A REPORT FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dear Friends,
We thank you for your continued support but I regret to tell you that the we were unable to reach the determined and collaborative quest of restoring our place on the ballot for this year's 2010 statewide election campaign.
Our goal, as mandated by New York State Election Law, for political parties no longer automatically on the ballot, was to acquire 15,000 signatures from registered voters on petitions circulated throughout the State, with at least 100 valid signatures from half of the state's Congressional Districts. Thanks to our candidates and volunteers - especially the herculean work and efforts of our own..
MR. JOHN DILAVORE
With his efforts we managed to meet the second mandate but fell short of the required number of signatures. We would not have come even close without his perseverance and drive.
The strategy we considered left us with three ways to get the signatures - two of them most common: a force of volunteers throughout the state working for one month to circulate petitions, and/or a paid professional effort costing approximately $30-40,000 to pay people to get signatures. And there was one additional way: the help of certain friendly leaders within the Democratic and Republican parties who for their own reasons wanted a Liberal Party presence on the ballot. They had the money and the force of people necessary to complete the petition job.
We lost our place on the 2005 ballot when we did not garner the 50,000 votes required in the 2002 Gubernatorial election. At that time our candidate, ANDREW CUOMO, quit the race and walked away a week before the Democratic Primary. Since that time the LP has nontheless managed to work with its 70,000 plus enrollees to help elect candidates to office. Most recently, newly elected Nassau County Executive ED MANGANO, publically thanked the Liberal Party for its support in his very close victory over then county executive TOM SUOZZI. He said it was our enrollees who provided the margin of victory.
Now we were faced with several important truths: we did not have the volunteer force to cover the State sufficiently to secure the signatures we needed. And we did not have the funds necessary to essentially purchase those signatures with paid petitioners or notaries for the statewide petition drive.
We were then forced to count on the help from friends in both major parties. It would be a classic political quid pro quo: they needed ways we could help their candidates and would secure those petition signatures to help us. We had reason to believe their promises.
They did not come through. Each had specific political reasons for ignoring the pledge they had made. This despite the fact that they believed that our candidates could win the 50,000 votes we needed in November to get back our automatic place on the ballot for the next four years without in any way damaging the campaigns of their candidates.
And we believed that our candidates EDWARD CULVERT and SHARON KROEGER had the intellect, experience, knowledge and sensitivities to run an independent race that would bring very important issues to the foreground and would help us secure more than the 50,000 votes we needed.
EDWART CULVERT, minister of the First Baptist Church in Harlem and professor of social sciences and history at Lehman College for 40 years, wanted to apply public pressure for term limits to put an end to the most dysfunctional State Legislature in the nation; wanted new regulations on business to end the conflicts of interest that led to the control of politicians through campaign contributions and the power to destroy our economy; saw the need for mortgage policies which promoted a real opportunity for homeownership without the scams that have led to the housing crisis in America.
SHARON KROEGER, former professor of political science in colleges in NYC, and now small farmer and business owner in upstate New York and an environmental activist, wanted to reveal the seriousness of hydrofracking, the procedure in which large amounts of water is forced underground to lift natural gas to the surface and which results in the poisoning of water and ground where it is used; favored change in accepted health policies which severely limit the treatment of Lyme Disease and wanted to talk about the dangers of new voting machines which are going to replace the old, reliable voting machines in New York this year.
Important issues - which makes it all the more disappointing that we will not be able to participate in the upcoming elections and must continue to fight to be on the ballot for every election from now until the next Gubernatorial election in 2014.
SELF INTEREST, CONFLICT OF INTEREST - AND THE STRUGGLES OF AMERICA
All of this is about politics and the way 'the game' is played. And politics is primarily about electing people to office. Politics is not about ideas, programs or policies. It is not about ideologies and philosophies. It is not about the general good or the improvement of our communities and our nation despite election-time 'lip service' about "We are fighting for you…etc. etc".
More than ever, as the power and influence of political parties slip away to become little more than 'labels', politics is about self-interest first and foremost - more intensely in America today than it has ever been.
