Reform Party of New York State
| Reform Party of New York State | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Bohemia, New York |
| Ideology | Fiscal Conservatism, Libertarian conservatism |
The Reform Party of New York State (also known as the New York State Reform Party) was the name of two unrelated political parties in the state of New York: a qualified party active only in New York State, and the New York branch of the Reform Party of the United States of America.
Original N.Y.S. Reform Party
The National Reform Party had originally been affiliated with the Independence Party of New York from 1996 to 2000, during which Jack Essenberg was the NYS Chair of the Independence Party of New York State. The Independence Party separated from the national Reform Party in 2000. The National Reform Party has had a state branch in New York [1] since 2007. It did not achieve ballot access in any statewide races between 2007 and 2014, but did get various candidates onto the ballot in local elections, most prominently Carl Person, who ran under the Reform Party banner in the 2013 New York City mayoral election.
The New York branch of the National Reform Party is managed by volunteers of the national party. The New York State Chair of the Official Reform Party is Bill Merrell, Ph.D., who serves as the vice chairman of the National Reform Party. The Vice Chair is Leigh Pollet, who doubles as treasurer of the National Party. Bill Merrell has been appointed to the Qualified Reform Party and holds a seat on the interim committee. Effective January 12, 2016, Bill Merrell has become the chairman of the interim Reform Party in New York State. Both organizations are now affiliated and working together to benefit New York State.
This allows the Original National Reform Party NYS and the Anti Common Core Party NY Reform Party are now joined. The 2 Reform Parties are unified on both Anti Common Core as a major issue in NYS as well as Reform Party issues (through the National Reform Party and State Party Platform) which both groups are in agreement of.
Qualified Reform Party
In 2014, Rob Astorino, the Republican Party's nominee in that year's gubernatorial election, petitioned to create the “Stop Common Core Party,” a single-issue ballot line designed to declare opposition to the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Under New York State Law, the Stop Common Core Party would qualify to automatically appear on the ballot for every election through 2018 if it received at least 50,000 votes in the gubernatorial election, a threshold it narrowly achieved despite Astorino's overall loss.
On February 17, 2015, Astorino announced he would change the name of the party to the "Reform Party" to broaden its appeal beyond a single issue.[2] The party initially ran into opposition from the Conservative Party of New York State, who balked at allowing another ballot line to cross-endorse its candidates.[3] Marie Smith is the chairman of the state Reform Party.[4] Marie Smith stepped down as NYS Reform Party Chairperson, and Bill Merrell was elected on January 12, 2016. The NYS Reform Party as authorized by the National Reform Party is in full support and cooperatively working together to benefit all members of the Reform Party. The NYS Reform party has added its opposition to common core to its web site and values page.
References
- ↑
- ↑ Reisman, Nick (February 17, 2015). Astorino files for Reform Party, officially. Time Warner Cable News. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
- ↑ Lovett, Ken (March 9, 2015). Dan Donovan ignores Reform Party at Conservative Party chair's request. New York Daily News. Retrieved March 9, 2015.
- ↑ Janison, Dan (September 1, 2015). Upstate upstart would crash Cuomo's party. Newsday. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
External links
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