Independence Party of New York
Encyclopedia
The Independence Party is an affiliate in the U.S. state
of New York
of the Independence Party of America
. The party was founded in 1991 by Dr. Gordon Black, Tom Golisano
, and Laureen Oliver
from Rochester, New York
, and acquired ballot status in 1994. Although often associated with Ross Perot
, as the party came to prominence in the wake of Perot's 1992 presidential campaign, it was created prior to Perot's run. As of April 2009, there were 400,178 members statewide.
voters and allows nonaffiliated voters to vote in its primary election
s, the only significant party in the state to do so.
Like other minor parties in New York
, the Independence Party sometimes nominates its own candidates and sometimes endorses one of the major party
candidates using electoral fusion
. The listing of a major-party candidate on the Independence line can be seen as an indication of that candidate's friendliness to centrist views. Jeffrey Graham, the mayor of Watertown and one of the highest ranking elected officials to be a member of the party, describes the party platform as such: "There is no mystery about the disposition of Line C (...) amassing the greatest number of votes to allow the party to remain on that line(.)" (Line C is the line located immediately under those of the Democratic and Republican Parties; the Independence Party held that line in elections held between 1999 and 2010. Ballot position is determined by the number of votes the line gets in the state gubernatorial election.)
During each gubernatorial election, the votes received by each party determine the order in which the parties will be listed on all state ballots for the next four years. The Independence Party placed fourth in 1994 with its own candidate, Tom Golisano
to Row D, and moved up to third in 1998 and 2002, again with Golisano to achieve Row C. In 2006, the Independence Party endorsed Democratic
candidate Eliot Spitzer
, and retained its place as the top minor party-Row C. Democrat Andrew Cuomo
won the party's nomination for governor in 2010. However, Cuomo drew less than 140,000 votes on the independence line (compared to the 190,000 Spitzer drew in 2006), which resulted in the Independence Party falling to Line E as of 2011 behind the Conservative Party and the Working Families Party
.
and National Chairman of the newly formed Independence Party of America
. Surviving state parties of the Independence Party of America include: the Minnesota Independence Party, Independence Party of Florida, and Independence Party of New York State.
Chair Jack Essenberg. He took the Richmond County
chair, Thomas William Hamilton, to court to block his forming a recognized county committee, as this would have allowed the local people the sole voice in who could run locally on the party line. When Essenberg lost this case, Richmond, Jefferson
, and Suffolk Counties formed county committees. Suffolk County Chair James FX Doyle was ousted by Frank MacKay, who was elected as Suffolk County Chair and who then became State Chair later in the year. Frank MacKay, before succeeding James Doyle, was Suffolk County Vice Chair.
Since the summer of 2005, the party has had an internal factional struggle between non-ideological party members and leaders in much of New York and Long Island
, and followers of Marxist psychotherapist Fred Newman
based in New York City.
Jefferson County dissolved its party committee in 2010. The nine committee members split their allegiances between the Anti-Prohibition Party and Taxpayers Party
for the 2010 elections; neither achieved automatic ballot access. The Nassau County committee was forcibly dissolved in February 2011 after MacKay seized control over the party's operations from Bobby Kumar.
in the 1992 U.S. presidential election
raised the profile of political independents
in the country and led to centrist
political parties in many states. The Independence Party (IP) of New York was founded in 1991, but rose to prominence in the 1992 election. It achieved ballot status in New York in 1994. The Independence Party is no longer associated with the Reform Party of the United States
, which was directly founded by Perot in 1995. The Independence Party was no longer affiliated with the Reform Party USA as of 2000
. He had been the most important person in the party's founding. His personal wealth enabled him to mount well-funded campaigns. In 1994 election he finished 4th, and 3rd in the 1998 and 2002 elections, far ahead of all other candidates not running on the Democratic
or Republican
ballot lines. Because Golisano received more than 50,000 votes each time, the party was guaranteed an automatic ballot line for the following four years. It has enjoyed the 4th ballot line after the 1994 election, the third line on the ballot continuously since the end of the 1998 gubernatorial election cycle. Following the 2010 election, the party was in 5th place, and will be Row E for four years.