Self interest is everywhere, producing conflicts of interest at a breathtaking pace. The most recent obvious example: The New York City Council following Mayor Michael Bloomberg's dictate about a third term for themselves, approved a third term for him despite two citywide referenda which overwhelmingly indicated that New Yorkers approve two terms of office - not three.
A loophole permitted the City Council to ignore the will of the people - and third terms were won by just about all involved. The billionaire Mayor didn't need the money - he donates his salary. But the Council members voted themselves a $400,000 additional income before they would have to run again.
But the story isn't over because just recently a special commission- appointed by The Mayor - approved a two term rule again. But the "catch" is that if approved, the new rules won't start until 2021 - giving at least one-third of the present Council another potential ten years of income. Self interest driving conflicts of interest.
And there are others. Everywhere we look in America - cities, rich suburbs, small towns, villages - teachers are failing to teach our children. Lacking the ability to do so, they've become test-givers. But who is marking these State prepared tests? How many independent test-markers are there in these financially-strained times? So do teachers mark the tests themselves? Too often around the country, they do. Stories about failing test marks that have been changed to "pass" are in newspapers everywhere.
And what happens when the NY State Department of Education changes those tests to make them a little more demanding? Students who used to pass them, fail. In New York City this year schools that had 80% pass rates saw them drop to 18% because tests were changed. The NYC Teacher's Union own charter school dropped from 92% passing to 13% passing.
Is it any wonder that a new study shows that only 24% of high school graduates are capable of doing first year college work? (Ask Prof. Culvert about the "dumbing down" of higher education. Ask him about the fact that he uses one book for his courses, where once he used four texts to cover the work.)
So what's going on? We believe our public schools are failing because Schools of Education are not preparing teachers to teach. But in a perfect conflict of interest driven by self interest - it is these very same Schools of Education that give State-approved teaching certification to their graduates. Imagine if Medical or Law schools could give automatic licenses to their graduates without the very important tests doctors and lawyers must pass before receiving their licenses to practice law and medicine.
Everywhere we look: in the oil spills where the same organization which governs safety measures also collects fees from the oil companies; in the financial industry where the rating agencies like Standard & Poors and Moodys who pass on the value of new stock are financed by the stock companies …self interest breeds conflicts of interest and as a nation we are allowing that behavior to take us in the wrong direction.
Self interest drives the money behind the efforts of those who seek to "restore" America - the so-called tea party folks who see Sarah Palin, Glen Beck and Rush Limbaugh as spokespersons for their efforts to take over the Republican Party. While they never really explain "restore", the money behind them knows exactly what it wants to restore and maintain: big business control. It is the very same money from major reactionary sources that backed the effort to undo the Clintons in the 1990's, financed the John Birch Society in the 1960's and the America First organization in the 1930's. And that money has come from oil producers…money that drove the construction of our national highway system at the expense of rail transportation; money that maintained America's big gas guzzling cars on those highways and let the Japanese "steal" our auto market when the price of gas skyrocketed; money that restrains our investment in "green" industries that would depend on different energy sources than oil. China is making that alternative industry its own…because while they too must import oil they are not 'in the hands' of oil producers.
This money is working to assure the power of big business to rule America's interests here and abroad.
So in truth and in history, none of this 'behavior' is new. It is only the reach of the new media technology, that its depth and intensity seems greater than at any time in history and America is losing ground everywhere.
A LIBERAL AMERICA
In 1959 while running in Presidential primaries against Hubert Humphrey, John F. Kennedy, came to New York City to meet with the Liberal Party leadership to discuss Liberal Party support for his campaign. As politicians before and after Kennedy knew, Liberal Party support at critical moments in other party primary campaigns could have very favorable results.
There was no way that a real look at Kennedy's Senatorial career - even from the nation's most liberal state - marked him as a liberal. With Presidential ambitions driven by his Father, JFK was a very careful Senator. Today we would call him a centrist - meaning he looked hard and long before any vote to see where his opposition would come from and how that vote would be seen by the public-at-large.
And so it was a surprise to many of the pundits-of-the-time, that Kennedy would seek Liberal Party support. And he was asked about that and about what it meant to him to be considered a liberal.
