Abstract

Bloomberg's Bad Idea

The author argues against New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's attempt to eliminate party primaries as part the city's elections. On November 4, New York City is being asked to decide Question 3, a deceptively simple change to the city's charter that would eliminate the role of political parties in nominating candidates through primaries and instead adopt a "unitary ballot" listing all the people running for each office, followed by a runoff for the top two vote-getters. The real question is: Should America's richest politician, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, be able to buy a change that will end up enhancing the prospects of other wealthy or famous candidates like himself while doing nothing to improve voter education, turnout, ballot access or genuine debate? Political parties are much disdained these days, often deservedly. But eliminating party primaries won't solve these problems; it will make them worse. A nonpartisan listing of candidates would repeat the cacophony of the California recall, where voters had to choose among a cattle call of contenders, and so gravitated to the ones with the most money and name recognition. We urge New York City voters to vote No on Question 3.