In order to change political party enrollment, one must fill
out a new voter registration form. Last week, I called
800-FOR-VOTE and ordered a form. When it arrives, I will be
registering as a Conservative. I have no idea why it took me so
long, because I've been feeling "disenfranchised" -
that term the Democrats like to toss around - since 2003.That's
when I first discovered that in New York, the GOP rivals the
Democratic Party when it comes to clubhouse maneuvers. It took
the ham-handed antics of the party chairman, Stephen Minarik, to
push me over the edge and out of his party.
In 2006, we will be electing a new governor and a U.S. senator
and we the people will have absolutely nothing to say about
choosing which candidates best represent our interests. The state
party leaders, led by Mr. Minarik, will be pushing a former
Massachusetts governor, William Weld, as their preferred nominee.
Originally, Mr. Minarik had scheduled a meeting on December 12
for the bigwigs of the party to officially endorse their
gubernatorial and senatorial candidates. Adverse criticism of
this highhandedness may alter the timing of that meeting, to
which we the people were not invited. Yoo-hoo, Albany, does the
word "primary" mean anything up there?
I spoke to the chairman of the New York State Conservative Party,
Michael Long, to get his thoughts on the status of the Grand Old
Party in the Empire State. He said: "I think the state GOP
is headed in the wrong direction. They are seeking to anoint
William Weld, who is not a Reagan Republican, as their candidate.
This is not giving the grassroots of the party an opportunity to
get involved. By issuing a mandate, they are not allowing the
process to work. Instead, the party is catering to special
interests. Those candidates who are up to the task of running for
office should be out there talking about the issues and creating
a broader basis against the opposition."
In 2003, I interviewed Michael Benjamin, one of the individuals
who felt up to the task of running against Senator Schumer in
2004.The young conservative had canvassed all the counties to
build support and garnered promises of endorsements from upstate
county leaders. Mr. Benjamin claimed during a press conference
months later that the Schoharie County GOP offered him an
unsolicited, unanimous endorsement, but that before it could be
made public the party bosses in Albany forced them to rescind the
endorsement. Mr. Benjamin was not the man party leaders wanted to
run against Mr. Schumer. And why not?, you may ask. Could Mr.
Benjamin have done any worse than Howard Mills, a moderate the
party endorsed so late that he ran on a pittance against Mr.
Schumer's multimillion-dollar campaign?
Before the Howard Mills debacle, there was the Dora Irizarry run
for attorney general, another anemic attempt by Albany to
power-broker the election process. Now we come to the crucial
2006 campaign against Senator Clinton, and the egg is already
smeared on the faces of Governor Pataki and Mr. Minarik for
pushing Jeanine Pirro into that race and forcing out the credible
Ed Cox.
Another principled conservative willing to enter the fray, John
Spencer, a former mayor of Yonkers, is digging in his heels and
raking up endorsements every week as Ms. Pirro stumbles along as
a not-ready-for primetime candidate.
I was delighted to read that Georgette Mosbacher, who as a former
co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee's Finance
Committee is one of the most loyal Republican contributors, is
just as frustrated as I am with the New York GOP. She has
announced that she will close her checkbook to the party next
year.
Ms. Mosbacher, who is CEO of the international cosmetics firm
Borghese, said, "Our New York party leaders have tried to be
everything to everybody, and what's now happened to us is that
we've become nothing to everyone." Hear, hear, Georgette.
Now the feckless party leaders are trying to convince Ms. Pirro
to run for state attorney general. I hope she does. Even though I
have pushed for the incorruptible Staten Island district
attorney, Daniel Donovan, to pursue that spot, part of me hopes
he resists until the corrupting influences in Albany have faded
away.
Some may ask why I'm not switching to the Independent Party, as
many journalists do, but that's just a pretext for
fence-straddling. I doubt my switch to the Conservative Party
will elicit trembling in the GOP, but may I point out that my
spouse, my six children, and their spouses are Republicans who
might follow my lead?
I've ordered extra forms.