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For Alternate-Party Candidates, Winning Is Not Everything
Ballot access, influencing Republicans and Democrats are main goals
By Laura Brunts
City Hall News |
Being an alternate-party candidate is not easy. Without substantial funding, large staffs, or access to the major debates, candidates struggle to get their messages out and get votes.
Green Party gubernatorial candidate Malachy McCourt and his lieutenant governor running mate Alison Duncan came up with their own creative way to spread their ideas. The two have been touring the state with their show, “You Don’t Have to Be Irish to Vote for Me.”
“A bit of mythology, a bit of song, poetry, a quotation here or there, some satire, and you can have a good time,” McCourt said. “The main thing about the traditional campaigning is you’ll find you have to be a reasonably accomplished liar. And it’s hard for me to lie without blushing.”
Libertarian gubernatorial candidate John Clifton found a way around debates that are only open to Republican and Democratic candidates. He has organized a candidates forum at the College of Staten Island Oct. 30. McCourt and Maura DeLuca of the Socialist Workers Party have agreed to join him.
“Big media is in on the rigged game, and are actively excluding us,” Clifton said, announcing the debate. He added that any candidate able to garner enough support to get on the ballot deserves mainstream media attention.
Indeed, getting on the ballot itself can be difficult, especially for those outside the relatively well-known Green and Libertarian parties.
William Van Auken, who is the Socialist Equality Party’s candidate for Senate, was on the presidential ballot in five states in 2004.
Compared to other states, Auken finds New York’s requirements to get on the ballot somewhere in the middle in terms of stringency.
Candidates for statewide office in New York who do not have party-wide ballot access must collect 15,000 signatures from registered voters during a six-week period in June and July.
If a party’s gubernatorial candidate receives at least 50,000 votes, the party gains ballot access for the next four years, and does not need to petition. These 50,000 votes, rather than victory, are McCourt’s goal. Clifton has said it is his as well.
Duncan said automatically having a spot on the statewide ballot would enable the Greens to nominate candidates at a caucus, “which has a profound impact on how many local candidates can run on Green Party tickets across the state.”
For those candidates that cannot reach this benchmark, many find that the value of running is the chance to speak directly to a statewide audience about issues that Republicans and Democrats sometimes ignore.
Duncan said she hoped whoever wins will be influenced by the ideas she and McCourt have made the center of their joint campaign.
“I want [voters] to see that renewable energy, universal healthcare… that these things are not unreasonable,” she said.
Jimmy McMillan, who got 1,369 votes as the mayoral candidate of the self-created “Rent Is Too Damn High” party (shortened to “Rent Is Too High” on this year’s statewide ballot) epitomizes a single-issue candidate.
If elected, McMillan says he would place a cap on rent, institute an eight-year rent freeze, and deliver free college tuition all while cutting taxes.
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s alternate-party challengers come from a variety of backgrounds, though they agree on one point: they want to pull American troops out of Iraq.
“I think it’s the biggest issue,” said Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate. Even when petitioning to get on the ballot on hot summer days, he said, “I found that if I said, ‘I want to bring the troops home now,’ they would spin on their heel, and come back and sign it.”
And it is not just the Senate candidates. Several alternative gubernatorial candidates have proposed bringing the New York National Guard unit home. The Green Party calls their statewide ticket the Peace Slate.
Even Libertarian Senate candidate Jeffrey Russell agrees.
“I think she’s on the wrong side of a very important issue for the voters,” Russell said of Clinton’s opposition to immediate withdrawal. “I think both parties are on the wrong side.”
But he believes he could influence Clinton and others, even if he does not win.
“If I could draw enough votes,” he said, “maybe other politicians will think twice."
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 *Website by David Doonan, Labor Donated to Hawkins for Senate Campaign* |
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