Democrats generally win local elections in NYC other than the mayoral level, so Democratic primaries usually decide who wins local city council races.
Since Democratic primaries have more liberal people voting than the general election overall, the primaries are good vehicles for progressives to win.
Shift the deciding election from the primary to the general election-- where Republicans can vote to support conservative Democrats-- and you will end up with a less progressive city council.
-- Nathan
----- Original Message ----- From: "Wojtek Sokolowski" <sokol at jhu.edu>
Can anyone explain why exactly the nonpartisan primaries favor Repugs over Democrats?
Wojtek
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Nation Magazine [mailto:emailnation at thenation.com]
> Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2003 4:31 PM
> To: The Nation Magazine
> Subject: Help Defeat Question 3
>
> Dear EmailNation Subscriber,
>
> On November 4, New York City is being asked to decide Question 3, a
> deceptively simple change to the city's charter that would eliminate
the
> role of political parties in nominating candidates through primaries
and
> instead adopt a "unitary ballot" listing all the people running for
each
> office, followed by a runoff for the top two vote-getters.
>
> The real question is: Should America's richest politician, Mayor
Michael
> Bloomberg, be able to buy a change that will end up enhancing the
> prospects of other wealthy or famous candidates like himself while
doing
> nothing to improve voter education, turnout, ballot access or genuine
> debate?
>
> For more on why a victory for Question 3 would be a defeat for
democracy,
> see "Bloomberg's Bad Idea," from the November 17, 2003 issue of The
> Nation.
> http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20031117&s=editors3
>
> The Working Families Party has put together a valuable website showing
how
> and why Question 3 so decisively benefits the wealthy and suggesting
ways
> you can help organize its defeat.
>
> To Help: http://www.TheMayorsLatestBadIdea.com
>
> And check out Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel's weblog Editor's
Cut to
> read a version of recent remarks by New York State Senator Eric
> Schneiderman surveying fifty years of historical research
demonstrating
> that "nonpartisan" elections favor the elite, the wealthy and the
> Republican Party.
>
> Vote No to "Nonpartisan" Elections
> Editor's Cut by Katrina vanden Heuvel
> http://www.thenation.com/edcut/index.mhtml?bid=7
>
> Finally, please visit http://www.thenation.com for new weblogs, online
> reports, reviews, activist campaigns, reader letters, book info and
alerts
> on Nation events.
>
> Best Regards,
> Peter Rothberg, The Nation
>
> P.S. If you like what you read on our site, please consider our
special
> subscription offer--only $29.97 for 47 weekly issues of The Nation
> magazine--in both print and on the web! It's the ONLY way to read all
of
> what's in The Nation week after week.
>
> This special offer available at:
> https://ssl.thenation.com/sumo/barnoauto
>
>
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
> You are currently subscribed to emailnation as: sokol at jhu.edu
>
> You shouldn't be on this list if you didn't sign up. If you want to
stop receiving
> EmailNation, replying to this e-mail will not work. To unsubscribe,
send a blank email to
> the following address:
>
> leave-emailnation-49253I at nationmag.sparklist.com
___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk