On April 9, the New York city Libertarian Party held a nominating convention, and nominated Joe Lhota for Mayor and Kristin Davis for Comptroller. However, Lhota (who does favor decriminalizing marijuana) then said he would not accept the Libertarian nomination. He is one of the candidates seeking the Republican nomination.
It is alleged that Lhota would not have won the Libertarian nomination, except that 40 newcomers attended the convention and cast votes for him. It is conceivable that the party will now hold a new citywide nominating convention.
I’d be curious why he wouldn’t accept. It’s not uncommon in NY for candidates to try and pick up as many lines as possible. Granted maybe he has another independent body in mind… unless there’s something about the Credico case I’m overlooking. In NY if you’re on more than one independent body they get combined on the ballot. Credico is fighting that.
It would be interesting to know why he wouldn’t accept the line. Does he feel that would alienate the few conservative voters and/or cost him the Conservative line.
Might there have been an IRV/STV vote in which a candidate second choice would move into the first slot?
Since the Libertarian Party fielded a Gubernatorial candidate in NY, even if they didn’t get the ballot access line, the NY Board of Elections is required to keep Enrollee lists. Do they require only enrollees can vote? I’m not sure what the status was of the “newcomers.”
My guess is that it was sabotage – that he had not planned to accept the nomination, packed the convention to secure the nomination, and now has left the LP in the lurch.
Those in the two wings of the Beltway Party who try to claim that the LP is insignificant obvious think the LP -is- significant, or they wouldn’t stoop to lowjinks like this scam.
Jeff D.
@#1 – the press coverage of this issue suggests that Mr Lhota did not want to run on the same ticket as Kristin Davis, a former Madame. Mr Lhota is running as a law and order candidate, and Ms Davis’ record as a felon would hurt that.
@ #2 – that is just simply paranoia. The Libertarian Party in New York is insignificant, and nobody would devote resources just to neutralizing the LP.
Yes, we keep hearing that the LP is “insignificant”, but the supporters of the two Beltway parties keep going to sometimes wild lengths to damage the LP. Calling acknowledgement of that reality “paranoia” is illogical given the history involved.
In this particular case: 40 folks showing up for the sole purpose of nominating a candidate who will then turn down the nomination doesn’t happen spontaneously, unless one wants to credit magic (I tend to reject such mystical speculations).
Jeff
Is there still time for the LP to nominate a replacement candidate?
Randy Credico former NY Libertarian US Senate candidate is running for Mayor in the Democratic Primary. I understand he’d be interested in the Libertarian line and I suspect wouldn’t mind running with Davis at all.
Attractive portion of content. I just stumbled upon your website and in accession capital to assert that I acquire in fact loved account your blog posts. Any way I will be subscribing on your augment or even I fulfillment you get entry to constantly rapidly.
In order to win a mayoral election, a Republican candidate must get a lot of Democratic votes. Accepting the anti-government Libertarian line would be the kiss of death for any Republican mayoral candidate. The idea is to get at least some liberal/moderate liberal Democratic votes as Bloomberg, Giuliani, Lindsay and LaGuardia did.
New York gave about 81% of its votes to Obama. It’s liberal, not libertarian.
Dan Halloran actively sought the Libertarian ballot line for his first run for city council there and won. (his subsequent actions are a different story) Granted that was his neighborhood in Queens and not the whole city, but he shows you can win a NYC election with Libertarian next to your name on the ballot.