, but then he switched to Natural Law Party
candidate John Hagelin
. This resulted from squabbles between Newman's faction and the Buchanan campaign. The Independence Party chose Hagelin as the nominee over Ralph Nader
.
for its U.S. Senate nomination, when he declined to run, the party ended up endorsing party member and Watertown Mayor Jeff Graham against Democrat Hillary Clinton
and Republican Rick Lazio
.
, the billionaire Republican candidate for mayor of New York City. He offered each of the five county organizations within the city $5000, which all but Staten Island (Richmond County), still led by Hamilton, accepted. Bloomberg also created his own independent ballot line, which he named the Students First Party, which was merged with the Independence Party's line on the ballot. The votes he received on the combined Independence Party/Students First Party ballot line, which counted toward his total under New York's fusion
rule, exceeded his margin of victory over Democrat Mark J. Green
, who also appeared on the Working Families Party
line. It is theoretically possible, though not necessarily probable, that Bloomberg would have lost the election without the Independence Party endorsement.
The following year, the New York City Industrial Development Agency (with agreement by the state) approved an $8.7 million bond to help finance a new headquarters for a youth charity controlled by Newman and Lenora Fulani
, Newman's chief spokesperson and a prominent Independence Party public figure. The media characterized approval of the bond as a reward from the mayor as well as incentive by Governor George Pataki
(see below) to obtain Newman and Fulani's support for his re-election campaign.
challenge. Golisano supporters in the Conservative Party also launched a write-in primary in that party. In September, Golisano lost the Conservative write-in primary, but won narrowly to achieve ballot listing on the Independence line.
During the primary campaign, Golisano charged that Pataki's supporters had filed thousands of fraudulent Independence Party registrations in an attempt to marginalize upstate New York's already limited power in state government and to undermine Golisano's threat to the Republican power base. In the primary battle and in the general election, MacKay and followers of Newman within the IP, including Fulani, supported Pataki. In the November 2002 general election, Golisano retained row C for the Independence party by polling 14% of the popular vote. (Golisano later changed his own party registration to Republican, but finally decided not to seek nomination to succeed then-retiring Governor Pataki.)
in his independent bid for president. Nader also petitioned for an independent line, which he named the Peace and Justice Party. Nader received 84,247 votes on the Independence Party line as opposed to 15,626 on Peace and Justice http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2004/2004Stat.htm#32.
for municipal offices, Bloomberg gave the Newman-controlled Manhattan branch of the Independence Party $250,000 to fund a phone bank seeking to recruit volunteers for Bloomberg's re-election campaign. On May 28, 2005, the Independence Party endorsed Michael Bloomberg
for re-election. Bloomberg won by a wide margin. During the campaign a consulting outfit controlled by the Newman wing of the party received an additional $180,000 as a Bloomberg campaign subcontractor, according to the New York City Campaign Finance Board
.
In September 2005 the brewing struggle resulted in the party's state executive committee's ousting Fulani and other Newman followers. The catalyst was a media controversy over Fulani's refusal to publicly disavow her now-infamous 1989 statement that Jews are "mass murderers of people of color". Seventy-five percent of all state committee members supported this move.
But Fulani — whose comrades called the purge racist, sexist, McCarthyistic
and even antisemitic — continues to be active in the party's Newman-controlled New York City machine. The New York County chairperson Cathy Stewart and party strategist Jacqueline Salit run it on Newman's behalf. The New York City organization remains the most influential of the party's factions because of its small army of hard-working volunteers and the financial support it receives from prominent politicians and Newman's own political and psychotherapy base.
On February 4, 2006, the Executive Committee of the Independence Party of the State of New York dissolved the Interim County Organizations of Brooklyn
, Queens
and the Bronx, which had been controlled by Newman and Fulani. The Committee's resolution stated the action was a result of the antisemitism and racism espoused by Fulani and Newman, which are antithetical to the principles of the Independence Party. One week later they attempted to suspend the chair of the Staten Island IP, a member of the Fulani group. The resulting court action allowed the chair to stay in office, but also gave the opposing faction the right to make party endorsements for several local offices in the 2006 election. Although the "Newmanites" still control the Manhattan county organization, the recent revolt has probably ended their ability to influence the selection of the party's nominees anywhere in New York State except the borough of Manhattan.
