Breitbart.com has posted several reports on the upcoming election for New York City Controller, in which former Governor Elliot Spitzer may be the Democrat nominee, facing former Madam Kristin Davis, the Libertarian nominee.
In the most recent post, Breitbart quotes Ms Davis: “Eliot Spitzer broke state and federal laws in his use of prostitutes and paid no penalty; I broke the law and paid my debt to society,” Davis said in a statement released Monday morning. “There cannot be two standards of justice, one for the average citizen and another for the political and social elite.”
Further, Breitbart quotes Ms Davis on Spitzer’s questionable political past:
“Eliot Spitzer financed his two campaigns for Attorney General with illegal loans from his father, misused state resources to spy on his political opponents in Troopergate, pressured companies to hire his cronies as a conditions of settling charges with the Attorney General’s Office and violated Federal money laundering laws when he sought to hide his use of call-girls,” Ms Davis said…
Davis is running on “Personal Freedom Party” I believe. So if no LP line, PfP!
Steven Wilson @13 wrote:
“Also, having a convention that was deemed illegal due to X makes the organizers seem like amateurs when they call for a reset button.”
To be clear, “the organizers” of the April convention were the Queens LP. Yes, “amateurs,” at best. It was the second NYC LP nominating convention in June, “organized” by members of the Manhattan LP (with the authorization of the LPNY State Committee, in both cases), that pressed “the reset button.”
I think overlooking the X to avoid “seeming like amateurs” would have been the wrong call. There has to be some recourse when a convention goes off the rails. No one suggests the June convention was handled badly.
Gary Donoyan – thanks very much for the corrections to my post!
@20 – Reality Watch – in what way is that? El-Meligy is a principled libertarian and has the actual accounting experience needed for a job like Comptroller. I’d personally say that’s a very relevant candidate for the NY LP to run for that office.
The only thing El-Meligy has slain is the LP’s chance to be relevant.
Maybe LPNY is OK with press for Davis, so when she finally fails to get the LP line (as she will), El-Meligy will have “slain the dragon.” Just a thought.
Jay Leno did a bit on the Spitzer/Davis last night, taking it as a given Davis was in the race; though he did not mention the Libertarian Party.
Too bad the NY LP is too incompetent to make this race a reality.
Another correction:
I mean, the April convention. Sheesh.
Correction:
The NYC LP Convention of 11 June did not find that “many of the voters at” the May convention were not properly credentialed; it found that NONE of the delegates at that convention had been properly credentialed, there having been no Credentials Committee, or credentialing process, at all.
Steven Berson @8 wrote:
“The NY LP Excecutive Committee declared the results of the 1st nominating Convention held in April which had nominated Kristin Davis for Comptroller were void due to many of the voters at that convention not being properly credentialed.”
It was actually the 2nd NYC LP nominating convention, called by the LPNY State Committee and held 11 June, that made that “declaration.”
Then it endorsed:
Michael Sanchez for NYC Mayor
Hesham El-Meligy for NYC Comptroller
and created a Committee on Endorsements.
Later, the Committee on Endorsements endorsed:
Alex Merced for NYC Public Advocate
Just for the record. Yes, the LP could do better with its press outreach.
@ 13 I agree!
@11
Video conferencing or Skype voting would work if the process of credentials was dealt with prior to the vote. Maybe a State chair certificate or county chair codifier.
It has been my experience that getting people active needs a personalized touch. If you have “gamers” then let them use their game. If you have internet warriors, then let them use their internet.
Conventional or traditional meetings like this have always been an issue. “Outing” someone as a Libertarian carries a stigma some would rather avoid.
Also, having a convention that was deemed illegal due to X makes the organizers seem like amateurs when they call for a reset button.
@11 It was a convention.
The NY LP “primary” consisted of 19 delegates?
We seriously have to come up with some way to engage more members/registered LP members.
Mail ballots? Proxies?
Spitzer vs Davis
Bring on the popcorn!
I think the NY LP needs to get a press release made asap regarding the changes in the LP nominations for Mayor (originally given to Republican Joe Lhota – who declined it – now given to Libertarian Michael Sanchez) – and Comptroller –
as it seems the press aside from IPR is not aware of this development at all.
The NY LP Excecutive Committee declared the results of the 1st nominating Convention held in April which had nominated Kristin Davis for Comptroller were void due to many of the voters at that convention not being properly credentialed.
The 2nd Convention held in June (for which Kristin Davis was not in attendance but where she was indeed placed in the running again) nominated Hesham El-Meligy by over 2/3rd majority of the 19 voting NY LP members who were there.
El-Meligy’s official campaign Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hesham-El-Meligy/170781013093976
A video of El-Meligy announcing his candidacy in front of City Hall on the 4th of July is at http://youtu.be/ICiwoNyBwnQ
Based on a post by Roger Stone on the Libertarian Party of Florida Facebook Group Page it seems that he might possibly take the NY LP to court over this change.
I strongly believe Kristin Davis will still proceed with petitioning to get on the ballot for Comptroller regardless of whether she ends up with the LP nomination – and believe that she will be successful in getting on the ballot.
My heart goes out to Ms. Davis for her unjust and arbitrary punishment for an illegitimate malum prohibitum. (If you’re philosophically-inclined, I apologize for the redundancy.)
I hope Davis gets the LP nomination, and makes Spitzer look like the pond scum he is. If she wins, that would be one small step toward equality under the law, in spite of whatever crowd of bleating sheep Spitzer rallies in his defense.
Let’s hope he isn’t able to drown Davis out with his proletarian message of “four legs good, two legs better!”
I also think it would be useful for libertarians to engage politicians with “meme-card” arguments from Orwell’s animal farm, since many Americans have read it. For instance, when denying that politicians have benefited from government force, someone could hold up a plackard that reads:
“Comrades!” he cried. “You do not imagine, I hope, that we pigs are doing this in the spirit of selfishness and privilege? Many of us dislike milk and apples. I dislike them myself.”
-Squealer, “Animal Farm,” page 42
I believe such mockery is a good way of calling humorous attention to pig-like (sociopathic) behavior in any bureaucracy. And everybody likes to laugh more than they like to get angry.
We libertarians should try harder to make evil appear to be laughably stupid, to the point that people no longer associate themselves with it.
The emperor is naked!
Yeah, that would be pretty cool if she got on the ballot for that race; it should make things ‘interesting’ for Spitzer
What an awesome debate this will be. So Eliot why do you leave your socks on during sexual intercourse? Eliot to Ms Davis ” shut-up! ” LOL.
Kristin Davis would like to be the Libertarian Party nominee and is working toward that goal.
Deran is correct. It was my mistake referring to Ms Davis as the Libertarian nominee. Breitbart refers to her as a “libertarian candidate” and I did not check on that.
According the NY LP website, the nominee for New York City Controller is Hesham El-Meligy.
Indeed, he is the only New York City candidate listed on the New York (State) LP website, but no link to a campaign website is given.
Is Ms. Keistin the Libertarian Party candidate for NYC Comptroller? I thought the attempted Stevens’ putsch had been rebuffed in the NYC LP? And I thought that Davis is now NYC Comptroller candidate for the Personal Freedom Party?
This could be funny but may backfire as far as the LP is concerned. I say “who cares”? Let the flame war begin! Since most voters don’t take the LP seriously anyway this is just a great way to make Spitzer look like the shitbag he is.