Westchester businessman and community volunteer John Verni recently wrote a piece titled “Is It Time For a Real Third Party?” that we agree with and deserves your attention:
“We all know the problem. Our politics are broken. We have become more divided than ever. We have become too tribal in our politics. You are either Democrat or Republican, Red State or Blue State, pro-Trump or part of the resistance. Civil discourse is gone. Compromise is viewed as weakness. Common cause has given way to self-interest.
Like many of you, I am looking for a better way. A call to our “higher angels,” as Abraham Lincoln once said. For those of you who have read my blog, you know I have left the Republican Party and have gone independent. In the last presidential election, my vote was for “neither.” I have been in the wilderness looking for a new path. (How is that for hyper-linking to my past blogs?
Here in New York, we have an Election Day coming soon and we don’t have much of a choice. But we do have an opportunity to send a message. Andrew Cuomo came to office on the promise on cleaning up corruption and fighting the special interests. Instead, Cuomo shut down the Moreland Commission and it’s back to business as usual in Albany. It is as corrupt as ever and the status quo is “pay to play.”
Predictably, the Cuomo campaign millions have painted the Republican candidate, Marc Molinaro, as a mini-Trump, which by the way he is not, but in the age of anti-Trump in New York being the “new black,” that is enough to scare money away from his campaign and prevent this from being an election about the issues.
So Cuomo will sail to re-election. You don’t have much of a choice – but you can send a message that things have to change. A Democratic mayor and a Republican mayor have joined together to run on a new third-party line – the Serve America Party, or SAM. No red party or blue party, just public servants looking to solve problems and serve the people.
Stephanie Miner was the two-term Mayor of Syracuse. She was an effective mayor in a city with challenges. She was also a rising star in the Democratic Party in New York State and the one-time chairwoman of the Democratic Party. But Stephanie knew something was wrong with the politics in our state. As she describes it, “It was time to audaciously step away from politics as usual.” Stephanie decided to run as an independent under the SAM party banner.
Mike Volpe is the two-term mayor of Pelham. Mike works in the city by day as a labor lawyer and serves his village in his free time as the mayor. Mike takes no salary as the mayor of his village, returning his salary to the betterment of his community. He was elected as a Republican as mayor of the Village of Pelham but is running for lieutenant governor with Stephanie Miner as part of the Serve America Movement.
As they did as mayors, Stephanie Miner and Mike Volpe are looking to bring people together to solve real problems in real people’s lives – addressing things like infrastructure, reforms in education, and fixing the MTA so we can get to work on time. You can find out more about Stephanie Miner, Mike Volpe, SAM and their campaign for New York at MinerforNY.com.
Some may say “you are throwing your vote away.” You are not throwing your vote away. You will send a message. If SAM receives 50,000 votes statewide, this new, non-partisan third party will be on the ballot for the next four years. I would argue that voting for anyone other than the SAM candidates is throwing your vote away,” writes Verni
We agree with Verni that it is time for the 40% of Independent minded voters to have another choice when they cast their vote. Stephanie Miner and her Westchester running mate Mike Vople, give us that choice to try and change some of the dysfunction in Albany. We endorse Stephanie Miner for Governor of NY.
