CNN aired a story about Independent Kentucky on Wednesday, February 3rd at 8:00 PM on the Campbell Brown show. The story was about the battle of Senate Bill 53, a bill that would allow semi-open primaries in Kentucky. Semi-open primaries are NOT a free-for-all. Democrats and Republicans would still only be allowed to vote in their own primaries. This bill would allow a registered Independent voter to pick a party and participate in the selection process.
Independent Kentucky was contacted by CNN about a week ago when they saw the work being done in Kentucky. CNN wanted to run a piece on Independent Kentucky and how they’ve rallied people together to support Senate Bill 53. They came to Kentucky for the Senate floor vote on SB 53 and to the Independent Kentucky monthly meeting. Chairman of Independent Kentucky, Michael P. W. Lewis, was followed around all day in the capitol and interviewed about his experience.
New York, NY—The Independence Party vote for Mike Bloomberg yesterday broke
numerous records and re-enforced its ongoing mandate for independent governance
and non-partisan reform.
Unofficial returns released by the Board of Elections put the IP total on Column “C”
at 142,817 votes, nearly 26% of Bloomberg’s total and 13% of all votes cast. This
means that 1 in 4 Bloomberg voters chose to vote on the Independence Party line.
The vote for the mayor on the Independence Party line was an increase of 91%
over its total four years ago, when it drew nearly 75,000 votes on its crucial Column “C”.
Jacqueline Salit, who has run all three IP campaigns for Bloomberg stated:
“The Independence Party’s 143,000 votes grows out of the strength of our
grassroots organization, the popularity of political independence as a new
option and a longstanding partnership with our independent mayor, Mike
Bloomberg. This record breaking vote makes plain our growth and our role
in the emerging shift in New York City politics. We’re a new kind of minor
party with an agenda for non-partisan reform. We have a broad and
diverse base of support. We gave Mike his margin in a close race. And
we made history by electing the city’s first independent mayor.”
In three consecutive elections, under varying circumstances, the Independence
Party has made its mark on the NYC mayoral. In 2001, its 59,091 votes gave
Bloomberg his margin over Democrat Mark Green, who lost by 35,000 votes. In 2005,
the IP vote for Bloomberg grew by 26%, making it the only political party to demonstrate
growth at the polls that year. This year, the IP delivered 13% of the total votes cast—
the largest percentage ever—by a minor party for a cross-endorsed mayoral candidate.
For the last 20 years, other minor parties polled between 32,551 (the Working
Families Party vote for Mark Green in 2001) and 62,469 (the Liberal Party vote for Rudy
Giuliani in 1993).
Please get out and vote on November 3rd! GIV has endorsed Kasim Reed (see below), but please get out and vote no matter who you select! Voter turnout in the City of Atlanta is expected to be less than 100,000 (for a metropolitan area made up of more than 4 million!!) and turnout in a runoff if one should be required would be expected to be as low as 35,000. EVERY VOTE COUNTS!
To find your polling place for Election Day (Tuesday, November 3) CLICK HERE
To vote early (Thursday or Friday, October 29 or October 30) CLICK HERE
(IMPORTANT NOTE: There is not early/advanced voting on the weekend)
Independents Endorse Reed in Atlanta Mayoral Campaign
Atlanta, GA — Georgia Independent Voters (GIV), a state-based association representing independent voters, announced today its endorsement of former State Senator Kasim Reed for mayor of the City of Atlanta.
“We’re proud to announce our support for Kasim Reed for Mayor of Atlanta,” said Thyrsa M. Gravely, a long-time independent political organizer and a key player in GIV’s candidate screening process. “Reed has been on the just side of important electoral issues here in Georgia, and in our conversations he indicated a willingness to address our concerns regarding political reform by being a spokesperson at the state and national level.”
“I am very grateful to receive the endorsement of Georgia Independent Voters. A political process that is open to all is a major concern of mine,” said Reed. “Too many voters are disillusioned and kept out of the political process. As Mayor, I will work with the Governor and the state legislature towards opening Georgia’s electoral process, and making it more accessible to all voters.”
GIV’s endorsement came as a result of candidate screening sessions and numerous dialogues over the course of the summer. In July the group met with nine of the hopeful candidates, but elected not to endorse at that time. “We wanted to see how the field would shape up after the filing period closed in early September,” said Murray Dabby, a co-founder of GIV. “We wanted to endorse when we thought we could have the biggest impact.”
Numbers of independents continue to grow, and independents currently form 39% of the electorate according to a recent Pew Research poll. As a result, independents have played an increasingly important role in elections around the country. In the 2008 presidential election, independents tipped the scales for Obama, helping him secure the Democratic Party nomination over Clinton.
“Kasim Reed is a part of a new generation of Democrats, like President Obama, who appreciate independents. Reed is very conversant on issues of concern to us and is clearly the most independent-minded, and most reform-minded candidate in the race,” said Dabby. “Issues of political reform are a mystery to many old-guard, traditional politicians, but things like lowering ballot access barriers, making voter registration easier, and making the redistricting process less political are issues that are important to independents, who are left out of the political process in so many ways.”
