Grassroots Initiative Study

Recently published by Grassroots Initiative is a study on New York's Republican & Democratic County Committees of the five boroughs. The findings are very revealing and show that neither party is doing a good job reaching out to communities. With over 8.5 million New Yorkers, probably more than 6 million registered voters, have you ever wondered why elections are decided by only 1.2 million votes?

The 47 page report is titled: Vacancy: Democracy Take A Nap Party Politics in New York's Five Boroughs.

This report looks at political representation in New York City through the lens of the Republican and Democratic county committees in each of the five boroughs. Our primary objective in undertaking this study is to assess the state and health of New York's party apparatus, including the way in which the Republican and Democratic Party county committee seats are filled and what communities are or are not being represented in the process. To better understand this information and place it in a broad context, the study also explores public interest and awareness regarding political party committees and local politics in general.

The information may not be entirely accurate, however that is due to lack of cooperation by all ten county committees. Grassroots Initiative could only rely on records held by the Board of Elections, while letters and calls to the county committees went unanswered. If any county committee disputes the findings, they will need to update their records with the Board of Elections, because the City of New York only registers what has been found in this Study.

As a member of the Vincent F. Albano Republican Club for the 74 Assembly District, I have now set my sites on filling committee seats by primary day, September 4, 2007. According to Vacancy: Democracy Takes a Nap, the 74 Assembly District should have 228 County Committee Members [CCM]. The Board of Elections says there are only 55. My records for 74 AD give only 108 Election Districts, so that would mean 216 committee seats, but still, that means we only have 25.5% of our seats filled.

If I can accomplish my objective of having at least one committee member for each 108 EDs, then I hope it sets an example to all district clubs throughout the five boroughs that grassroots party building is possible.