Cross-posted at The Albany Project and The Daily Gotham.
Blogpac endorsed candidate Paul Newell, in his Campaign to unseat Speaker Sheldon Silver in the Democratic primary for New York's 64th Assembly District, is holding a fundraiser brunch at Little Giant in the Lower East Side. And we are inviting you all to come!
The brunch is Saturday, July 19 from 2pm to 4pm.
Ticket price is $75 and can be purchased through our Actblue page. Please purchase tickets before the July 11th filing deadline.
No one here likes the "three men in a room" system, and Paul is New Yorkers' best chance at breaking down that door. Help defeat Sheldon Silver, the man who takes money from taxpayers to give to b/millionaire developers to build $2 million per unit condos.
New to politics a year ago, I entered the fray with only a passing familiarity with the candidates various policy proposals. Despite my indifference and apathy at the time, Barack Obama's commitment to good government policies -- specifically campaign finance reform, government transparency and ethics reform -- drew me into the campaign, and eventually into Democratic politics for good.
Well, once again I'm rooting for the reformer-underdog. Still, despite the overwhelming weight of New York's establishment machine bearing down on Paul Newell campaign, I'm more convinced than ever that Obama-style bottom-up Change is precisely what NY state so desperately needs.
(I have relatively little expertise in NY politics, but one of the people I trust the most- both because of his progressive politics and because he is a truly great organizer- is the founder of NY's Working Families Party. WFP is one of the best and most effective state level political operations on the progressive side in the country, so when Danny calls me about something, I pay attention, and he called the other day when he saw that BlogPac had endorsed one of Shelly Silver's primary opponents. I encouraged him to share his thoughts with you on the topic. Here they are... - promoted by Mike Lux)
I don't blog very often, being a bit intimidated by the blogging culture. But I have enormous respect for Open Left, and my anxiety is trumped by a desire to engage on an important topic.
I'm writing in response to the first Blue to Bluer post about the election campaign underway in New York between Assembly Speaker Shelly Silver and challenger Paul Newell (and a third candidate, Luke Henry). I currently serve as the Executive Director of New York State's Working Families Party.
First, let me say that the Working Families Party strongly supports the concept of Blue to Bluer. We have backed progressive challengers to incumbent Democrats repeatedly, and doing so is at the very core of our strategy to take the state, and our country, in a more egalitarian and humane direction. One prominent example of the value of the Blue to Bluer approach was the 2004 race for Albany District Attorney, in which the WFP and its allies took on a powerful incumbent because we wanted to highlight our opposition to the so-called Rockefeller Drug Laws. Our candidate (David Soares) won that primary, has served with distinction, and if the right-wing revives and tries to defeat him this year we will work just as hard to make sure he stays in office.
In fact, I think it's fair to say that the very reason for the 1998 formation of the WFP was to counter what we saw as the rightward drift of the Democratic Party. Public opinion in New York, as in the nation, is better and more progressive than public policy, and we felt then (and feel now) that building a ballot-line party under New York's "fusion" voting system would give us a powerful lever to advance ideas and elect candidates. As we enter what we hope will be a Democratic-leaning era in state (and national) politics, none of us should think for a nanosecond that the free-market, winner-take-all, anti-regulation crowd is about to give up or be reborn as egalitarian-minded social democrats.
Today, BlogPac is thrilled to announce our first endorsement in the Blue to Bluer campaign: Paul Newell for New York State Assembly. Newell is running against New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in the Democratic primary, which will take place on September, so we will have a lot of time to grow familiar with Paul, and work on this campaign. You can visit Paul's website here.
Throughout Blue to Bluer, BlogPac will be relying on local bloggers for their insight. In the case of this campaign, here is the nomination I received from Phillip Anderson of The Albany Project:
While the single largest impediment to reforming the New York state legislature, a body dubbed "the most dysfunctional in the nation" by NYU's Brenna Center for Justice, is certainly our state Senate Majority Leader, Republican Joe Bruno, a close second would be our Assembly Speaker, Democrat Sheldon Silver. Silver, along with Bruno and our new governor, David Paterson, is one of the infamous "three men in a room" that control most everything in Albany.
