Reply #7: They are a Regional Incarnation of the New Party [View All]

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.