People seem to be enjoying the New York State politics posts more than I expected. I think Assembly candidate Chris Higgins has done a great job with the questions, I’ve asked, so if you care to, throw a few ameros his way.
Here’s what he wrote when I asked about divisions within the New York State Democratic party (my view is that Democrats will eventually dominate state politics, so what really matters in the big picture is what direction the party goes in). After the dotted line
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The democratic party has traditionally been a loose coalition of very diverse interests in this State. To illustrate this point one need only look to the variety of caucuses within the party such as the democratic rural conference (“DRC”), NYS Black and Puerto Rican caucus, LGBT caucus, and perhaps the most explicit division of all, the upstate and downstate caucuses.
Each caucus serves an important interest and advocates for a core constituency, whether it be people of color, farmers, or those living in urban centers. In the Assembly, I think the caucus system within the democratic majority helps drive agendas that may otherwise get ignored. This year, for example we witnessed the governor skillfully get votes for his pension reform plan, which was wildly unpopular with the unions, by also including within the package an expanded summer youth employment program for urban areas which helped get votes from minority members and downstate legislators for the plan. Thus, while this legislation upset a core democratic constituency, at the same time it also advanced a critical program for a historically under served community.
Each caucus tends to be concerned with different issues that are important to its specific legislative agenda. It is an interesting system that helps illustrate how diverse the democratic party truly is. Unfortunately the Republicans have used the argument that Democrats only care about downstate to their advantage in the past and that messaging technique has, to a degree, been successful in the media. Now, undoubtedly there are some issues that fall along such regional divide: hydrofracking and rural broadband access among them; however, there are no intractable divisions that cannot be overcome by a group of determined legislators. Interestingly enough, I think that the main issue in the upstate/downstate divide is economic development. Upstate New York’s economic troubles have long been documented. What is also true is that upstate New York has long been controlled by Republicans at both the county and state level. So although there are some contentious issues along the regional divide, I believe the solution is more Democratic governance.
I think its important to emphasize that, although there are intra-party divisions, at the end of the day, we are all Democrats: we all believe that government is a means towards achieving social justice. For example, state Democrats overwhelmingly supported a rise in the state’s minimum wage, which was killed by the Republican Senate. Thus, while various caucuses may pursue differing agendas I think that the intraparty divisions are much less significant than those that arise between the parties. We operate within the political constraints of having a Republican veto over progressive legislation and thus we must sometimes advance the causes of some allies to the detriment of others. What we must ultimately do then, is elect more progressive Democrats.
c u n d gulag
Yesterday, I got a call from a polling outfit asking questions about the race for Assembly from Southern Dutchess County of NY.
It was a 20 minute poll.
I’ve done that type of polling before, at a call center that does polling the vast majority of the time for the Republican Party, or for companies.
The polling questions that were asked, led me to believe that they were paid for the Paul Curran campaign, a Democrat.
The outfit I worked with never did a poll for a D on a night or weekend that I worked.
I asked for a leave when my 84 year-old father got ill a couple of years ago, and he needed surgery. And later found out they won’t rehire me again, even though I gave them some notice. But not enough notice – sorry, he needed the operation in a week. What was I supposed to do? Work for two?
At the end of the survey, I asked the young lady where the call center was, hoping it was nearby, and that I might look for some work there.
So, I asked where their call center was?
Utah.
Why can’t a NY Democratic candidate find a call center in NY?
Probably money.
I’ll still vote for him.
But this was a major turn-off.
DougJ
@c u n d gulag:
Interesting story.
dr. bloor
Pension “reform” in exchange for a summer jobs program that will get hacked off at the knees when money is tight again during the next budget cycle? I hope the downstate legislators got some magic beans in the deal, too.
DMcK
I guess it’s just my provincial NYC ignorance, but I’m a little surprised that fracking is mentioned as a clear point of division between upstate and downstate Democratic caucuses. Are there Dem legislators up there that actually support it?
DougJ
@DMcK:
There are some, I think.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
As an upstater, the conclusion that the Republican dominated areas are the most economically depressed couldn’t be more apparent. Its impossible to get the true believers to look at there present condition so objectively, and change their voting behavior. The real problem, according to them, is that the true conservatives don’t get elected. Their belief in purity is second only to communists.
Mino
@dr. bloor: Divide and divest. Dems do it too. Or at least Cuomo-type.
Where does the Workers Party fit into this