On June 4, 2006, the State Chairman Frank MacKay started dis-enrollment hearings against Fred Newman, Lenora Fulani, and almost 140 of their followers, in order to seize control of the New York City county organizations. Three different judges, in three different counties, repudiated MacKay’s efforts to dis-enroll Fulani, Newman and the other 140 New York City activists. In July 2006, more than 4,000 New York City Independence Party members created duly constituted County Committees in Staten Island
, Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan
, so that the State Chair could not take away local control in New York City.
, running for Governor, received over 190,661 votes on the Independence Party line, more than enough to secure the party's spot on Row "C" for the next four years. Also, 19% of those votes were produced by the New York City organization. Additionally, in 2006, the IP had its first member elected to the New York Legislature
with the election of Timothy P. Gordon
in the lower house State Assembly
, who also ran with the Democratic endorsement.
In September 2007, activists from the party meeting in White Plains, New York
founded the Independence Party of America
as a national party.
for President and Sarah Palin
for Vice President. They received 163,973 votes on the Independence Party line, compared to 170,475 on the Conservative Party line and 2,418,323 on the Republican Party line.
On April 5, 2009 the Independence Party endorsed Michael Bloomberg for Mayor of New York City http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/nyregion/06endorse.html
In September 2009 Assemblyman Fred Thiele
switched parties from the Republican Party to the Independence Party.
, which ended up in the Independence Party's accounts.
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
of the Independence Party of America
Independence Party of America
The Independence Party of America is a political party in the United States, founded on September 23, 2007 by activists from the Independence Party of New York. Its current National Chairman is Frank MacKay...
. The party was founded in 1991 by Dr. Gordon Black, Tom Golisano
Tom Golisano
Blase Thomas Golisano is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of Paychex, the second-largest payroll processor in the United States and former co-owner of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team and of the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team...
, and Laureen Oliver
Laureen Oliver
Laureen Oliver is an US politician who co-founded the New York State Independence Party.-Career:In 1992 Oliver Co-Founded the New York State Independence Party with B. Thomas Golisano. Prior to the Independence Party Oliver served as the Monroe County Chairwoman of United We Stand America.Oliver...
from Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, and acquired ballot status in 1994. Although often associated with Ross Perot
Ross Perot
Henry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...
, as the party came to prominence in the wake of Perot's 1992 presidential campaign, it was created prior to Perot's run. As of April 2009, there were 400,178 members statewide.
Platform and candidates
The Independence Party's platform is somewhat ambiguous. The party itself is designed to draw independentIndependent (voter)
An independent voter, those who register as an unaffiliated voter in the United States, is a voter of a democratic country who does not align him- or herself with a political party...
voters and allows nonaffiliated voters to vote in its primary election
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
s, the only significant party in the state to do so.
Like other minor parties in New York
Qualified New York Parties
In New York State, to qualify for automatic ballot access, a party must have received at least 50,000 votes in the previous gubernatorial election. They need not run their own candidate, they can nominate a different party's nominee, and if 50,000 voters vote for that candidate on their party...
, the Independence Party sometimes nominates its own candidates and sometimes endorses one of the major party
Major party
A major party is a political party that holds substantial influence in a country's politics, standing in contrast to a minor party. It should not be confused with majority party.According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:...
candidates using electoral fusion
Electoral fusion
Electoral fusion is an arrangement where two or more political parties on a ballot list the same candidate, pooling the votes for that candidate...
. The listing of a major-party candidate on the Independence line can be seen as an indication of that candidate's friendliness to centrist views. Jeffrey Graham, the mayor of Watertown and one of the highest ranking elected officials to be a member of the party, describes the party platform as such: "There is no mystery about the disposition of Line C (...) amassing the greatest number of votes to allow the party to remain on that line(.)" (Line C is the line located immediately under those of the Democratic and Republican Parties; the Independence Party held that line in elections held between 1999 and 2010. Ballot position is determined by the number of votes the line gets in the state gubernatorial election.)
