By Dan Murphy
According to enrollment numbers from the New York State Board of Elections, as of February, there were 310,000 registered democrats, 134,000 registered republicans, 23,000 registered Independence Party members and 149,000 voters not registered to any party here in Westchester County.
The Westchester voters not registered to any party are true independents, who cannot vote in a primary. For the 23,000 registered Independence Party voters, most have been duped into thinking they are also independent voters, when in reality they are registered to a party that has been anything but “independent” for the past 20 years.
Over the past two decades, Dr. Guilio Cavallo served as the chairman of the Westchester Independence Party, and wielded his power to gain political power and patronage jobs for himself and leaders of the party. In a close election, and especially for republican political candidates in Westchester, getting the endorsement and party line from the Independence Party was the difference between winning and losing an election in Westchester County.
Recently, Cavallo and the Independence Party have been endorsing democratic candidates and have followed the pattern of democratic electoral victories in Westchester. Most voters in Westchester don’t know that Cavallo stepped down as the Westchester Independence Party chairman last year, and currently there is no chairman; the party is run by a leader who lives in Dutchess County.
This reporter has been searching for an “independent” party for several election cycles. I was registered to the Independence Party and tried to get the party to endorse at least a few truly independent candidates, neither a democratic or republican, but to no avail.
In 2018, a new party formed in New York State called the Serve America Movement, and ran a candidate for governor and lieutenant governor. Democrat Stephanie Minor, the former mayor of Syracuse, ran as SAM’s candidate for governor; and Pelham Village Mayor Mike Volpe, a republican, ran as SAM’s candidate for lieutenant governor.
I was intrigued by this show of bipartisanship and our newspapers endorsed their candidacies. And while Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo easily won re-election last year, the SAM party received 51,367 votes, crossing the important 50,000-vote threshold that means SAM will be on the ballot for the next four years.
The goal of SAM is to attract centrist voters from both parties and to try and avoid the divisive political differences we now see in our country between democrats and republicans.
The party’s priorities include rooting out political corruption, addressing income inequality, innovating health care, improving the education system, remaining fiscally responsible, promoting diversity, embracing free markets, providing simple and fair taxes, supporting liberal democracy domestically and internationally, undertaking criminal justice reform, pursuing electoral reform (including repealing sore-loser laws) and rejecting isolationism.
The first SAM state party is here in New York, and in Westchester, it is actively interviewing and seeking candidates to run on its party line in November.
The chairman of SAM-NY here in Westchester is John Verni, a longtime community leader, businessman and a voice of reason. “SAM-NY is building momentum for a new majority that feel somewhere between socialism on the left and nationalism on the right,” he said. “The large majority of Americans want to see their elected officials serve the public rather than themselves and solve problems that affect their everyday lives.
“In Westchester, SAM has been interviewing candidates for a variety of offices including candidates running for mayor, supervisor, Town Board, village trustee, town clerk, county legislator, town judge, City Court judge, County Court judge and justices of the Ninth Judicial District. We have interviewed as many women as men interested in running on the SAM line and almost an equal number of Democrats, Republicans and independent candidates,” said Chairman Verni.
SAM’s website. Joinsam.org, lays out some of its core principles and the reasons it was created in 2017, stating: “The mainstream political parties only care about money and power. So a new majority must write America’s next chapter,” and “We’re creating the new political party for the millions of Americans who feel betrayed by their tribes and are brave enough to build something better.”
Another one of SAM’s goals is to break the two-party system that many of us view as broken in Washington, D.C., and locally. Polling shows that 61 percent of Americans support the idea of a new political party; 41 percent of Americans identify themselves as independents, and more than two-thirds of Americans feel they have no say in their government and believe our current political leaders are only interested in preserving their political power privilege.
SAM is now working in all 50 states, but here in New York, SAM it the first party to get and stay on the ballot.
The SAM Party of New York is the newest official political party in the state, and is working locally, starting in communities across all regions of New York to build an inclusive movement that emphasizes results over rhetoric. SAM’s goal is to put partisanship aside, listen to residents, and address the everyday problems we face without pitting one part of the state against another.
The state SAM chairman is Pelham Mayor Mike Volpe. “For too long, democracy in New York has been limited to two parties that force candidates into partisan camps that divide our communities and our state,” said Volpe, who added that SAM-NY is looking for candidates with positive, inclusive messages, and with common-sense policies that bring people together. “We look forward to having more candidates supporting these same high ideals on the SAM line in the future,” he said.
Voters interested in a new approach to solving problems can change their registration at the elections office or any state agency participating in the National Voter Registration Act, and enroll in the SAM Party of New York. For more information, visit www.joinsamny.org.
Voters interested in a new approach to solving problems can change their registration at the elections office or any state agency participating in the National Voter Registration Act, and enroll in the SAM Party of New York. For more information, visit www.joinsamny.org.