Georgia Independent Voters is a grassroots organization working to reform the political process and develop the voice of independent voters around Georgia.
As written about before on this site, in mid-July Georgia Independent Voters began a screening process which invited all of the active Atlanta mayoral candidates to address and learn about the concerns of independent voters here in Atlanta. These screenings were designed to be the beginning of a longer conversation between mayoral candidates and independents in order to provide independents insight into the candidates views and thinking on issues of electoral reform, and to build relationships between candidates and independents here in Georgia as well as with the larger national independent movement.
While a GIV endorsement may yet come as a part of this process, none has yet been made. GIV’s focus at this time is to reach out to the candidates to organize a public forum allowing us to broaden this new conversation. In addition to our planned forum, we will shortly be posting portions of candidates’ responses to the GIV questionnaire sent out as the first step in the screening process. Please stay tuned here for announcements on upcoming details on our public forum.
In “How The Independent Movement Went Left By Going Right” Jacqueline Salit (political director of IndependentVoting.org and executive editor of The NeoIndependent) paints a vivid picture of a fluid but pivotal movement that broke into the mainstream in 1992 in the explosive center-right campaign of Ross Perot.
In her dual roles of political player and analyst, she documents its evolution over the next 16 years into a center-left, multi-racial movement that changed the rules of engagement in 2008. This movement powered Obama’s upset victory in the Democratic primaries against the Clinton old guard and cemented the majority coalition that carried him to victory in the November general election.
In the course of the 64-minute presentation, Salit introduces a fascinating cast of characters – political figures ranging from the famous, to the infamous, to the little known – who played key roles in the independents’ saga. They include: Mike Bloomberg, Pat Buchanan, Hillary Clinton, Lenora Fulani, Jack Gargan, Wayne Griffin, Larry King, Dennis Kucinich, John McCain, Jim Mangia, Chris Matthews, Ralph Nader, Fred Newman, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Ross Perot, Larry Reinsch, Nick Sabatine, Cathy Stewart, and Jesse Ventura, among others.
The showing is free. Please feel free to RSVP on our Facebook page.
Last week, Atlanta mayoral candidates lined up to be screened by two groups representing independent voters in Georgia in the hopes of winning the coveted endorsement of what is considered a crucial swing vote.
Sessions were held on July 8th and July 11th during which candidates met individually with independent activists from Georgia Independent Voters and iMove to discuss the concerns of independent voters around the city and state. Those who attended were City Council President Lisa Borders, State Senator Kasim Reed, political newcomer Duvwon Robinson, Attorney Jesse Spikes, Former City Manager Glenn Thomas, former Atlanta police officer Peter Brownlowe, and City Councilperson Mary Norwood.
“It is clear to everyone that independents are having a critical impact on political races,” said Murray Dabby, a co-founder of Georgia Independent Voters. “We’ve been building a network among independents and are gratified to see that many of the candidates have expressed interest in learning more about what concerns independents around the city and state.”
Georgia Independent Voters and IMove, who have worked together on many independent initiatives, joined forces last fall after the presidential election, to screen the numerous candidates running for Mayor of Atlanta. The screening committee sent a questionnaire to all of the candidates. The 12-part questionnaire probes candidate sensibilities on the subject of political reform, a key concern for independents. Nine candidates returned a completed questionnaire.
The Atlanta mayoral race is a nonpartisan contest. Independent voters will review the candidates’ responses and may decide to endorse one or more of the candidates. The groups also plan to post candidates’ responses to the questionnaire and the screening on their website and other forums.
“We look forward to working with the candidates who are interested in opening the political process to more voices,” said Audrey Mowdy, co-founder of iMove. “We feel the only way to really ensure that government is able to address issues that concern all of us — such as homelessness, economic development and poverty — is to ensure as many voices are included in the process as possible.”
A Pew poll released on May 21, 2009 titled “Independents Take Center Stage in Obama Era: Trends in Political Values and Core Attitudes: 1987-2009″ shows independents at their highest level in 70 years. Most notably, independents rose in the post election period of Dec ‘09 to April ‘09 from 30% of the electorate to 39%. The strategy center, Independentvoting.org has written extensively about how independents played a decisive role in the outcome of the presidential elections.
Georgia Independent Voters and iMove are grassroots organizations working to reform the political process and develop the voice of independent voters around Georgia.
Georgia independents will be meeting on March 15th at 6:30PM to participate in a national conference call of independent voters, and to discuss our activities here in Atlanta and Georgia.
The national conference call will be led by Jackie Salit, President of Independentvoting.org. Jackie will be discussing “CHANGING THE RULES OF THE GAME: THE INDEPENDENTS’ POLITICAL STIMULUS PACKAGE.” As always, the discussion will be stimulating and support the work of independents around the country.
