from onthewilderside.com
Bronx Green Party candidate Walt Nestler receives Matching Funds
The Bronx County Green Party entered into its first truly competitive New York City Council race last week with the notification by the NYC Campaign Finance Board that Green Party candidate Walt Nestler had received over $35,000 in matching funds from the City. With these matching funds, Mr. Nestler is equally matched to his opponent, Democrat Annabel Palma, who has raised just over $40,000 but has apparently not qualified for matching funds. According to NYC CFB records, she has also spent more on her campaign than she has received in contributions, calling into question her ability to continue running her campaign.
Bronx County Green Party Chairman Carl Lundgren said,
“Voters in the Bronx have become accustomed to elections being decided in the September primary. But now that the Green Party has a strong, locally backed candidate for City Council, voters are finally going to get a real choice in November on Election Day. This is the first taste of a two-party choice Bronxites will have had in some time for a local election. And we hope to continue to deliver a viable alternative to the one-party system in the Bronx from now on.”
Starting on Columbus Day, the Walt Nestler campaign gears up with a “mobile campaign office”. Residents of the 18th District will see this campaign effort in every neighborhood. The campaign will be discussing the important issues facing the district as well as asking residents about their concerns. Campaign staff will also visit voters door to door. The first stop will be in the Castle Hill / Unionport area.
And, as with any competitive race, Mr. Nestler hopes to debate Ms. Palma at a public forum later in the month.
34 responses so far ↓
1 Lou Novak // Oct 13, 2009 at 7:08 am
Congratulations to Walt.
If independent political parties want to affect change and participate in the political process, we should support matching funds legislation like that in New York and Maine.
2 Robert Milnes // Oct 13, 2009 at 12:45 pm
ok. well done. Now to go for the win, declare your support for the Progressive Libertarian Alliance Strategy. Call for both the progressive and libertarian vote. Concentrate on educating the voters.
3 Ross Levin // Oct 13, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Wow, it looks like the NYC Green Party’s having a decent year so far. That would be great if the biggest city in the US had a strong Green Party, something that will be in part determined this November.
4 Gene Berkman // Oct 13, 2009 at 2:30 pm
New York City is a mess today because of the type of “progressive” legislation that the Green Party champions. I don’t see how moving to the Left of the New York Democrats will do anything but make the city worse.
And thanks to “matching funds” New York taxpayers get to pay for the politicians that are destroying their communities.
5 Robert Milnes // Oct 13, 2009 at 2:52 pm
Gene Berkman, yes, unless matching funds actually levels the playing field. Actually matching funds are not necessary for the Progressive Libertarian Alliance Strategy to work.
6 Robert Milnes // Oct 13, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Ross Levin, don’t piss in your drawers. The Greens haven’t won anything yet. & they won’t win much unless they support the PLAS. SOON!
7 Dave Schwab // Oct 13, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Gene, the Green Party has never held elected office in New York City. So whether you consider it the greatest city in the world, as do many who have been there, or the worst, as many who haven’t been there seem to think, blaming NYC’s problems on the Green Party is ludicrous.
8 Richard Winger // Oct 13, 2009 at 3:48 pm
I go to New York city on the average of once a year, and it seems to me one of the better-run large cities of the U.S.
9 greg gerritt // Oct 13, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Greens are celebrating the matching funds for Walt and for Lynne Serpe in NYC. I know Robert Milnes, he has been harping his idea on line for years, it gets no support and deserves none. Go Greens in NYC, keep building a Green party.
10 Kimberly Wilder // Oct 13, 2009 at 4:36 pm
I think it is a great idea for Libertarians and Green Party members to work together.
(And, by the way, if there are greens that dislike/fear/slander socialists, then who are the people left to align with?: Libertarians! of course! You can hate the right and the left!!!!!!)
I am very excited that Walt Nestler received matching funds.
11 Gene Berkman // Oct 13, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I would not blame The Green Party for the mess in New York – it is the work of Democrats, Republicans, and earlier generations of left-wing parties – The American Labor Party and The Liberal Party, along with The Working Families Party.
Richard, it might be nice to visit – if you can afford it. But rent control and other regulations have made affordable housing a thing of the past for most New Yorkers, and the drug laws have helped organize crime maintain a profitable business. New York City has a city income tax and the sales tax in New York City is the highest in the nation.
Do Greens in New York actually want to cut back government, or do they want to protect the “progressive” gains that have led to the overpriced, overregulated living situation that New Yorkers find themselves in?
12 Third Party Revolution // Oct 13, 2009 at 5:15 pm
Sounds like Wilder is giving support for the PLAS.
13 Richard Winger // Oct 13, 2009 at 6:50 pm
New York state recently eased the penalties for drug offenses, and the number of prisoners in New York state prisons has dropped, and is dropping, rapidly.
14 Ross Levin // Oct 13, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Not to mention, that doesn’t have to do with NYC politics as much as NY State politics, if Gene is talking about the Rockefeller Drug Laws.
15 Dave Schwab // Oct 13, 2009 at 7:08 pm
“But rent control and other regulations have made affordable housing a thing of the past for most New Yorkers, and the drug laws have helped organize crime maintain a profitable business.”
Rent control has made housing unaffordable? I’ve heard a lot of New Yorkers say just the opposite – that they would be forced out of their homes if it weren’t for rent control. Real estate speculation and developer influence over city government is much more of a concern for tenants.
As for the drug laws, Ross is correct that that is a state government issue. The Green Party of NYS has long stood against the Rockefeller Drug Laws and drug prohibition in general.
