Lewis Cohen: "I have been and am a member of the 2005 New Yorkers for Ferrer Finance Committee since the summer of 2004. I, and Bernadette Evangelist, have been the only Directors of Democracy for NYC who have openly and enthusiastically supported Ferrer since the beginning of the campaign."
A few points of clarification are due on my part. This is the second time. The first time was with Norman Siegel.
A Not So Little Norman Fact
A Little Siegel Incident
Tracey had to educate me on Norman Siegel's ethnicity. That was some major hole she had to plug. I think she was amused. There was that look on my face.
DFNYC members in their individual capacities may go for any candidate of their choice, that is the democratic spirit. We don't lose our individual identities just because we are members of DFNYC.
This is not the official DFNYC blog or anything of that sort. This is one person's blog, he just so happens to be a staunch member of the DFNYC.
A blog is not a newspaper gone online. A blog is a blog. It is more casual, conversational, intimate. This is not an attempt at objectivity. Actually, it is more like one person's views and observations given voice, there actually might be a tendency toward subjectivity. It is not here to show off my knowledge, or ignorance. It is more a window into my thought processes, more akin to a reality show. There is no emphasis on fact-checking. If I mess up on some facts in one blog entry, I don't go back and correct it later, I just post a new blog entry. At another blog I wrote about Sonia Gandhi after her Congress party cruised to a victory in India. An Italian born was going to be leading India, I said. She chose not to go for it. I never went back to that blog entry to correct it. That blog entry was a snapshot of many people's thinking at that point in time. Everyone just assumed Sonia was going to be Prime Minister.
I think I am trying to get to the voice part of the One Person, One Vote, One Voice superstructure. At the one voice level, you just talk. It is you. It is not the group yet. You say whatever you want to say. You take the stands on issues the way you want. I think that is important. Or we might end up with groupthink. There should be ample room for original thinking at the One Voice level. That precedes the one person, one vote mechanism, or the consensus mechanism through which we make decisions, either on policy or candidates, or campaign details. And once the group has decided, we all come around to supporting and contributing. Ideally. Sometimes a person might still not go with the majority if she feels strongly about her outvoted position. That is there.
And I am totally for DFNYC taking votes among members before endorsing candidates when more than one choice is available. That is the democratic spirit. DFNYC members had the option to take the organization behind Bloomberg, but we chose Ferrer by a wide margin, and so we are solidly behind Ferrer. And our man Dean is possibly the biggest boost Ferrer has got. Dean has been Ferrer's rocket fuel. We are key. And Ferrer knows it and appreciates it. Ferrer appreciates the importance of the primaries more than any of us. He can not possibly be begrudging having had to wade through it.
DFNYC endorsed Gifford Miller for the primaries, and I was not here when that happened. But we have nothing to apologize for. Miller was Speaker of the City Council. Ferrer had not been in any office in a few years. I can see how Miller might have come across as appealing. And there is an article somewhere that talks how Miller did not use his sex appeal to his advantage or he would have won! The members went for who they went for. And now we are enthusiastically behind Ferrer. We are the strong wind behind his sails. We contest the primaries, but then we all get together behind the winner of the primaries. That is the democratic spirit.
Slowly and surely I am learning more and more about city politics.
It was not that obvious Ferrer was going to win the primaries. And Directors of DFNYC who might supervise our internal vote taking on policies and candidates have nothing to apologize for. The mechanism has to stay oiled.
We are better off because of the primaries. Ferrer is better off. And he knows it.
And looks like we already have friends in high places with Lewis and Bernadette. Makes our work for Ferrer so much easier.
The key now is to get Ferrer to win. It will be nice to have a Mayor Ferrer when Dean 2008 sets up shop in the city. This is a major act of self-interest for us.
Ferrer 2005 is of national importance.
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