[Lnc-business] Bad ballot access bill proposed in New York

[Scott L.]

Richard Winger sent me the reply below.

 

I am sure he is correct, but we are coming off an election in which the
Republicans got ballot status for a fake political party in New York.   This
might be the first time in a long time that the Republicans have benefitted
from one of those fake parties.

 

Since NY State is a Democrat fiefdom at the state level, it is possible that
this bill might get traction during this legislative session.

 

I am not forwarding this or the remaining replies that I make to Mr. Winger
and Mr. Axinn because they are not on the LNC and it gets messy to involve
non-list members in these threads, but feel free to forward this to them if
you think it will help.

 

The reason I am bringing this topic up is perhaps LPHQ staff can offer my
list of lobbying experts to LPNY, and perhaps someone else can think of
something that the LNC can do to help the situation in NY.  We have never
retained ballot access in NY - if this bill gets traction it would be
helpful to have this bill do some good, instead of just making things even
more difficult in NY.

  Scott Lieberman

 

  _____  

From: Richard Winger [mailto:richardwinger at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2015 7:54 AM
To: Scott L.; lnc-business at lp.org
Subject: Re: Bad ballot access bill proposed in New York

 

Assemblyman Gary Pretlow has been introducing this same bill for several
sessions in a row, and it has never made any progress.

 

Richard Winger
415-922-9779
PO Box 470296, San Francisco Ca 94147

 

  _____  

From: Scott L. <scott73 at earthlink.net>
To: lnc-business at lp.org 
Sent: Thursday, January 15, 2015 6:39 AM
Subject: Bad ballot access bill proposed in New York

 

"Ballot Access News
<http://www.ballot-access.org/2015/01/new-york-bill-to-make-definition-of-po
litical-party-more-restrictive/> :  (via IPR)

New York Assemblyman Gary Pretlow (D-Mt. Vernon) has introduced AB 838. It
would alter the definition of "political party" from a group that got 50,000
votes for Governor, to a group that got 100,000 votes for Governor. If
passed, it would take effect for elections starting in 2016. Thus, it would
remove the Independence , Women's Equality, and Stop Common Core Parties
from the ballot."

 

And the Chair of the LPNY commented on IPR:

 

 

"Mark Axinn January 13, 2015 at 7:34 am
<http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2015/01/new-york-bill-to-make-def
inition-of-political-party-more-restrictive/#comment-1069415>  

Obviously, if this bill were ever enacted, it would be a disaster for the
Libertarian Party of New York. I urge every New Yorker to contact his/her
local Assemblymember and urge him/her to oppose this Draconian restriction."


 

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

 

Dear fellow LNC members:

I disagree with the Chair of the LPNY.  Since the LPNY has failed the
current vote test 10 in a row since 1972,  this bill would be
psychologically annoying, but it would not in any way be a "disaster".  The
LPNY has never had semi-permanent ballot access, so they would not be losing
anything.

If I lived in New York, I would be heavily lobbying to add to that bill the
requirement  that the Elections Department change the ballot layout so that
each party on the ballot gets its own column (Row?), and that all statewide
offices count for the vote test.  And maybe change the vote test from 50,000
votes to 2% or 3% of the vote for Governor.  (1% would be nice, but would
probably  fall on deaf ears).

 

I suspect there are not enough minor party activists who care enough to
complain, so directly opposing the bill will, IMO, not work.

  Scott Lieberman

 

bcc:  Mark Axinn, Richard Winger  (bcc to protect their e-mail addresses
from spammers)

 

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