Outside of Albany County, most politics in the region are dominated by an entrenched, self-serving Republican power structure, which has long been in the pocket of moneyed special interests.
The difficulty many activists have experienced in attempting to change the political structure is that the cards are overwhelmingly stacked against reform – in many local towns Democratic candidates are almost never on the ballot, which in effect forces people to register Republican to have any form of influence on local governmental affairs. In some places, people still won’t get hired (both in the public and private sector) by registering under any banner other than the Republican label.
Unfortunately, repeated attempts to strengthen and restructure the region’s Democratic organizations have often floundered; many local Democratic committees have long been controlled by ex-Republican operatives who have frequently made agreements with GOP officials against contesting certain offices. (Of course, these “operatives” have never been fond of the “progressives” or the “DFA types.”)
In essence, what we’re currently dealing with is a rigged system designed to guarantee that Republicans will continue to retain power over the region’s local governments year after year, regardless of the current state/or reputation of the local and national parties in the minds of area voters. After all, how can you work to change a system when there is never any true opposition to the establishment? For instance, in Washington County on the Vermont border, the Democrats are only contesting 27 of over 100 offices this Fall, and only 3 of the 20 Board of Supervisor positions. In neighboring Warren County, less than 10% of Republican officeholders will receive challenges by Democratic candidates. In Saratoga County, where the Republican-dominated county government recently passed through an obscene corporate welfare handout, less than half of officeholders will be challenged this November.
One obstacle that has long hindered attempts to revive the Democratic Party throughout this region is the fact that it is difficult to find candidates to run for local office with a lack of Democratic registered voters, and it is difficult to persuade people to register Democratic without candidates bearing the party label on the ballot on a regular, consistent basis.
An idea which crossed my mind was to start a large, internet-based voter registration drive with advertisements on well-known area political blogs, including The Albany Project. The initiative would be non-partisan in practice and attempt to add up to 5,000 to 10,000 new progressive voters onto the voter rolls (Democrats, Greens, Liberals, and Working Families members) in Saratoga, Warren, Washington, and Essex Counties in Eastern Upstate New York in order to help counterweigh the area’s traditionally strong Republican registration advantage. While any attempts to cut into the GOP’s edge will likely be too late for the upcoming local elections this November, the addition of a few thousand additional Democrats and Working Families members could make the difference whether Kirsten Gillibrand gets a second term or not in 2008.
With an increase in Democrats and Working Families members, a long-term domino effect will likely occur – it will become easier to find Democrats to run for local office, and as more Democrats continue to run for municipal and county positions, more and more people will likely be willing to register under the “blue” party label than ever before.
Perhaps the largest change, beneficiary to liberals and conservatives alike, is the advantage of finally having a competitive, two-party local political structure instead of the current system of one-party non-competitive elections where all county, local, and state legislative officeholders are united under one party label.
Let’s finally work to rid this region of an entreched system of corruption, cronyism, patronage, and nepotism.