From the Wall Street Journal:
… Read more ...The new ethics law being touted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo parcels equal roles to Democrats and Republicans in investigating lawmakers of both parties suspected of questionable conduct. What about independents?
“They don’t exist,” Mr. Cuomo said at a recent news conference, at which point he and legislative leaders standing beside him broke into a hearty laugh.
Via TPID, findings from a new Reason-Rupe poll, as described at Reason:
… Read more ...With the 2012 election season ramping up, frustrated voters appear ready to look beyond Democratic and Republican candidates. Eighty percent say they will or may consider voting for a third-party or independent presidential candidate in 2012. And an even higher number of independents (89 percent) and GOP voters (86 percent) say they will or may consider candidates outside of the two major political parties.
… Read more ...Bidding opened early last Friday on an eBay auction for Utah State Sen. Jerry Stevenson. The seller was Randy Miller, founder and president of the Utah League of Independent Voters. Judging from the original listing, which has since been deleted by eBay, Miller was not confident that he would find a buyer.
Colorado Libertarians are among the most vocal proponents of approval and score voting in the United States. At the Blue Carp blog, David K. Williams, Jr., the State Chairman for the Libertarian Party of Colorado, often advocates the implementation of approval voting as superior to both instant run-off and plurality.
In the last month, some opponents of the freedom of speech and the press in the United States have called for Wikileaks to be designated a foreign terrorist organization while others have gone further and called for the outright assassination of the group’s founder, Julian Assange. A coalition of European Pirate Parties has now released a joint statement condemning threats and violence against the organization’s staff and calling on the leaders of democratic governments to do the same. … Read more ...
In recent weeks there have been growing calls for Independent Senator Bernie Sanders to run for president, but Sanders has stated that he “ain’t gonna do it.” From The Nation:
… Read more ...activists across the country started talking up the notion of a “Sanders for President” run in 2012, either as a dissident Democrat in the primaries or as a left-leaning Independent.
From Third Party and Independent Daily:
… Read more ...The recent Wikileaks diplomatic document dump contains a cable from shortly before Germany’s 2009 general election, articulating worries among US diplomats that the German Free Democratic Party’s strong support for individual data privacy and protections against unreasonable search and seizure might hinder the efforts of the American national security state.
Adapted from Third Party and Independent Daily:
With government officials pushing back against the growing revolt against the Transportation Security Administration’s newest “security” measures, it is worth noting that there is broad political opposition to the false choice between strip search and sexual assault. Full body scanners are notably opposed by Ralph Nader and Matt Drudge, and opposition to the new DHS/TSA procedures has received a significant boost from both Prison Planet and Reddit. … Read more ...
From the New York Observer:
… Read more ...City Council member Charles Barron spoke out against the selection of Cathie Black as the city’s new public schools chancellor at a City Hall press conference this morning, saying that the lack of an open selection process failed the city’s schools and children.
“Mayor Bloomberg, they say insanity is when you do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.
… Read more ...On New York’s general election ballot, 2010, there are at least four candidates in all of the races for statewide offices (excluding elections for the judiciary). However, in the 241 races for US House, State Senate and State Assembly, there are only 39 contests in which there are more than two candidates on the ballot; and there are 37 in which there is only one!
Proponents of third party and independent politics are certainly familiar with the most common arguments against third party and independent political activism forwarded by partisans of the two-party state. Last week at Poli-Tea, I published an article that considered five of these arguments, and provided links to previous posts aimed at their refutation. … Read more ...
In Maine’s gubernatorial race, it appears that Independent candidate Eliot Cutler has all the momentum. Republican front-runner Paul LePage has maintained a weak lead with roughly 33% support in the polls, while support has begun to erode for Democrat Libby Mitchell. But support for Cutler has doubled over the last month, leaving him poised to give LePage a run for his money on election day. … Read more ...