16 Gene Berkman // Oct 13, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Rent control discourages building of new apartment buildings and has created a shortage of apartments in New York. Average rental cost in New York is far above average rental cost in other big cities.
People who have rent-controlled apartments do benefit, but people moving to New York or relocating within New York face a serious shortage of affordable rental housing.
17 Robert Milnes // Oct 13, 2009 at 8:19 pm
TPR, yes, that did sound like a convoluted indirect endorsement of the PLAS by Wilder. gregg garrett, you have a lot of balls coming on IPR comments & spewing your green puke. You are just another dinosaur fossil like Ron Paul, only a different species.
18 Robert Milnes // Oct 13, 2009 at 8:27 pm
The Green Party in the UNITED STATES has gotten just about nowhere because of lefty dinosaurs like gregg gerritt. Now he comes on IPR & pats himself on the back citing a new, isolated modest success which he probably had nothing to do with. & WHEN the PLAS succeeds, let it be known that gregg gerritt was one of its first & “best” detractors. Moron.
19 Robert Milnes // Oct 13, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Green radicals need to takeover the GP just like libertarian radicals need to takeover the LP.
20 Robert Milnes // Oct 13, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Give gerritt a good riddance pension.
21 Richard Winger // Oct 13, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Greg Gerritt has helped build two very successful state Green Parties. First he was a pioneer in building the Maine Green Party. The Maine Green Party is the USA’s most successful state Green Party just now. Then he moved to Rhode Island, where the party elected a city councilmember in a partisan election in Providence, the first time a nationally-organized party had won a partisan office in Rhode Island since World War II, and perhaps since the 1910′s. Rhode Island traditionally was not a receptive state for minor parties, although that is changing.
22 Ross Levin // Oct 13, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Greg, come to PA!
23 upstartgreen // Oct 13, 2009 at 11:13 pm
No, Greg please come to Michigan first.
24 Robert Milnes // Oct 14, 2009 at 12:23 am
Richard Winger, maybe so. But that is ancient history + itis well known that green/progressives have done best in the ne & & upper midwest. He just happened to be there. What about all the unknown greens in the south & west. I gauge libsby whether they support Ron Paul. Most did. Few didn’t-they get cred with me. & Greens/progressives whether they support the PLAS. Most do not publicly. Few do. Gerritt was one of the first to come out against it. & pesists. So fuck him. He just happened to be a party activist in the few good areas in U.S. That is the luck of geography, that’s all. I’m not impressed by greg gerritt.
25 Robert Milnes // Oct 14, 2009 at 12:26 am
& west coast. So greg the great, go down south & we’ll see how well you do.
26 Robert Milnes // Oct 14, 2009 at 12:36 am
It may very well be that greg gerritt coming out against the PLAS early is one reason it is slow catching on. So fuck greg gerritt.
27 Robert Milnes // Oct 14, 2009 at 12:37 am
greg gerritt=LOSER!
28 Robert Milnes // Oct 14, 2009 at 12:42 am
Dinosaur fossil. Moron. Loser.
29 Robert Milnes // Oct 14, 2009 at 12:48 am
Greens, it is Oct. 14. Listen to greg gerritt & you will lose the Nov. elections. Listen to me & you just might win some. Including NYC. The potential is clearly there. All you lack is The Libertarian Vote. & educate the voters to coordinate the progressive & libertarian vote. I SAY it is not too late & could be done. greg gerritt says “…it[PLAS] gets no support and deserves none.” So which of us are you going to listen to? Politics as usual=you lose NYC.
30 Robert Milnes // Oct 14, 2009 at 1:09 am
Like I said, if I get some support, I’ll be glad to campaign in NYC for the Green, Rev. Billy Talen & Libertarians for the other 2 offices, Public Advocate & Comptroller. Also in NJ for Libertarian Ken Kaplan for Governor. I would concentrate on educating the voters on coordinating the progressive & libertarian vote. Note: Obama coordinated the progressive & liberal vote + got the vote black because you are black vote. & he WON! Without him coordinating the progressive vote, Billary would be President.
31 Ross Levin // Oct 14, 2009 at 2:03 pm
upstartgreen, where in Michigan are you? There are a couple promising Green candidates there. James Taylor seemed like someone who was really committed to his candidacy for State Senate.
32 Michal // Oct 14, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I’m happy to see the NY Greens doing so well and wish them all the best, as well as inclusion in debates, which seems to be a perennial problem.
And I’d love to either hear Greg Gerritt’s ideas on building the Greens back up in the SW USA where I’m located.
Right now we’re engaged in a multi-third-party lawsuit against our Secretary of State to try to address the inequities that have constantly made Green candidacies here a mission impossible and a losing proposition, both in terms of the election and our candidates’ idealism.
33 HumbleTravis // Oct 14, 2009 at 3:22 pm
I never truly understood the term “nanny state” until I lived in NYC. Best of luck to anybody trying to change the status quo there – I mean that very sincerely.
34 Robert Milnes // Oct 16, 2009 at 9:01 am
Michal, bring greg garett to the sw U.S. & you’ll still be screwed Greens. It is a matter of geography. Progressive aremuch more numerous & active in ne, upper midwest & west coast. & even then they are not thriving, barely putting candidates on ballots & electing very few low level. The game changer is an alliance with the Lp & coordinating the progressive & libertarian vote blocs. That would tend to maximize them rather than if they compete, they minimize. The little bit of success greg gerritt got in the ne U.S. will not be followed with him or his ideas in sw U.S. So listen to dinosaur fossil gerritt & join the Ron Paul counterrevolution while you are at it.
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