During each gubernatorial election, the votes received by each party determine the order in which the parties will be listed on all state ballots for the next four years. The Independence Party placed fourth in 1994 with its own candidate, Tom Golisano
Tom Golisano
Blase Thomas Golisano is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of Paychex, the second-largest payroll processor in the United States and former co-owner of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team and of the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team...
to Row D, and moved up to third in 1998 and 2002, again with Golisano to achieve Row C. In 2006, the Independence Party endorsed Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
candidate Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
, and retained its place as the top minor party-Row C. Democrat Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo is the 56th and current Governor of New York, having assumed office on January 1, 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 64th New York State Attorney General, and was the 11th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development...
won the party's nomination for governor in 2010. However, Cuomo drew less than 140,000 votes on the independence line (compared to the 190,000 Spitzer drew in 2006), which resulted in the Independence Party falling to Line E as of 2011 behind the Conservative Party and the Working Families Party
Working Families Party
The Working Families Party is a minor political party in the United States founded in New York in 1998. There are "sister" parties to the New York WFP in Connecticut, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Oregon, but there is as yet no national WFP...
.
Leadership
The chairman of the Independence Party of New York is Frank MacKay, who is also leader of the party in Suffolk CountySuffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
and National Chairman of the newly formed Independence Party of America
Independence Party of America
The Independence Party of America is a political party in the United States, founded on September 23, 2007 by activists from the Independence Party of New York. Its current National Chairman is Frank MacKay...
. Surviving state parties of the Independence Party of America include: the Minnesota Independence Party, Independence Party of Florida, and Independence Party of New York State.
| Name | Tenure | Hometown |
|---|---|---|
| Laureen A. Oliver Laureen Oliver Laureen Oliver is an US politician who co-founded the New York State Independence Party.-Career:In 1992 Oliver Co-Founded the New York State Independence Party with B. Thomas Golisano. Prior to the Independence Party Oliver served as the Monroe County Chairwoman of United We Stand America.Oliver... |
1991 – 1996 | Rochester Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City... |
| Jack R. Essenberg | 1996 – February 2000 April 2000 – May 2000 |
Miller Place Miller Place, New York Miller Place is a hamlet and census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York, United States, on the North Shore of Long Island. The population was 10,580 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Miller Place is located at .... |
| Frank M. MacKay | February 2000 – April 2000 May 2000 – present |
North Babylon North Babylon, New York North Babylon is a hamlet in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 17,877 at the 2000 census.North Babylon is a community in the Town of Babylon.-Geography:... |
- http://www.ipny.org/April27.html (Timeline cited)
Power struggles
The party has seen several major internal struggles. In 1996, the founding Chair, Laureen Oliver, declined to run again as State Chair and went on to be the party's State Secretary. She was succeeded by Suffolk CountySuffolk County, New York
Suffolk County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York on the eastern portion of Long Island. As of the 2010 census, the population was 1,493,350. It was named for the county of Suffolk in England, from which its earliest settlers came...
Chair Jack Essenberg. He took the Richmond County
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
chair, Thomas William Hamilton, to court to block his forming a recognized county committee, as this would have allowed the local people the sole voice in who could run locally on the party line. When Essenberg lost this case, Richmond, Jefferson
Jefferson County, New York
Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 116,229. It is named after Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States of America, and president at the time the county was created in 1805...
, and Suffolk Counties formed county committees. Suffolk County Chair James FX Doyle was ousted by Frank MacKay, who was elected as Suffolk County Chair and who then became State Chair later in the year. Frank MacKay, before succeeding James Doyle, was Suffolk County Vice Chair.
Since the summer of 2005, the party has had an internal factional struggle between non-ideological party members and leaders in much of New York and Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, and followers of Marxist psychotherapist Fred Newman
Fred Newman
Frederick Delano "Fred" Newman was an American philosopher, psychotherapist, playwright and political activist, and creator of a therapeutic modality called Social Therapy.-Early life:...
based in New York City.
Jefferson County dissolved its party committee in 2010. The nine committee members split their allegiances between the Anti-Prohibition Party and Taxpayers Party
Taxpayers Party of New York
The Taxpayers Party of New York State was an American political party active in the state of New York. It was not part of any nationwide party, nor is it affiliated with the U.S. Taxpayers' Party , which predates it by 18 years, or the Tax Revolt Party active in Nassau County...
for the 2010 elections; neither achieved automatic ballot access. The Nassau County committee was forcibly dissolved in February 2011 after MacKay seized control over the party's operations from Bobby Kumar.
