| Yesterday evening I got an email from a prominent upstate Democrat I know, dropping me some information on a brewing situation with next week's New York State Democratic Convention.
The message was short and to the point: a number of people believe that the convention is effectively being rigged by the newly out of the closet Cuomo campaign in order to get their preferred candidate the Democratic nomination for Attorney General--that candidate being former Republican and fellow down-stater Kathleen Rice.
One of these people, the Montgomery County Democratic chair, went so far as to write a letter to state committee members encouraging a fair and open convention process, a letter I got my hands on a copy of.
Dear State Committee Member,
I wanted to take a minute to write about next week's convention, and the race for Attorney General.
I'm sure you saw today's New York Times article, which suggests that the convention process is being manipulated to benefit one candidate, at the expense of other qualified candidates. I think that's wrong, and it's not what the Democratic Party is all about.
Our party is blessed with a number of qualified candidates for Attorney General, and they all deserve a chance to get on the ballot, unimpeded. Democratic primary voters - and not a handful of insiders - should decide who our nominee is this fall. Regardless of whether or not you have chosen your candidate, I hope that you would agree with me that the process should be open and democratic.
I have endorsed Eric Dinallo, who won the Democratic Rural Conference Straw Poll by a convincing margin of two-to-one over the second place candidate -- earning nearly as many votes as all of the other candidates combined. Eric has secured the endorsement of 26 County Chairs from across our state, demonstrating the broad appeal of his candidacy - and, in my view, proving that he'll be our strongest possible candidate in the general election. Eric's not a career politician; he's an independent thinker and a fierce advocate for justice. From fighting violent crime as a prosecutor, to taking on Wall Street in the AG's office, to battling Big Insurance as Insurance Superintendent, Eric's shown that he has the experience, creativity, strength - and the independence -- we need in our next Attorney General.
Like many Upstate Democrats, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of a handful of party insiders determining who gets on the ballot. Please join me in telling our party leaders that we want a Democratic convention that's truly democratic.
Look forward to seeing you next week,
Bethany Schumann-McGhee
Montgomery County Chair
Why would the newly minted leader of the NY Democrats, a guy who is already pretty much expected to win by at least a two thirds majority, interfere in the party process to pick a former Republican to run for his old job? Particularly one who treated her former gig as Nassau County DA as a chance for political grandstanding, pontificating about drunk drivers and sex offenders, which I'm sure are the most pressing sorts of crimes in the second richest county in America.
Short answer? Rice is apparently counting on Cuomo's coattails to get her into office. Cuomo reportedly favors her, and the convention delegates are afraid to cross him over the issue. Moreover, if you look into the records, Cuomo has been fundraising for Rice since October of 2009, which may help to account for the couple million dollars in cash which vaulted her into the top tier candidates past people like Eric Schneiderman. That leaves you with an AG who completely owes their job to the new Governor, which is not the way that elections are supposed to work.
The "why" of the thing doesn't really matter at that point. What does matter is that with half the state's county chairs already backing Dinallo, and Rice having fallen flat with both the public and the party faithful outside of the New York City area, a convention that crowns Rice with the nomination is going to meet with a great deal of skepticism--skepticism at best--from the Democratic base if the process isn't unquestionably fair and impartial. A secret ballot would be a good start on that; so would guaranteeing the state committee members from NYC the right to vote as they choose, rather than as the party machine dictates.
Last but not least, speaking from my own perspective. Having a handful of people from downstate select the next AG candidate through internal arm-twisting--including running roughshod over the only candidate to make a serious appeal to rural New Yorkers in, well ever--is an absolute disaster for those of us still trying to build the party out here in the red parts of the state, since it confirms all the worst cliches about state government being run solely of by and for New York City.
I know, Andrew Cuomo doesn't need to care about that--he's still going to win by ten or twenty points even if he never sets foot on a farm or a state park. But he should care, because every voter that we convert up here means a little more support for good government, a little less partisan gridlock, and maybe one more vote in the State Senate over some vital issue to make this a better state.
We're doing all we can up here to change the dynamics in New York State with almost no help from the state party or the state elected officials. Please do not make a mockery of our efforts with some kind of inside baseball hack-job of a convention. |
