On March 18, a registered Green Party member, David Doonan, was elected Mayor of Greenwich (a village in Washington County, New York). The election was partisan. Doonan’s party label was “Open Government Party”. His only opponent was a Republican. The vote was 258 to 93. Doonan is the national web manager for the Green Party.
See, this is building a candidate that can one day get elected to state leg and US congress. Or that’s the theory, eh? Of course, if they then go and become Nader’s VP, well, there you have it.
Not likely he would ever get elected to Congress as a 3rd party candidate, especially in New York. Nice slam on Ralph Nader’s strategy, though. Not.
My question is why he made up a party name (or created a new party) instead of simply running as the Green Party candidate? If his goal is to build the Green Party, how does one do that by avoiding that party and its name?
The Open Government Party wasn’t just a vehicle for him. It was a true local party that also elected its candidates for Village Trustee. The other members of the Open Government slate aren’t Greens.
In many New York villages, there is a tradition of candidates declining to run on the ballot lines of established parties and instead creating temporary local slate “parties.”
So, for example, Noonan’s opponent was the candidate of the “Village” slate. When Jason West was elected mayor of New Paltz in 2003, he ran on the “Innovation” slate against the candidates of the “Village,” “Community,” and “Environmental” slates. And so on.
Interesting. I grew up in nearby Connecticut and was never aware of this. So Jason West, who is constantly hailed as an elected Green Party mayor (and even self-identifies as such) is really an elected “Innovation Party” mayor? Did the residents of New Paltz know of his GP affiliation when he ran?