In the oppressive heat of summer in Philadelphia the founding fathers grappled with the process of electing a president. The delegates, the elites of the nation, led by Hamilton and Madison distrusted the artisans and farmers, the common folk, and created the electoral college, intermediaries who could “protect” the nation from “inappropriate” choices.
An unanticipated outcome was “electing” presidents who lost the popular vote and in one case, 1876. outright blatant corruption.
238 years later the same system prevails.
New York City has reformed local governance a number of times and another revision may be on the fall ballot.
A quick review: from Boss Tweed into the 1930s the well-organized Democratic Party dominated elections, From local political clubs to county organizations a citywide patronage system.
The local democratic political clubs, some ethnic, with captains responsible for going house to house to collect required petition signatures and frequently served as an ombudsman to resolve local issues, repairing potholes, etc.
In the 1930s the. reformers prevailed, amended the City Charter (a combination of constitution and hundreds of pages of regulations), and until the late 1940s a proportional representation system elected the Board of Aldermen, now called the City Council with numerous parties, including the American Labor Party and the Communist party who elected representatives.
The McCarthy period resulted in a surge to the right and proportional representation was voted out. Read an excellent article
The 1970 School Decentralization law called for elected school boards with substantial autonomy, election by a proportional representation system.
With the chaotic election of Bloomberg in 2001 the state moved to mayoral control and school boards became advisory and elected by parent leaders.
Mayoral elections: the law called for the winner to have at least 40% of the vote, the primary election date was 9/11, the election was halted, three weeks later no candidate received 40%, a runoff another three weeks later, Bloomberg defeated an exhausted democrat and served three terms.
In 2013 De Blasio eked out Thompson.
The City moved to the current pick-five Ranked Choice Voting System. In 2021 the final three, García, Adams and Wiley When Wiley was eliminated, enough of her votes transferred to elect Adams skipping over Garcia.
In the current election, most of the candidates are looking to hook up with other candidates.
For some, “Anyone but Cuomo,” one candidate, acknowledging she can’t win is endorsing Cuomo.
Michael Lange, a close follower of NYC politics charts the Mamdani pathway to victory emphasizing the AOC endorsement.
The UFT, wisely waiting until the UFT leadership election votes were counted, sent out a membership survey, ranking issues and candidates.
Cuomo leads in the polls although Mamdani is narrowing the gap. The Emerson College Poll predicts a Cuomo win, although after many “rounds.”
Should the UFT endorse?
If so, who? and in what order?
And remember if Cuomo loses, he will still be on an independent line in November and there will be an additional million voters who are not registered democrats.
Cuomo is both easy to dislike and was a true leader during the early days of the pandemic. BTW he is not responsible for Tier 6, the entire legislature approved it, no one would reach retirement age for thirty years, it lessened a tax burden for the 700 state school districts after the Great Recession and Cuomo Education Plan is impressive, far better than any of the other candidates.
We know Stringer and Lander well, although both are far behind the two leaders, Cuomo and Mamdani.
We have worked closely with Adrienne Adams, the Speaker of the City Council, she started her campaign late, is there time to catch up?
Mamdani is a third term Assembly member, with an aggressive, very progressive platform (free buses, citywide rent freeze), light on education and a target for Trump.
The mayor appoints about 300 commissioners, deputy commissioners, the school chancellor and negotiates the next contract, at a time when the Trump budget could dramatically reduce the City budget.
Delegate Assembly next Wednesday.
If you leave Cuomo off the list and he wins, will he become a vindictive SOB?
Will Trump single out Mamdani and NYC with drastic budget cuts and worse?
Should we just endorse whomever we think is the “best” candidate regardless of the possible consequences? How do we define “best”?
Whatever Mulgrew and the Delegate Assembly does we must support, and, as an aside I have no idea of the direction of the UFT leadership.
The Benjamin Franklin quote is especially relevant
“If we don’t hang together, we will assuredly hang separately”
Ed in the Apple: Blogging on the Intersection of Education and Politics Title 