This race is well suited, if not perfectly so for BlogPAC's Blue to Bluer program because it offers a fantastic bang for buck potential. In a solidly blue city like New York, our only meaningful elections are primaries. They are almost always low turnout affairs and often have huge consequences. A swing of roughly 6,000 votes in this district could radically effect the lives of over 19 million New Yorkers. This race will be won the old fashioned way, the way elections in dense urban districts often are, through street by street, building by building organizing. Because of the ridiculously expensive media market, not even Silver, one of the three most powerful men in New York will be doing television spots. This race offers ample opportunities for real people powered, neighbor to neighbor ground work which, given the absurd gerrymandering and campaign finance regulations of New York, is really the only way it can be won.
The district is tailor-made for Silver who drew it himself and has larded it with pork for three decades. He hasn't even had a token primary challenge in well over 20 years. Until now.
While there are actually two Democratic challengers to Shelly this cycle, I have nominated community organizer Paul Newell for Blue to Bluer. I believe that he offers the best chance, certainly the best chance since the 80s, to unseat one of those "three men" and break a large part of the logjam that keeps our state government a national laughingstock.
Newell, besides being a staunch progressive and genuine reformer, has an ambitious and I feel quite shrewd plan to swing those 6K votes. He's quite clear eyed about the difficulty of the task ahead of him. Primary challenges in New York are always a long shot and a challenge against the Assembly Speaker is even more so. The system that Silver and a bipartisan group of legislators going back a century or so is designed for one thing above all, incumbent protection. This race certainly will not be easily won, but it is doable and I think Newell is the man who can do it. But he'll need our help.
Sheldon Silver, then 32, the same age as Newell is today, first ran for the Assembly in 1976 and he did so as an insurgent reformer. He has now become the very embodiment of everything he ran to oppose all those years ago. Silver has certainly changed over the years and so has his district. Silver long ago abandoned his constituents in favor of playing Albany power broker. The district (and the nation, for that matter) are primed for change. You can help change life for the better for almost 20 million New Yorkers by helping Paul Newell win 6K votes in lower Manhattan.
cheers,
phillip
Here is a video of Paul Newell introducting himself to the online community:
New York is one of the bluest states in the nation, and as such should be a national leader when it comes to progressive policy. In 2009, after Democrats take control of the State Senate (right now, they are only one seat away), it is imperative that Democrats have progressive leadership in the State Assembly that can make it happen along with Governor David Paterson. It is in this way that defeating Sheldon Silver can help bring progressive change across the entire nation, and not just to New York State.
Paul Newell for New York State Assembly, and for progressive leadership around the country. No ask for activism today--just an introduction. In the coming days, BlogPac will be unveiling more endorsements in Blue to Bluer, and also offer more ways to become familiar with the endorsed candidates. If you have more candidate suggestions in your local area, please email me at christopher_j_bowers@yahoo.com. Let's keep building the progressive movement from the ground up.
Two weeks ago, in a campaign called From Blue To Bluer, BlogPac solicited your input in order to find state and local progressives running in blue district primaries either against incumbents or for open seats. As per usual, I figured I could have a faster turnaround time on a new campaign than real life actually allows. However, I wanted to let everyone know that the campaign is still moving forward, and I wanted to provide an update.
We received over two-dozen excellent suggestions, and we are still in the process of going through them. The announcement of the selection of first group candidates for the program will take place on April 21st, the day before the Pennsylvania primary. We will have a wide-ranging, diverse selection of candidates who will help continue to build the progressive bench and movement nationwide. In order to have more and better Democrats, we have to start organizing at the local level where political careers begin, and where local machines still dominate.
The first candidate for the program, DFA-endorsed Anne Dicker, will have her primary (originally a challenge against a corrupt local incumbent, now an open seat primary against conservative, machine backed candidates) the day after we announce the first slate of candidates. As such, even though she was my local inspiration for the program, she will not receive a huge amount of direct benefit from Blue to Bluer. However, final ad buys for her campaign are being made now, and you can contribute to Anne here to help start the program off with a bang. If you live in the area, you can volunteer for the campaign here.
A fifty-state strategy means blue districts, too. Act locally, think blue.