Kennedy said "…if by being a Liberal, you mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reaction, someone who cares about the welfare of the people - their health, their schools, their housing, their civil rights and civil liberties - someone who can break through the stalemates and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, someone who knows that government does have a role in making all this possible and in providing opportunities for all Americans …if that is what is meant by 'Liberal' than I am proud to say I am a Liberal…"
That definition of 'Liberal" is as complete and as good as any other. And despite the efforts of those over time to label liberals first as 'pinko-commies' and then as' bleeding heart' and then as "throwing money at problems" - the Liberal agenda of the 1950's and 1960's is what made America the world's leading power.
And the failure of those who thought as Kennedy did, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama - to identify with the term 'liberal' (she liked 'progressive' and he likes pragmatist) and the many in politics who back away as well - has helped bring the term 'liberal' into such a continued disrepute that there are many who counsel dropping the name of Liberal from a political party in any effort to bring it back into influence.
The Liberal Party of NY State's own problems: lack of leadership breadth and membership and enrollee expansion in the past 25 years, has also damaged the 'brand' in ways that we need not review here. Our failure to retain and then attain the ballot status we had since 1944 sums it all up
THE LIBERAL PARTY ASCENDING
In the days of its ascendency, from the late 1940's to the mid-1950's, the Liberal Party existed to essentially weaken the big business control of the Republican Party and to help end the open corruption that was the Democratic Party in New York State.
The Liberal Party's influence helped bring down Tammany Hall's control of the Democratic Party, even as it encouraged and elected liberal Republicans like Newbold Morris, Jack Javits and John Lindsay.
At the height of the Liberal Party's influence, New York State flourished - as did America. There was business and industry in upstate New York - Buffalo, Rochester and the other big six cities and their neighboring communities grew and prospered. Today they are in all in decline, their populations are shrinking as business and industry disappears. [In an area outside of Buffalo, the Mott's Company (the apple people now owned by Dr. Pepper/Snapple)) has been on strike for three months because management has demanded that their workers, who have helped produce profits even in this sour economic time, take a pay and benefit cut because they are earning more than other workers in the area!!] Then, our children were the best educated in the US. Today our dismal graduation and drop-out rates mirror what is happening in failing public schools all across America.
Then, we had a prosperous dairy industry and farmlands producing fresh food for residents throughout the northeast region. Today our farms are essentially "out of business" and our dairy industry is gone.
New York's Empire State status has diminished along with the rest of America as conservative policies and the unregulated control of big business and individual wealth have replaced the human and government elements mentioned as being 'liberal" by President Kennedy.
As American politicians refused to identify themselves as liberal, good government slowly disappeared no matter whether Republicans or Democrats had majorities. Albany is a disgraceful, embarrassing mess; Washington a place of obstructionists and fearful incumbents.
PBS News host and analyst Bill Moyers in his last TV appearance just a few months ago, spoke of the dangers of "…plutocracy ruling America…" He meant sources of enormous wealth ruling America: whether it's the giant corporations (which we used to call 'robber barons' when we were talking about Carnegie, Mellon, Ford or Harriman and now call Wall Street, Big Energy and Big Health) or the billionaires who buy elections - their own or somebody else's - that plutocracy now controls America.
As we live through the hell of a Great Recession - which we believe is essentially a New Depression - and which is not going away, we see the increasing loss of our Middle Class. Looking at what America has been becoming for the past 35 years following the Reagan era's attempt to get rid of the Rooseveltian policies which made America what it was at the height of its greatness - a liberal nation - we see a steady failure of national will.
In its best years, the Liberal Party fought big business plutocrats so that even the business giants established in the early days of the Industrial Society were finally brought under some control…none of them then were 'too big to fail'.
Every year in the NY State Legislature, the Liberal Party proposed fair wage, labor and housing policies for working people that resulted in the establishment and development of the middle class.
The Liberal Party fought the corruption that was the Democratic Party in NY State then - -- as it has returned in a different guise today.
The Liberal Party helped to bring fairness and a professional status to teaching with the institution of tenure to provide academic freedom: protect teachers against political decisions and local community control.