History
The unexpectedly strong showing of Ross PerotRoss Perot
Henry Ross Perot is a U.S. businessman best known for running for President of the United States in 1992 and 1996. Perot founded Electronic Data Systems in 1962, sold the company to General Motors in 1984, and founded Perot Systems in 1988...
in the 1992 U.S. presidential election
United States presidential election, 1992
The United States presidential election of 1992 had three major candidates: Incumbent Republican President George Bush; Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, and independent Texas businessman Ross Perot....
raised the profile of political independents
Independent (voter)
An independent voter, those who register as an unaffiliated voter in the United States, is a voter of a democratic country who does not align him- or herself with a political party...
in the country and led to centrist
Centrism
In politics, centrism is the ideal or the practice of promoting policies that lie different from the standard political left and political right. Most commonly, this is visualized as part of the one-dimensional political spectrum of left-right politics, with centrism landing in the middle between...
political parties in many states. The Independence Party (IP) of New York was founded in 1991, but rose to prominence in the 1992 election. It achieved ballot status in New York in 1994. The Independence Party is no longer associated with the Reform Party of the United States
Reform Party of the United States of America
The Reform Party of the United States of America is a political party in the United States, founded in 1995 by Ross Perot...
, which was directly founded by Perot in 1995. The Independence Party was no longer affiliated with the Reform Party USA as of 2000
Governor of New York
In the elections for Governor of New York in 1994, 1998, and 2002, the Independence Party's candidate was businessman Tom GolisanoTom Golisano
Blase Thomas Golisano is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder of Paychex, the second-largest payroll processor in the United States and former co-owner of the Buffalo Sabres hockey team and of the Buffalo Bandits lacrosse team...
. He had been the most important person in the party's founding. His personal wealth enabled him to mount well-funded campaigns. In 1994 election he finished 4th, and 3rd in the 1998 and 2002 elections, far ahead of all other candidates not running on the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
or Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
ballot lines. Because Golisano received more than 50,000 votes each time, the party was guaranteed an automatic ballot line for the following four years. It has enjoyed the 4th ballot line after the 1994 election, the third line on the ballot continuously since the end of the 1998 gubernatorial election cycle. Following the 2010 election, the party was in 5th place, and will be Row E for four years.
President
In the 2000 elections, Newman initially backed Reform Presidential candidate Pat BuchananPat Buchanan
Patrick Joseph "Pat" Buchanan is an American paleoconservative political commentator, author, syndicated columnist, politician and broadcaster. Buchanan was a senior adviser to American Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and was an original host on CNN's Crossfire. He sought...
, but then he switched to Natural Law Party
Natural Law Party
The Natural Law Party was a transnational party based on the teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. It was active in up to 74 countries, and ran candidates in at least ten. Founded in 1992, it was mostly disbanded in 2004 but continues in India and in some U.S. states.The NLP viewed "natural law" as...
candidate John Hagelin
John Hagelin
John Samuel Hagelin is an American particle physicist, three-time candidate of the Natural Law Party for President of the United States , and the director of the Transcendental Meditation movement for the US....
. This resulted from squabbles between Newman's faction and the Buchanan campaign. The Independence Party chose Hagelin as the nominee over Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
.
U.S. Senate
While the Independence Party considered New York City Mayor Rudy GiulianiRudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
for its U.S. Senate nomination, when he declined to run, the party ended up endorsing party member and Watertown Mayor Jeff Graham against Democrat Hillary Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
and Republican Rick Lazio
Rick Lazio
Enrico Anthony "Rick" Lazio is a former U.S. Representative from the state of New York. Lazio became well known nationally when he ran against Hillary Rodham Clinton for the U.S. Senate in New York's 2000 Senate election...
.
Mayor of New York City
In 2001 the Independence Party endorsed Michael BloombergMichael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
, the billionaire Republican candidate for mayor of New York City. He offered each of the five county organizations within the city $5000, which all but Staten Island (Richmond County), still led by Hamilton, accepted. Bloomberg also created his own independent ballot line, which he named the Students First Party, which was merged with the Independence Party's line on the ballot. The votes he received on the combined Independence Party/Students First Party ballot line, which counted toward his total under New York's fusion
Electoral fusion
Electoral fusion is an arrangement where two or more political parties on a ballot list the same candidate, pooling the votes for that candidate...
rule, exceeded his margin of victory over Democrat Mark J. Green
Mark J. Green
Mark J. Green is an author, public interest lawyer and a Democratic politician who lives in New York City. He worked with Ralph Nader from 1970-1980, eventually as director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch, and is also the former president of Air America Radio .He was New York City Consumer...
