As an interesting beginning to a possible run for U.S. Senate, political activist and comedian Randy Credico showed up at at a senate meeting in the New York Capital in a toga and sandles. The Huffington Post described the scene:
Credico who dressed as the ancient Greek Philosopher Diogenes, rudely interrupted a Senate committee meeting in the State Capital…wearing a face mask of an old man with a very long white beard, Credico walked the room back and forth while holding a lit lantern.
“I am here looking for an honest politician”
A photo of Credico as Diogenes appears in a Greek newspaper: here. There is a youtube: here.
The Huffington Post notes that, “Political reporter Elizabeth Benjamin of the NY Daily News recently reported that Credico was poised to announce that he’s creating an exploratory committee in advance of a possible primary challenge to US Sen. Chuck Schumer [Democrat] in 2010.”
A note at Randy Credico’s Flickr account notes that he is exploring the Democratic nomination. Though, in the past, Randy Credico has appeared more interested in independent or third party runs. Credico’s comedy on WBAI Radio 99.5FM in NYC often pokes fun at both sides of the political duopoly. Credico’s proposed Senate platform promises an immediate end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an end to the “Drug War at home and abroad.”
In the lead up to the 2006 New York Gubernatorial election, Credico appeared on WBAI discussing a possible run for Governor, and put out feelers to the Green Party, which garnered him on-air phone calls of support from several area greens.
On Monday, March 23, 2009, Randy Credico released an e-mail with his Huffington Post write-up to his e-mail announce circle.
Hi: randy ,are you from miramar st pomona????remember mark and joann trafford??? we lived across the street. i was a friend of your mothers. received a note from your sister robin. I didn’t know your mother had passed away a well as elva. I live in maine, joann in PA, mark is here in maine with me.
which run is that…gov or sen
If you get anywhere with your run, you could help third parties by pushing for some real election reform!
i am keeping my options open but at this time i am in the direction of running against chuckleberry flimflam schumer…we do need a new party …a real third party not the wfp atm machine of dan cantor
He got a nice mention in the NY Times oped page today. Don’t have time to link it.
Randy – good luck. There’s nothing wrong with running as a Dem, as long as you don’t let the party change who you are! And doing well or winning as a Dem could open up third party options in the future, as I’m sure you know.
Then throw your hat in the ring, my good man!
i would only run as gov so i could get enough votes to get the greens a party line
I can’t really speak to that, since I was under voting age in those days and therefore not too involved in Green politics. From everything I’ve heard, Al Lewis sounded like a great candidate.
Anyway, the Democratic Party is where activism goes to die. Their primaries are where the corporate-sponsored, machine-backed candidate clears all the progressive outsiders out of the way, in preparation for the old general-election shift to the right.
Running as a Green, you could help to build a party that shares your values, while injecting your issue stances into the general election debate. As the NY GOP slowly declines, we badly need an independent opposition party as an alternative to the Democrats….
i ran al lewis’ campaign for gov in 98..we got a ballot line…some green farmer upstate decided to run against al for senate primary in 2000 and somehow pulled it off which is exactly what hillary clinton wanted…..al would have had a big impact if the party who he gave a line to in 1998 had stayed loyal…karma cost them their ballot in 2002…
Randy,
Are you aware of Reverend Billy Talen’s Green Party candidacy for mayor of NYC? Billy is also an activist, and comedian of sorts, and the Greens are behind him 100%.
Democratic primary challenges 1. never go anywhere because the machine protects its own (see Jonathon Tasini’s run against Hillary Clinton in 2006) and 2. change nothing, because you can’t shape the debate unless you’re in the general election.
If you agree 100% with the Green platform, why not help build a party that you agree with?
i am really an activist, poltical comic and, yes, a community organizer…u heard about the community organizer who became president…i agree with his preacher a lot more than i agree with the prez….not really a big fan of electoral politics but chuckles the sc humerless clown needs some sunlight….he is running scared…suddenly he has come out for gay marriage..big flop flop by mr. belly flop….they are never going to let me get on the ballot in a primary against him so i will probably run as a….
point is …no sense registering as a democrat
Randy,
Okay. Sounds like a plan and that you have thought about. So, pretty cool. Thanks for sharing here.
Clarification for some of the comments above:
In New York, the only parties with permanent ballot lines are: Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independence, Working Families. With those parties, the petition requirements are pretty doable.
But, the Green Party – and several other parties, including Libertarian – have a special status where they have some control over their line, but must still petition with the higher, indpendent rules. (So, yes, candidate Credico, it ain’t easy, and the petition requirements are a bear.)
The Libertarian Party is an odd creature in New York. They are an “independent political body” like the Greens. But, there are hardly any registered Libertarians. Most Libertarians I know are registered in the Republican or Conservative Party.
But, they do run as Libertarians sometimes.
Randy, not sure about the rest of your platform, but what I could find on your website sounds very libertarian to me.
not ruling out running as an independent…if it looks like i am going to have a problem getting on the ballot then i would run as independent…the greens dont have a ballot line but if they did i would run as a green….someone has to run against schumer and running as a dem will put more focus on his retrograde and vile voting record particularly on both gulf wars and patriot act…
Welcome to IPR Randy.
I am a huge fan of your political/anti-drug war activism and your humor. Thanks for the comment.
Perhaps I shouldn’t talk, because I left the Green Party… But, it seems funny to be enrolled as a Democrat and play their reindeer games, if your heart is somewhere else.
Why don’t you enroll blank, or enroll in a third party you like, and have a real run of it?
I realize the Democrat primary stuff seems easy and is more glamorous. But, I fear it is glamorous and easy like Wal-Mart or Burger King. My guess is you and/or your message will be swallowed up in some manner. And, also, the whole time of your run you are giving people a reason to stay as Dems or enroll as Dems to vote for you.
(Also, this whole Democratic primary strategy has been tried in NY by Steve Greenfield, and I believe most people would agree it was thoroughly unsuccessful for him personally, for the party, and for the good of the overall cause of peace and justice.)
Might make more sense for someone with your vision and celebrity to go independent or third party. See how far you can get running in an authentic way…
Just a thought.
Loved the Diogenes thing. And, I wish you luck regardless…
this is randy credico…i am running against schumer as a democrat because although i have nothing in common with the dem party as it is , i feel it is my only shot to get on the ballot for sure at least in the primary….i support 10 percent of the dem party platfomr and 100 percent of the green party platform…
Even with the ancient Greek gimmick he’s still not as spooky as Schumer.
Seems OK to me.
I will not cringe if someone suggests taking this article down (since it is questionable if it is third party oriented.) When I started my research, I was almost sure that Credico would be running as an independent, Libertarian or Green. Though, it does appear he is announcing for the Democratic Primary.
I still feel that based on Credico’s past politics, this may be groundwork for some kind of third party run.