The Liberal Party helped make government the institution that mediated the needs of people against controlling business interests.
The Liberal Party worked successfully for an independent judiciary, for a separation of Church and State, for a universal national health policy, for the establishment of the GI Bill of Rights, for consumer protection policies, for civil rights, for an independently designed Congressional reapportionment.
The Liberal Party's policies and practices which were pushed vigorously at the beginning of every Legislative year in Albany, resulted in New York State's - and America's - greatest, most prosperous years and established it as the Empire State of New York as well as the freest and most powerful nation history has ever known and a magnet country of opportunity for people around the world.
That was then - and now is now.
LOOKING AHEAD
In a country that needs liberal policies, ideas and humanity in a big way, we believe that the Liberal Party should no longer be limited to New York State but must become national in stature and reach. In our best days, our programs and policies made New York the Empire State and reached out across the nation to improve America.
We see membership and leadership potential and the opportunity for funding support all across America and must reach out for it.
We see the need to establish a national understanding of what "liberal" means today and how "liberal" made America the successful nation it became. And we need to parallel that understanding with a movement that believes that liberal works for a better America.
We believe that the deficits and subsequent damage accumulated in New York and regularly chronicled by its media, can be overcome by offering America a new look at "liberal" and the opportunity to first join a liberal movement before ever becoming involved with a new liberal political party.
We are now developing that approach and will share our plans with those interested in the weeks ahead on this website as they are ready to be implemented.
America needs 'liberal' as never before. And over the last fifty years, no institution of its time ever offered more to liberals than the Liberal Party. We have a proud history of accomplishment - one that will provide a foundation upon which to build a new liberal movement.
Martin I. Hassner
Executive Director
Content Manager
A GREAT LOSS
The Liberal Party of NY State lost one of its leaders when Louis Dvorkin, State Vice Chairman and Chairman of Queens County for more than 30 years, passed away at age 88 on August 4, 2010.
Though a graduate accountant from CCNY, who worked for New York City before retiring in 1976, Lou' s thoughts and essence were that of a working man - someone who worked for many years to earn his living and raise his family. That essence of 'working man' marked his political leadership - filled it with energy and direction and yes even passion.
Lou believed in New York and in America - he believed that a liberal country could provide opportunities for everyone - and he supported that belief with years and years of meetings and discussions and the hard work of political campaigns.
Through its successes which delighted him and its failures which he mourned, Lou always believed that the Liberal Party's policies and programs best expressed his own beliefs in what politics and government could do to help people.
His leadership and the close group of hardworking men and women who were the Liberal Party in Queens County, elected those politicians who could best meet the requirements the leadership had set. As he celebrated the victories of friends, he never took his eyes off those he considered our enemies.
As he grew older and his full white beard - which gave him a somewhat Moses-like look full of wisdom and grace - became a trademark of his devoted presence at our many meetings, Lou's passion for truth and justice remained.
In a country which became more and more passive, which began to lose the liberal qualities which Lou had worked so hard in his mid-years to develop in America in the 1950's and 60's, Lou assumed a righteous outrage, refusing to accept where we were heading as a country - and even as a political party in New York State.
Lou had lots of stories to tell. At their best, they reminded us of what we represented and what we needed to achieve. Because for all the words and all the experience, Lou Dvorkin never stopped caring for people…stubbornly, proudly, fiercely cared about people - and in what government should do to help them.
Lou was a genuine liberal. And those of us who worked with him, knew and respected that.
And cared for him a great deal and will miss him very much.
Martin I. Hassner
Executive Director
August 6, 2010
ISSUES
The symptom is money. But the disease is public office as a fulltime job. As long as public office can be a career, a livelihood, a lifetime's work, the need for more and more money to win reelection and to stay there at all costs, will continue unabated, subverting the political system in which we live.
Systems which control important areas of our lives like education, healthcare and employment, are the foundation of our society. Years have taken their toll and these and other systems are in failure. Unless we reform them, they will continue to fail us. Reform will return their control to the community being served and remove them from those more concerned about their own needs than ours.