Afterwards, we will talk about the developments in Atlanta’s political races, and update those who are interested on the Independent Conference in NYC in January (there are CSPAN clips in interested).
Independents are welcome to attend – we look forward to seeing you. Please leave a note on this thread if you plan to attend. The gathering will be On Sunday evening, March 15th at 6:30PM until 8:45, at the the home of Murray Dabby, 2964 Whitby Drive, Doraville, GA 30340.
On Thursday, February 12th at 9:00 PM (EST), independent activist and President of the Committee for a Unified Independent Party, Inc. (CUIP)Jacqueline Salit will be participating in a live Webcast from the American Citizens’ Summit, which is taking place over the next five days in Denver Colorado.
The American Citizens’ Summit is an innovative town hall meeting convened by the Transpartisan Alliance, an informal network facilitating conversation among individuals and organizations from all political points of view.
CUIP activists Esteli Pacio-Manzano and Nancy Ross are attending the conference in person and tomorrow night at 9:00 PM (EST), Jackie Salit will be participating via Webcast in the organization’s Cabinet Meeting along with Ron Paul, Grover Norquist, Michael Ostrolenk, Cynthia McKinney, Steve Bhaerman and Barbara Marx Hubbard.
Al Bartell, an independent candidate in the 2009 race for president of the Atlanta City Council in Atlanta, is also active as a part of the growing nationwide independent movement. Al sat with members of Georgia Independent Voters in December of 2008 to discuss his perspective on politics, from an independent viewpoint, in Georgia, the South and the US. The below is the first in a series of excerpts from this interview that GIV will be presenting over the coming weeks.
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Interviewer: “We have a mayoral campaign coming up in 2009, so, let’s get into the guts of Atlanta politics for a minute. It would be helpful to understand the heritage and history of our current situation as you see it. Shirley Franklin and Kasim Reed seem to be major players right now. Where do they come from, what are their connections with one another? What is the history here?”
Al: “Historically speaking, deep southern urban politics in particular – and to an extent suburban and rural but definitely urban – has been driven by what’s called charismatic leadership, which in the South means you were involved in the civil rights movement in some way. In the City of Atlanta in particular, you have two major figures who have been mayor in the recent past, Mayor Andrew Young and Mayor Maynard Holbrook Jackson. The administrator for the entire city under both those administrations was our current mayor, Shirley Franklin. So, when Bill Campbell ran for Mayor, at the end of Jackson’s tenure, there was also a chairperson of the Fulton County Commission, whose name was Michael Lomax. Former mayor and the mayor at that time, Mayor Maynard Jackson, endorsed the city council member who managed his legislative agenda named Bill Campbell. Former Ambassador, former Congressperson, former civil rights leader at large, Andrew Young picked and endorsed Michael Lomax and the two of them went at it ferociously, and Bill Campbell won.
“So Bill Campbell is mayor – and into the second term ran into major problems – major problems with the city budget and everything. The question was, “who’s going to be mayor?” The business community said, “the guy who’s been carrying our water” – a guy named Robb Pitts. The activist community said “the person who’s been carrying our water”, council member Gloria Tinubu. Maynard Jackson and Andrew Young went to Shirley Franklin and said, “It’s time for you to run for mayor.” At that time, she was working for Tom Cousins, a major developer for commercial and private property in the metropolitan area. So you have the business community, the mayor-for-life Maynard Jackson and at that time key person on the Democratic Committee, and a candidate for the Chairman of the Democratic Party nationally, as well as Andrew Young all saying, “Shirley Franklin, we want you to run for mayor.” Who did they pick as her local campaign manager? A young state representative named Kasim Reed.
“So Shirley Franklin wins as mayor, Kasim Reed announces that he’s not going to run for state rep anymore, he’s going to run for state senator and he runs for state senator. Two years pass, Shirley Franklin runs for reelection, who’s the campaign manager? Newly-elected State Senator Kasim Reed. So Shirley Franklin gets to be treasurer of the Democratic Party, and Kasim Reed gets to be Vice Chairperson of the Black Democratic Caucus. Shirley Franklin gets to be co-chairperson of the Democratic Convention, and Kasim Reed gets to be Legislative Liaison for the Obama campaign in Georgia. Then he announces that he’s going to run for mayor.
“A year before that of course, you remember Former Mayor Jackson died of a heart attack as he was going to Washington DC to take on being the Chairperson of the Democratic Party nationally. So that’s what’s now playing out in the mayoral election in the City of Atlanta, Georgia. A similar phenomenon is happening in Washington DC, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Baltimore. Now that the Democratic Party is in control of the US House, the US Senate and the Presidency, these same people at the local level who were mayors and members of the city council and county commissioners – the people who were thinking about running campaigns against them are now being with labeled “you’re running against President Obama, how can you do such a thing.” So ironically, Obama’s success has resulted in less dialogue within the Democratic Party rather than more. The only other place that can provide another opportunity for dialogue I think is the independent movement, and we are clear that one of the things that the Democratic Party is not interested in is expanding and growing the independent movement.”
