I received what I thought was a strange email today from Howard Dean, urging me to vote against the non-partisan elections proposal next week.
The email stated that:
Why is this proposal on your ballot? The answer is easy. A Republican Mayor wants to weaken the Democratic Party in a city where there are more than 2.7 million registered Democrats. The Charter Commission was filled with Bloomberg appointees predisposed to favor his proposal. Only Father Joseph O'Hare and former Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch had the courage to vote no.
Simply said, Question 3 is undemocratic. Eliminating primary elections would mean disempowering community-based bodies that work on a grassroots level and provide a starting point for future candidates. Ending the primary system will weaken the ability of grassroots organizers like yourself who have helped to shape our democracy on the local, state and national level since the founding of our Republic.
This seems like very strange reasoning to me since the New York Democratic Party is anything but grassroots and open. The machine might be weakened, but in most local races, the machine still controls. I know - I am a member of a local club that controls every possible elected seat within its geographic boundaries. And I can safely disclose that and still maintain my anonymity because there are probably 20 other guys with my name who are members of clubs in the City that also control all of the elected seats in that area.
The only way new blood has entered the system is when a grassroots candidate pulled an upset in the Democratic primary (and this happens so rarely that its always reported in the News as a an "Upset over the Machine"), or when someone like Bloomberg side-steps the system, and ran as a Republican. Bloomberg is a "Republican in name only" but to be a team player, he is now raising money for Republicans like Bush. If we had had non-partisan elections, Bloomberg would probably be giving, and raising, funds for the Democrats.
Putting all this aside, I wonder how and why Howard Dean got involved with this issue.