Your guide to NYC's public proceedings.
TESTIMONY
Testimony by Frank Morano advocating for nonpartisan elections based on experience and principle
3:22:07
·
3 min
Frank Morano testifies strongly in favor of nonpartisan elections, drawing on his current experience as a candidate in one and noting NYC's long use of them for education councils. He argues this system allows engagement with all voters and ends taxpayer subsidies for exclusionary primaries. He distinguishes nonpartisan elections from open primaries, arguing the former is preferable for NYC and aligns with the idea that city services aren't partisan.
- Advocates for nonpartisan elections, citing positive personal experience as a candidate.
- Notes NYC already uses nonpartisan elections for education councils.
- Argues nonpartisan is distinct from and preferable to open primaries for NYC.
- Invokes LaGuardia's "no partisan way to pick up the garbage" maxim.
Frank Morano
3:22:07
Good evening, commissioners.
3:22:08
It's great to be here.
3:22:10
I know you've had a long night, so I promise not to prolong it too much.
3:22:13
Wanna thank you for your service, and I wanna give a a special acknowledgment to somebody that makes Staten Island proud every day in city government, but especially on this commission, Diane Savino, who's a good friend and who I've learned more about city government and state government just listening to her complain about what's wrong than I've learned in years of studying it on my own.
3:22:34
I'm here primarily to testify in favor of nonpartisan elections.
3:22:41
One, I'm actually a candidate in a nonpartisan election on Staten Island now, and I participated in nonpartisan elections as a volunteer, as a political activist.
3:22:50
This is the first time I've participated on a as a candidate, and it's wonderful.
3:22:54
And I think it's important to keep in mind that New York City has had nonpartisan elections for thirty two years.
3:23:00
This is not some novel new, conceit that we're trying to totally upset the apple cart.
3:23:06
They we've had nonpartisan elections, both Democrats and Republicans and even a couple of independents have gotten elected, and, they've worked really well.
3:23:15
So what I'm urging the commission to put on the ballot is just give the voters the opportunity to give people the same opportunity that I have right now to reach out to all voters, not a narrow slice of the Republican party or Democratic party.
3:23:29
And it's a great experience because you don't have to skip houses when you're campaigning based on who's a democrat, who's a republican.
3:23:36
You go out and meet every voter, which is how it should be.
3:23:38
It puts every voter in a position where their vote really matters.
3:23:42
Additionally, when we talk about nonpartisan elections, the reason it's so important is because right now, you have taxpayers that are forced to pay for elections that they can't participate in.
3:23:56
One of the other people mentioned the phrase taxation without representation.
3:24:00
I seem to have heard that somewhere else before.
3:24:01
I don't remember where, But it sounds great, and that's exactly what we need to put an end to.
3:24:06
There should be no opportunity to have people pay for elections that they can't even participate in.
3:24:12
The last thing I'll mention and is that I I think it's important to distinguish the issue of open primaries for nonpartisan elections.
3:24:20
The I think a lot of people who are well intentioned are commingling those two terms, and that can be very messy because the supreme court has defined different types of primaries in a few of their decisions, and there are political science textbooks that define each one.
3:24:34
They all agree on definition.
3:24:35
An open primary is a type of partisan primary in which each party has its own primary ballot and its own nominees.
3:24:42
But on primary day, any voter can choose any party's primary ballot.
3:24:47
Most southern states have that.
3:24:48
And in open primary states, most registration forms don't ask the voter to choose a party.
3:24:54
For example, Texas has open primaries.
3:24:56
Therefore, George Bush or Ted Cruz is not a registered Republican because he lives in Texas and there are no registered Republicans or Democrats in Texas.
3:25:04
Given that New York has statewide party registration, I don't think that would work well.
3:25:10
A nonpartisan election is like what I'm in where parties are not involved.
3:25:15
Instead, individuals run against each other purely as individuals or as New York City has it with a made up party party label.
3:25:22
Open primary has nothing in common with nonpartisan elections.
3:25:25
As mayor LaGuardia said, there's no democratic or republican way to clean a street.
3:25:31
Let's allow all of the candidates for every municipal office to put our records, our ideas, and our vision for the future of New York City before the voters, and let's have them vote not because we have an r next to our name or a d next to our name, but because we have the best qualifications and the best vision for the future.
3:25:48
Thank you.