, who also appeared on the Working Families Party
Working Families Party
The Working Families Party is a minor political party in the United States founded in New York in 1998. There are "sister" parties to the New York WFP in Connecticut, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Oregon, but there is as yet no national WFP...
line. It is theoretically possible, though not necessarily probable, that Bloomberg would have lost the election without the Independence Party endorsement.
The following year, the New York City Industrial Development Agency (with agreement by the state) approved an $8.7 million bond to help finance a new headquarters for a youth charity controlled by Newman and Lenora Fulani
Lenora Fulani
Lenora Branch Fulani is an American psychologist, psychotherapist, and political activist. She may be best known for her presidential campaigns and development of youth programs serving minority communities in the New York City area...
, Newman's chief spokesperson and a prominent Independence Party public figure. The media characterized approval of the bond as a reward from the mayor as well as incentive by Governor George Pataki
George Pataki
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who was the 53rd Governor of New York. A member of the Republican Party, Pataki served three consecutive four-year terms from January 1, 1995 until December 31, 2006.- Early life :...
(see below) to obtain Newman and Fulani's support for his re-election campaign.
Golisano
In 2002, Golisano sought the Independence Party's gubernatorial nomination, for the third time. Incumbent governor Pataki initially won the endorsement of the Newman-influenced Independence Party state convention, with the full support of party Chair Frank MacKay. In May (only four days after final approval of the IDA bond), Golisano, supported by IP founder Laureen Oliver and many of the original founding members, launched a primaryPrimary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
challenge. Golisano supporters in the Conservative Party also launched a write-in primary in that party. In September, Golisano lost the Conservative write-in primary, but won narrowly to achieve ballot listing on the Independence line.
During the primary campaign, Golisano charged that Pataki's supporters had filed thousands of fraudulent Independence Party registrations in an attempt to marginalize upstate New York's already limited power in state government and to undermine Golisano's threat to the Republican power base. In the primary battle and in the general election, MacKay and followers of Newman within the IP, including Fulani, supported Pataki. In the November 2002 general election, Golisano retained row C for the Independence party by polling 14% of the popular vote. (Golisano later changed his own party registration to Republican, but finally decided not to seek nomination to succeed then-retiring Governor Pataki.)
Ralph Nader
In 2004 the Independence Party endorsed Ralph NaderRalph Nader
Ralph Nader is an American political activist, as well as an author, lecturer, and attorney. Areas of particular concern to Nader include consumer protection, humanitarianism, environmentalism, and democratic government....
in his independent bid for president. Nader also petitioned for an independent line, which he named the Peace and Justice Party. Nader received 84,247 votes on the Independence Party line as opposed to 15,626 on Peace and Justice http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2004/2004Stat.htm#32.
Bloomberg
With the approach of the 2005 electionsNew York City mayoral election, 2005
The New York City mayoral election of 2005 occurred on Tuesday November 8, 2005, with incumbent Republican mayor Michael Bloomberg soundly defeating former Bronx borough president Fernando Ferrer, the Democratic nominee. They also faced several third party candidates.This was the fourth straight...
for municipal offices, Bloomberg gave the Newman-controlled Manhattan branch of the Independence Party $250,000 to fund a phone bank seeking to recruit volunteers for Bloomberg's re-election campaign. On May 28, 2005, the Independence Party endorsed Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
for re-election. Bloomberg won by a wide margin. During the campaign a consulting outfit controlled by the Newman wing of the party received an additional $180,000 as a Bloomberg campaign subcontractor, according to the New York City Campaign Finance Board
New York City Campaign Finance Board
The New York City Campaign Finance Board is an independent, nonpartisan agency of the City of New York. It was created in 1988 in the wake of several political corruption scandals. It gives public matching funds to qualifying candidates, who in exchange submit to strict contribution and spending...
.
In September 2005 the brewing struggle resulted in the party's state executive committee's ousting Fulani and other Newman followers. The catalyst was a media controversy over Fulani's refusal to publicly disavow her now-infamous 1989 statement that Jews are "mass murderers of people of color". Seventy-five percent of all state committee members supported this move.