Two quick updates to report on BlogPac's latest campaign, From Blue To Bluer. First, the submission deadline for candidates is tomorrow at 10 p.m. eastern. If you know a progressive, grassroots, non-federal, blue district candidate who is running a primary challenge against a Democratic incmbent, or who is running ina competitive open seat primary, please fill out the form below and email it to natasha[dot]the[at]gmail.com:
Finally, the more resources BlogPac has, then the more local grassroots candidates we can support on Blue to Bluer. Along with several other excellent candidates, BlogPac is on the Blue Majoirty page, and the first quarter fundraising deadline is today. Right now, Blue Majority stands at 6,854 donors, so let's hit 7,000 before the end of the day.
Every two years, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) releases it's "red to blue" list of top challengers for Republican-held U.S. House seats.
Five years ago, starting with his Presidential campaign and continuing with his tenure as DNC chair, Howard Dean introduced the idea of a "fifty state strategy" to the Democratic Party. The basic premise of the fifty-state strategy is that in order to truly revitalize the party Democrats needed to organize everywhere in the country, no matter how red or how blue a district may be, and not just in a select few "swing district" districts.
More recently, progressives have utilized Democratic primaries as a means to successfully change Democratic behavior. So far this year, this strategy has worked in districts such as the Illinois 3rd where Dan Lipinski changed his vote on Iraq because of his primary challenger, the Iowa 3rd where Blue Dog Leonard Boswell has suddenly become a progressive on a range of issues now that Ed Fallon is running against him, and the Maryland 4th where Donna Edwards handily defeated the more conservative Al Wynn. It is in the spirit of all three of these projects that BlogPac is announcing a similar program to reform safe, blue seats at the local and statewide level: From Blue to Bluer.
From Blue to Bluer seeks to first identify, and then help elect, progressive, grassroots candidates who are running in competitive Democratic primaries in blue districts around the country. The primaries can either be for open seats or against incumbents who are either too conservative for their districts, or who are simply corrupt, or both. The goal is to find a handful of proudly progressive primary candidates for local and state legislative races, and then provide them with the national support they need to help put them over the top. Through this program, we can show Democrats across the country that that a fifty-state strategy means blue districts too, and that all Democrats, no matter how local, can be held accountable for not representing their districts or for selling out progressive ideals.
The city where I live, Philadelphia, is a perfect example of why we need From Blue To Bluer. With the city regularly voting for Democrats in general elections by more than 80%, Philadelphia is about as deep blue of an area one can find anywhere in the country. However, while there are very few elected Republicans in the city, that does not mean most of our elected officials are progressives.
In fact, the reality is quite the opposite. Many of our local Democrats are beholden to an often-corrupt, non-transparent political machine that governs to dole out appropriations and city jobs to friends, family and local party officials. Dozens of local officials, including members of city council and state Senators, have been indicated and / or are currently in jail. There is even a public, specific price that someone can pay the local machine in order to become an elected judge ($35,000, the last time I checked). Philadelphia politics are definitely Democratic, but we still have a long way to go until we can be accurately called progressive.
In deep blue areas like Philadelphia, Democratic primaries for open seats and primary challenges against Democratic incumbents are just about the only way local progressive reformers can make a difference on the electoral level.
Here in Philly, we've already had some success, electing Michael Nutter mayor and defeating a machine backed incumbent for city council in 2007. One year earlier, local progressives defeated two-machine backed candidates in open primaries for state assembly seats. This year, Anne Dicker (website, get involved, contribute), who in 2006 finished ahead of a machine backed candidate in an open primary for state assembly, is running for State Senate. Her campaign has already had real success, as Vincent Fumo, the repeatedly indicted incumbent in the district, dropped out of the campaign two weeks ago. Here is a video introducing both Anne and the Blue to Bluer campaign:
At BlogPac, we want to identify, and help elect, the best progressive primary candidates in blue districts around the country. Let's find more Anne Dickers! The first step in this campaign is finding the right candidates to support, and that's where you come in. If you have a suggestion for a local or state-level candidate for us to support, please fill out the form below and email it to natasha[dot]the[at]gmail.com:
Please send your emails as word documents with the subject line "From Blue To Bluer."
Just because a seat is blue does not mean it can't become even bluer. Let's build a truly national movement, and make a more progressive, reformed Democratic Party nationwide. Send in your suggestions today. The candidates we help support will only be as good as the ones you suggest.
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