No Questionnaire from Patch for My Race

There's a local race whose candidates have not received questionnaires from Patch. That is the race for membership in the Democratic Party State Committee, the governing body for the Democratic Party in the State of New York. The committee sets the party's platform and nominates statewide candidates.

I'm Penny Mintz -- and I'm running to become a member of that committee so that I can help make that state platform more progressive on issues like health care, public schools, public transportation, campaign finance reform, and access to the polls.

For 23 years, the incumbent has been handed the position when the local Democratic clubs garnered the 500 petition signatures needed to make her a candidate. With no one running against her, the position never actually appeared on a primary ballot.

Then two years ago, I tried to challenge her. I sought support outside supermarkets, restaurants,
and apartment buildings. I asked for petition signatures in dog runs and parks. I argued my case up and down the streets of the East Village, the West Village, and Tribeca. In the end, 1,900 people signed petitions indicating that they wanted to give me a chance to win in an election.

You may have spoken to me: Penny Mintz, like one-cent candy was my proffered memory aid.

Unfortunately, the Board of Elections invalidated all 1,900 signatures on a technicality.

I was asked to run again by the New York Progressive Action Network because, unlike the incumbent, I have been a community activist for over 40 years.

Unlike the incumbent, I believe that public education needs the support and presence of middle-class families. So my children went to public schools, where I advocated for them and for the system.

I served on Community Board #2 for many years as chair of Traffic and Transportation and as a member of the Environment Committee and the Executive Board. Under my leadership, the Hudson Street bike lane was installed in the late 80's, one of the earliest in the city.

I organized the Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel Hospital.

For the past three years, I have petitioned for candidates, organized meetings and forums, attended government hearings, tabled on street corners, lobbied state and city elected officials, participated in press conferences to advocate for the hospital and for the New York Health Act, which would provide single-payer health care for all if enacted. The current administration opposes the New York Health Act.

Unlike me, the incumbent has never participated in any local effort. Until I was asked to run for the position in 2018, I had never heard of her, though I've been involved with local issues for over 40 years.

But the most pressing reason to replace the incumbent is that she has used her position as chair of the Progressive Caucus to dilute reform proposals so that they fall in line with the establishment position. Her actions on voters’ electoral choices is a perfect example. The incumbent supported doing away with fusion voting, which gives us voters more choices, like the opportunity to vote for a mainstream candidate while also expressing support for the progressive policies of a minor party, such as the Working Families Party. The Progressive Caucus tabled a resolution to end fusion voting, and the incumbent betrayed her own caucus by submitting the failed resolution to the full committee in her own name. She again took a stand against expanding democracy – and again betrayed her own caucus – when she opposed the caucus' resolution to give unaffiliated registered voters the right to vote in the Democratic primary.

By contrast, I was one of the plaintiffs in the successful lawsuit to reinstate the Democratic presidential primary. As a result of that effort, voters can now choose who to represent them at the DNC.

Finally, State Committee members are supposed to represent the will of their local clubs and their constituents. But the incumbent nominated Cuomo for governor despite the endorsement of Cynthia Nixon by the Downtown Independent Democrats and the Village Independent Democrats.

So the choice is clear: The incumbent has tried to undermine progressive values and democratic rights, while I have spent my entire adult life fighting for those values and rights.

It is time for a change.