But Fulani — whose comrades called the purge racist, sexist, McCarthyistic
Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...
and even antisemitic — continues to be active in the party's Newman-controlled New York City machine. The New York County chairperson Cathy Stewart and party strategist Jacqueline Salit run it on Newman's behalf. The New York City organization remains the most influential of the party's factions because of its small army of hard-working volunteers and the financial support it receives from prominent politicians and Newman's own political and psychotherapy base.
On February 4, 2006, the Executive Committee of the Independence Party of the State of New York dissolved the Interim County Organizations of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, Queens
Queens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
and the Bronx, which had been controlled by Newman and Fulani. The Committee's resolution stated the action was a result of the antisemitism and racism espoused by Fulani and Newman, which are antithetical to the principles of the Independence Party. One week later they attempted to suspend the chair of the Staten Island IP, a member of the Fulani group. The resulting court action allowed the chair to stay in office, but also gave the opposing faction the right to make party endorsements for several local offices in the 2006 election. Although the "Newmanites" still control the Manhattan county organization, the recent revolt has probably ended their ability to influence the selection of the party's nominees anywhere in New York State except the borough of Manhattan.
On June 4, 2006, the State Chairman Frank MacKay started dis-enrollment hearings against Fred Newman, Lenora Fulani, and almost 140 of their followers, in order to seize control of the New York City county organizations. Three different judges, in three different counties, repudiated MacKay’s efforts to dis-enroll Fulani, Newman and the other 140 New York City activists. In July 2006, more than 4,000 New York City Independence Party members created duly constituted County Committees in Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...
, Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, so that the State Chair could not take away local control in New York City.
Spitzer
In November 2006, Eliot SpitzerEliot Spitzer
Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
, running for Governor, received over 190,661 votes on the Independence Party line, more than enough to secure the party's spot on Row "C" for the next four years. Also, 19% of those votes were produced by the New York City organization. Additionally, in 2006, the IP had its first member elected to the New York Legislature
New York Legislature
The New York State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York. The New York Constitution does not designate an official term for the two houses together...
with the election of Timothy P. Gordon
Timothy P. Gordon
Timothy P. Gordon was a member of the New York State Assembly. A member of the Independence Party, Gordon caucused with the Democratic in the Assembly. He was first elected in 2006 to represent the 108th Assembly district, a traditionally Republican district...
in the lower house State Assembly
New York State Assembly
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...
, who also ran with the Democratic endorsement.
In September 2007, activists from the party meeting in White Plains, New York
White Plains, New York
White Plains is a city and the county seat of Westchester County, New York, United States. It is located in south-central Westchester, about east of the Hudson River and northwest of Long Island Sound...
founded the Independence Party of America
Independence Party of America
The Independence Party of America is a political party in the United States, founded on September 23, 2007 by activists from the Independence Party of New York. Its current National Chairman is Frank MacKay...
as a national party.
McCain
In the 2008 Presidential Election, the Independence Party endorsed John McCainJohn McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
for President and Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
for Vice President. They received 163,973 votes on the Independence Party line, compared to 170,475 on the Conservative Party line and 2,418,323 on the Republican Party line.
On April 5, 2009 the Independence Party endorsed Michael Bloomberg for Mayor of New York City http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/06/nyregion/06endorse.html
In September 2009 Assemblyman Fred Thiele
Fred Thiele
Fred W. Thiele, Jr. represents District 2 in the New York State Assembly, a post he has held since 1995. The 2nd Assembly District includes East Hampton, Southampton and the southeastern section of Brookhaven...
switched parties from the Republican Party to the Independence Party.
Investigation
On February 18, 2011, the Independence Party's assets were frozen as a result of an investigation into the theft of $1,200,000 from the campaign of Michael BloombergMichael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
, which ended up in the Independence Party's accounts.
See also
- Independence Party of AmericaIndependence Party of AmericaThe Independence Party of America is a political party in the United States, founded on September 23, 2007 by activists from the Independence Party of New York. Its current National Chairman is Frank MacKay...
- United States Independence PartyUnited States Independence PartyThe Independence Party, or Independence League or National Independence League, was a short-lived minor American political party formed by newspaper publisher and United States Representative William Randolph Hearst in 1906 as the successor to the Municipal Ownership League, which had dissolved...
(also known as the Independence League; active in New York politics in the early 20th century)