In its lengthy report exposing mischief in New York’s political system, the Moreland Commission missed a major target for real reform: the state’s minor political parties.
Because of a quirk in state law, minor parties in New York wield influence far beyond their numbers. That’s because New York is the rare state that allows minor parties to cross-endorse candidates of the top two parties.
It’s an invitation to corruption: Cross-endorsements give minor parties power by allowing them to extract promises — or cash — out of major-party candidates in exchange for giving them an extra ballot line or doing their dirty work.
Take the Independence Party. As Moreland did reveal, its vice chairman, Thomas Connolly, accepted $350,000 in so-called party “housekeeping” funds from Republican consultants meant to fund attacks on Democratic candidates that would have more credibility because they didn’t come from Republicans.
This is the same Connolly who funneled a $750,000 contribution from Michael Bloomberg to GOP consultant John Haggerty, who then stole the money for himself. Haggerty is serving a 1¹/₃- to 4-year sentence; Connolly was named a “noncriminal defendant.”
For its part, the Independence Party complains that Moreland made “factual errors,” so we’ll have to wait for the final details. But the Independence Party is by no means alone in using its own line on the ballot to service the larger parties. There’s also the Working Families Party, which pretends to be independent but is really a tool of the unions that basically serves the most liberal Democratic candidates.
If the Moreland Commission is really as worried about the nexus between money and politics as it claims, instead of trying to inject more taxpayer dollars into this rotten system, it ought to call for an end to cross-party endorsements. This would greatly reduce the incentive that now exists for the minor-party leaders to sell their party services to the bigger players.
If minor parties want to participate in elections, let them get their candidates on the ballot and compete with the big boys — instead of underwriting the big boys behind the scenes.