Sheldon Silver vs. Paul Newell and why this matters to everyone in the state (New York: appointed)

[futurebird]

Today Sheldon Silver was re-elected. He is one of the most powerful men in the state of New York. He's the speaker of the state assembly, and one of the "Three Men in a Room" (the others are the Governor and Majority Leader of the State Senate.) Sheldon Silver represents a small district far downtown. It's a nice part of the city, I lived there for a few years. Since everyone is a Democrat the state primary is the "real" election... but almost no one votes in these little primaries. And that's the problem!

Silver has seized power again with only 6743 votes. That's all it takes, 6743 votes, his district has about 127,000 people in it, so only 5.3% of them voted for him. And he has power over all of the people in the state of New York, including you.

Election Results, 64th Assembly District:
Sheldon Silver 6743 votes 67.95%
Paul Newell 2301 votes 23.19%
Luke Henry 879 votes 8.86%

(Paul Newell is a progressive who challenged Silver. This is the first time in a decade Silver has had a challenger at all. For many years he simply ran unopposed. When Silver found out that Newell was running he found Luke Henry. Luke Henry is a straw-man propped up by silver to sap votes from Newell.)

But, how does it feel to know that someone with the power that Silver has was put in office with only 6743 votes? This isn't democracy-- it's more like the old days when NYC was a corporation and all the powerful men were appointed by the Dutch East West India Company.

And these primaries... they are so corrupt-- there's street money all over the place-- Politicians win by paying up-- these bosses come around to all the campaign headquarters and they sell their pack of votes to the highest bidder.

This is me before I started watching local politics:


This is me after I found out just how bad things are:



Read more:
* Silver at the Barricades Against an Energized, Press-Approved Newell
* SILVER IN AN UP-'HILL' BATTLE The New York Post

[Fred314X]

Well, if it isn't democracy, that's mainly because less than 10,000 people in a district with more than 125,000 residents voted. Politicians, particularly of the sleazy variety, depend on this sort of thing.

When people start getting up off their butts and voting, rather than just whining about the sort of government they have, things can change. Until then, as we say here in Brooklyn, fuhgeddaboudit!

[UpstaterInBklyn]

That's how it works all over NYS. Win the primary in your gerrymandered district and the election is sure thing.

All you need to do is mobilize enough patronage cronies and public-sector union members, plus a few of their friends and relatives, and you've locked up another term.

Fred is right - if people don't vote things won't change. I'd also like to add that people need to cross party lines once in a while, otherwise gerrymandering will continue to succeed.

I read somewhere that the NYS legislature has less than 3% turnover each election, a lower rate than old Soviet Politburo!

[Fred314X]

Although other states have more of a reputation along these lines, the truth is that Albany has one of the tightest political organizations in the country. And wouldn't you know it--Eliot Spitzer stood up to them. So, of course, he had to go! Probably the best governor we elected in at least half a century, and they ran him out of office after a year and a half. You notice that nobody has said a peep about the other big names in that "black book." Because the sole aim of the whole scandal was to get rid of Governor Spitzer.