Sign up now to subscribe!
Dealing With Disgrace 2007: A Look Ahead Faso's HQ Burgled Bloomberg' Political Contribution Investments Come Up Short First Spitzer Transition Team Meeting Set Up in the Air� Up in the Sky� It�s the Mayor of New York? Diversity Remains Beyond FDNY's Grasp Political Consultant Round-Up Taking the Temperature of Health Laws Solar Power's Not-So-Bright Future Greens Hope for Ballot Access through Lawsuit Working Families and Conservatives Parties See Mixed Results Despite Big Election Turnover, Limited Changes for Big Apple Ahead
In the Chair: Robert Jackson In the Trenches: Steven Matteo No Cape, But the Ad Man is a Democratic Hero Back in the District: James Vacca On the Agenda Where Are They Now? Manfred Ohrenstein Mr. Haber Goes to Hollywood Sandwiches and Soda with Adolfo Carrión Editorial: You've Got to Be in It to Win It What the Poverty Report Misses by Maureen Lane When Big Winners Meet Big Winners, Who Wins? by Alan Chartock Standing Up for New York City's Fair Share by Gifford Miller and William Cunningham
The Working Families and Conservative parties have their definitions of success in this year's elections.
Neither party fielded its own gubernatorial candidate. And neither is worried about hitting the 50,000 votes that would give them ballot access: with more than twice that number of votes, they already have it.
With the open ballot system that exists in New York, multiple parties can run the same candidate, as happened this year when the Independence and Working Families parties cross-endorsed Democratic candidate Eliot Spitzer, and the Conservative Party went with Republican candidate John Faso.
Spokespeople for the two parties say that the difference is the message your vote sends to the candidate.
“If you vote for Eliot Spitzer as a Democrat, it's one of 3 million. It's not really clear what it means,” said Alex Navarro, a spokesman for the Working Families Party.
Navarro said that Governor-elect Spitzer will see “that there's a constituency, between 150,000 and 200,000 voters in this state, who will vote for you if you stand for progressive change, and will vote against you if you go against those things.”
The Working Families Party was hoping to get more votes than the Conservative Party this year so that they would be listed on ballot line D, the fourth line down on the ballot, instead of their current spot at E. Republicans are row A, Democrats row B and the Independence Party is Row C.
According to unofficial results from the gubernatorial race, the Working Families Party finished roughly 1,200 votes behind the Conservative Party, getting about 126,800 statewide.
Even though they missed their goal of moving up on the ballot, Navarro still called it a successful election.
“We're closer than ever before to the Conservative Party. It looks like WFP will fall just short,” he said. “We're very heartened by the positive trend.”
Sometimes these parties do run their own candidates, especially in smaller local races where they have a better chance of winning. Navarro said that the Working Families Party only runs an independent candidate if they are likely to “have an effect on the public debate.”
Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long said that his party simply picks candidates “that would in fact do the most good for the working taxpayers of New York.”
Even though Faso lost the race for governor, Long said it was a successful election because the candidate discussed economic and social issues important to the Conservative Party. Faso specifically thanked Long in his concession speech.
“John Faso, our candidate, forced big issues, forced conversation of the issues, forced Governor-elect Spitzer to talk about that he was going to raise taxes,” Long said. “He brought many issues to the table that would not have been addressed.”