NY Minor Party Madness

[From Capitol Confidential]

Minor Party Madness
November 8, 2006 at 10:05 am
by Elizabeth Benjamin

I just called the state Board of Elections to get the skinny on which gubernatorial candidate won how much on the minor party lines.

This, as you all know, is the make-or-break number when it comes to official status and — more& importantly — a ballot line, which is New York is like gold since we’re one of the few states that allows cross-endorsements and combination final tallies.

Here’s what I was told:

Independence Party/Eliot Spitzer: 146,456 (4 percent)

Conservative Party/John Faso: 128,007 (3 percent)

Working Families Party/Eliot Spitzer: 126,797 (3 percent)

Green Party/Malachy McCourt: 40,346 (1 percent)

Libertarian Party/John Clifton: 14,799 (0 percent)

Rent Is Too Damn High Party/Jimmy McMillan: 13,712 (0 percent)

Socialist Workers Party/Maura DeLuca: 762 (0 percent)

Based on these numbers, it appears the current ballot line-up, with the Independence Party on Row C, Conservatives on Row D and the WFP on Row E, remains the same, and WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor may owe state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long a round of golf.

The paper balllots haven’t been opened yet, though.

In the meantime, the Green Party is threatening a lawsuit in hopes of getting its party status back. The reasoning is that three of its candidates — Howie Hawkins for U.S. Senate, Rachel Treichler for AG and Julia Willebrand for state comptroller — all won more than 50,000 votes, and thus, in the party’s eyes, demonstrated adequate support to be ballot line-worthy.

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2006 Green Party Election Results

Winning Races 2006

Green Party Elections Database
Complete results for every Green candidate in the U.S. (as the results are submitted).

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Green Party of NY’s Peace Slate

GPNYS Peace Slate
Top row: Howie Hawkins, Julia Willebrand
Bottom Row: Alison Duncan, Malachy McCourt, Rachel Treichler
Photo by Deyva Arthur

Malachy McCourt for Governor
Malachy McCourt is the author of ‘A Monk Swimming’, a New York Times bestseller. “Peace is not just the absence of war; peace is where we are safe and secure in our lives and privacy,” said Mr. McCourt, who supports demilitarizing the National Guard by bringing them home from Iraq and converting them into a civilian environmental corps.

Alison Duncan for Lt. Governor
Alison Duncan: “New York’s disadvantaged should not see the military as their only option for an education and an honest job. As Lt. Governor candidate, I will be campaigning for free public higher education and strong economic development initiatives for our state.”

Howie Hawkins for US Senate
Howie Hawkins will challenge Sen. Clinton over her support for the war in Iraq, and will call for immediate return of U.S. troops and impeachment of President Bush. Mr. Hawkins, a member of the Teamsters Union, will also challenge the two major parties for failing to respond to global warming; he supports major investments in energy conservation, efficiency, and investment in renewable energy sources, which will create new jobs in New York.

Rachel Treichler for Attorney General
Rachel Treichler: “Illegal barriers to voting and ballot access have allowed money to trump democracy in government decision making.”

Julia Willebrand for Comptroller
Julia Willebrand said, “I will use the power of the Comptroller as sole trustee of $115 billion in retirement investments as an instrument of peace, joining other states efforts to end the genocide in Darfur by divesting from companies doing business in Sudan.”