It's not easy to generate attention and excitement for the thousands of races for county legislator, town council, highway supervisor, and even mayor. Yet the men and women who aspire to these offices are the very heart and soul of the political class in the neighborhoods, wards and precincts where we live. Progressive change doesn't happen without change at the local level.

In New York, find the best candidates here.

WorkingFamiliesParty :: New York election, coming right up....

They might not live and breath national policy, but they do control budgets for our local police and fire departments, for road construction, green jobs, schools and safety net services for those in crisis.

Here in New York, one group has found a way of making it easier to connect the larger progressive issues with local candidates: The Working Families Party. Our new tool, MyWFP Candidate Finder, allows folks to enter their address and find out about the progressive candidates where they live.

In the effort to generate interest in our tool, I did a bit of looking around: who else is creating state or city wide lists of endorsements? Here's a list of who isn't: Democracy for New York (state) and our state AFL-CIO. Other groups, notably our largest union locals, have endorsements but for legal reasons they can't share them publicly.

In addition to our listings, you can see endorsements from the New York League of Conservation Voters, Gay City News and Tenants Pac.

Some other folks have been blogging about the upcoming local elections, including NYCDave of SwingStateProject and The Albany Project.

With so many New Yorkers here on OpenLeft, it's a shame we don't see more posts referencing our most important races.

The race for Manhattan District Attorney has national implications for criminal justice reform. Richard Aborn, a nationally recognized figure in the fight against gun violence and for changes in the treatment of nonviolent drug offenders has generated a lot of excitement.
Corey Ellis, a young, African American community organizer is trying to pull off in Albany what Obama did for the nation.
You can see more about some interesting races over here.

Come on New Yorkers - check out MyWFP and sound off on the candidates you support.
http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/...