Platform - Democratic Choice

The Restoration of Democratic Choice and Electoral Accountability
The Current Condition:
The Solutions of the Independence Party:

• To Increase the Power of Voters:
• Enhance the Potential for Voter Participation:
• Improve Ballot Access to People or Groups Seeking Office:
• Reduce the Advantages of Incumbency and Grant Challengers Relatively Equal Ability to Compete for Office:
• Improve Dramatically the Ethical Standards and Conduct of Candidates and Office Holders:
• Improve Opportunities for Citizen-Legislators:

The results of this condition are apparent to any but the most prejudiced observers:

• Voters simply do not hear a balance of competing views in most districts.
• lnvulnerable incumbents pay less attention to the voters of the district.
• The incumbents pay attention to the interests of the campaign contributions that guarantee their invulnerability.
• The ability of voters to affect public policy is diminished to nearly nothing.
• Voters who have little influence both over the outcome of elections and the policies of their government become alienated, frustrated, and discouraged, and they stop participating as a result.

1. Initiative, Referendum, and Recall: Commitment to Initiative, Referendum, and Recall at the federal, state, and local level.
2. Referendum on the State Budget: Commitment to a state-wide referendum on a two year state budget. (See fiscal proposals on budget reform).
3. Voter Nonapproval Proposal: Place a category on the ballot that allows citizens to vote "None of the Above." If this category wins, a special election must be held.
4. Citizen Empowerment Plank: Grant legal "standing" to citizens and citizen groups to bring court challenges for waste, fraud, financial abuse, and criminal acts at all levels of government. Eliminate sovereign immunity as a defense against such action.
5. Unrestricted Party Enrollment: Commitment to the right of citizens to enroll as a member of any party of their choice, at any time, without prohibition by the state.

1. Motor Voter Plank: Automatically register individuals to vote who have a driver's license, are eighteen (l8), and who are otherwise qualified to vote.
2. Extended Polling Times: Hold elections in a manner so as to allow voters the opportunity to vote during a period beginning on the Saturday before the traditional Tuesday date for elections and ending on election day, and expand the opportunity for absentee voting.

1. Uniform Ballot Access Plank: Support the creation of uniform ballot access for elections for President, the U.S. Senate, and the House of Representatives, easing access for independent or other party candidates.
2. State-wide Ballot Access: A measure whereby a state-wide ballot position as a party could be obtained either by running a candidate for governor who receives 50,000 votes in the general election, or by enrolling 50,000 voters under the name of the party state-wide.
3. Local Ballot Access: A measure whereby any political organizing committee securing the enrollment of one percent of the registered voters in any electoral district would have the right to place candidates on the ballot as a major party in that district as long as they maintain the one percent enrollment.

1. Term Limits: Support term limits of no more than twelve (12) years for a legislative position and eight (8) years for an executive position.
2. Extension of terms: Support the extension of Congressional and state legislative terms to four (4) years (thereby reducing the need for continuous campaigning and the need for campaign funds).
3. Public Funding of Campaigns: Commitment to public funding of elections, coupled with the complete elimination of Political Action Committee (PAC) money for local, state, and federal offices. Candidates accepting public funds cannot accept any funds or services for the general election from party organizations (the so-called soft money), and they must accept funding limits for their campaign, with unused campaign funds returned to the government.
4. Local Funding of Campaigns: Restrict fund raising so that at least eighty (80) percent of campaign funds for primaries come from within the area where the candidates live.
5. No Foreign Campaign Contributions: Support for legislation declaring illegal campaign contributions by foreign governments or foreign owned corporations or other organizations.
6. Reform of the Franking Laws: (1) Prohibit an incumbent from any mailings at public expense after August 31st of an election year. (2) Prohibit any franked mass mailings by incumbents to voters outside of the district in which the incumbent serves. (3) Extend the franking privilege to political parties of record whereby these political parties get mailings equal to the number made by the incumbent during any election year. (4) Remove the incumbent's name and picture from any newsletter sent to constituencies using the franking privilege.
7. Anti-Gerrymandering Plank: Conduct the ten year redistricting through an independent commission where commission members are nominated by the Governor and must be confirmed by a two-thirds vote in each house of the legislature. Members must be appointed in the year prior to the census year. At least one member must come from each political party with state-wide ballot status in the state. Redistricting must be completed before the end of the first year in which the census is completed. Should any of these provisions not be met by the legislature and the Governor, the power to take action falls immediately to the Court of Appeals.
8. Uniform Disclosure Plank: Support a proposal requiring the clear disclosure of any organization soliciting support on behalf of a candidate, whether in person or by phone.
9. Media Time For Debates: We support in principle the belief that radio and television, as publicly licensed broadcasters, should be required to set aside some set number of programming hours to support debates among the candidates for the various offices.

1. Party Standards for Candidates: The Independence Party imposes certain standards on its candidates. These include: (1) they will work toward campaign finance reform (ed. note: as modified in 1996); (2) they voluntarily accept term limits on themselves even before they are enacted into law; (3) they will strive to avoid negative campaigning, and will strive to conduct their campaigns in a manner that sticks to issues, educates voters, and raises the quality of discourse in campaigns; (4) they agree to participate in debates; (5) they agree to participate in a balanced and fair process of reviewing complaints against unfair, inaccurate, and misleading campaign practices on a timely basis.
2. Requirement to Caucus as a Party: Independence Party candidates agree, when elected, to caucus as members of the Independence Party.
3. Fair Campaign Practices Commission: The Party supports the creation of local and state commissions to review campaign complaints.
4. Anti-Gratuity Plank: Independence Party candidates will refuse all gifts or gratuities from lobbyists or other private interests seeking services, favors, or legislation from the local, state, or federal government in which they serve.
5. Anti-Revolving Door Plank: Support legislation such that office holders will not serve as lobbyists with the state or federal government within three (3) years of the date of termination of their service from their respective office, and they will not represent, before the state or federal government, any foreign government or corporation (or an American subsidiary) for a period of five years beyond the end of their government service.

1. Citizen Legislator Plank: Restructure legislative service to support the concept that all legislative offices, other than the House and the U.S. Senate, should be part-time positions that can easily be held by most citizens.
2. Legislative Salaries: End the policy of granting pensions to elected legislative positions.
3. Legislative Reform: Make the state budget a two year budget, cutting the legislative year to two months and cutting salaries by 50 percent.
4. Uniform Application of Laws: Support legislation that would make Congress and the state legislature, and the members of both, subject to the same laws imposed on others, including pension laws, discrimination laws, etc.
5. Budget Penalty: Reduce the salaries of state legislators and the Governor by $1,000 for every day the budget is late in delivery.

The most important reform of the Independence Party, however, is the Party's very existence. The Party will contest the seats where one of the other two parties has decided that the incumbent cannot be contested: The Party will seek to finance itself from among its own members, and thereby present the choice of a locally funded candidate against a candidate beholden to special interests and interests outside the district. In this manner, the Independence Party will alter the present stalemate in politics and increase the choices available to the voter.

© 1996 by the Independence Party of New York State (updated July 26, 96).
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