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Jockey
for Ballot Move-Up
Made His Day Mr. Lipton, who has spent much of the past year reaching out to union members and likely voters on behalf of the small-but-growing grass-roots party, stopped in his tracks. He put down the two boxes, thanked Ms. Verman for her support, and then suddenly moved in for a hug. "This is like the best moment of my life," he said after she walked away. In the van, Mr. Lipton repeated what had just happened to other party officials on his cell phone. "I love it," he exclaimed. "Our goal is to have people contacted in various ways. That woman was awesome. I just hope she was right." Mr. Lipton and hundreds of other party supporters began their day before sunrise. "I actually got more sleep then I usually do before an Election Day," he said. "I went to bed at one and got up at four." Volunteers from the WFP, which was created in 1998 by a group of labor and community organizations, spent the entire day trying to persuade people to vote for gubernatorial front-runner Eliot Spitzer on its line. Under New York State law, third parties are allowed to cross-endorse major-party candidates. Art of the Spiel Hundreds of union members and other volunteers met in Chelsea at Communications Workers of America Local 1101's offices, where Mr. Lipton supplied them with campaign fliers and gave them quick lessons in how to approach people on their way to vote. "Okay, I'm the voter walking by," he said, as he lowered his head and picked up his pace. Playing along, one of the volunteers walked beside him while politely suggesting he vote for "Spitzer on Row E for more education funds and for better health care." Got Message Out Mr. Lipton responded encouragingly. "All it takes is to just mention some basic stuff to get their attention," he remarked. "But sometimes there will be people who just want to rush in and vote." With his glasses perched on the tip of his nose, Mr. Lipton repeated that routine throughout the day before dispatching new volunteers. "It's important they know how to approach voters," he commented. In a sign that its economic justice message resonated with many Democratic voters in the metropolitan region, the WFP picked up nearly 70,186 votes in the city on its ballot line for Mr. Spitzer. According to preliminary results, the WFP received a total of 126,796 votes statewide. Fell Just Short But that figure may not be enough to vault the expanding group past the Conservative Party, which received 128,087 votes, according to initial returns. The WFP was hoping to move up on the ballot from Row E to Row D. Mr. Lipton and other party officials noted they will likely gain a substantial number of votes after absentee and other mail-in ballots are tallied. "We won't know for sure for about 25 days," he said during a phone interview the day after last week's vote. "We are on pins and needles." Low turnout hurt the party's chances of reaching its goal of obtaining 200,000 votes, he added. In all, approximately 4.1 million people voted last week, down from 4.7 million in 2002. "We had thought he was going to get 70 percent of five million," Mr. Lipton remarked. "It's a much smaller pie. Our modeling was a bit off." 'Still Growing' He stressed, however, that the WFP officials were generally "ecstatic" about the city figures, which showed that the group is the only minor political party gaining votes. "We are steadily climbing," he said. "We have momentum. We don't feel like we're small anymore; we're the growing Working Families Party." In contrast, the Independence Party - which four years ago had Governor Pataki on its line - lost more than 500,000 votes last week from the 654,016 the party got in 2002. Also, the Conservative party dropped from 176,848 votes in last election to 128,087 in the latest vote. The WFP once again plans to use its greater leverage to push harder for living-wage measures, affordable health care, child care and housing, better Workers' Compensation and unemployment benefits, and increased funding for education. With the help of other advocacy groups, the party has already successfully lobbied the State Legislature to increase the minimum wage to $6 per hour as of Jan. 1, 2005. It will go to $6.75 per hour the following January and rise to $7.15 the next year. More Unions Signing On With each passing election, the WFP has also expanded its operational capacity. Since 1998, the staff has gone from five full-time workers to nearly 30. "In the months before the election we had another 70 people," Mr. Lipton said. The number of affiliated unions - and volunteers they bring with them - has also climbed. The WFP's founding unions were Communications Workers of America District 1, the Buffalo Teachers' Federation, two United Auto Workers locals, the Amalgamated Transit Union, and a handful of private-sector Teamsters locals. In the intervening years, the party has bulked up with behemoths such as the Service Employees' International Union, Transport Workers' Union Local 100 and UNITE. Social Service Employees Union Local 371 of District Council 37 has also become a key player. The added leverage and political involvement led the party to make some difficult decisions in local elections. The group's most controversial move was its decision to stay neutral in the State Senate race in Westchester between incumbent Republican Nicholas A. Spano and the eventual winner, Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins. Put Him Over Top in '04 In 2004, the WFP endorsed Mr. Spano, who won 1,870 votes on its line. That support was crucial to his defeating Ms. Stewart-Cousins by just 18 votes. "We were the margin of victory for Spano," one WFP official asserted. "It was a real sign of our power." Last week's vote was not nearly as close. Based on preliminary returns, Ms. Stewart-Cousins defeated Mr. Spano by 2,145 votes. Her victory came despite Mr. Spano's strong labor support. He was endorsed by both the State AFL-CIO and Local 1199, which both tend to lean Democratic. Sources indicated last week that the WFP's decision to stay out of the race rather than back Ms. Stewart-Cousins was closely tied to Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno's promise to help override Governor Pataki's veto of a bill designed to provide thousands of day care workers a right to join a union. Last month, the UFT kicked off a drive to have 10,000 home day-care providers sign authorization cards as part of the effort to unionize the city's 32,000 workers. But in addition to the signatures, the UFT needs legislation from Albany to become the formal representatives of the providers. After the necessary bill passed both the Assembly and Senate by wide margins, Mr. Pataki vetoed it earlier this year. The Senate then voted to override, but no vote has been held in the Assembly yet. 'We Owed Bruno' A WFP official defended the group's decision to stay out of the race. "In that instance, Bruno delivered something important to working people," one WFP official said. "By treating these people like professionals and getting them into the UFT, it is going to transform early childhood education." In a sign of just how far the party has come from the last statewide election, Mr. Spitzer actually recorded a robo-call telephone voice message on behalf of the WFP. The automated calls and campaign e-mails went out to a list of about 160,000 voters. In contrast, in 2002 the party complained that Democratic candidate Carl McCall failed to coordinate his efforts in the race with the group. Mr. Lipton noted that candidates can benefit greatly from also running on the WFP's line. "We have an infrastructure of strong staff that knows how to run campaigns, and also because of the broad coalition that comprises the party," he said. "We have the know-how with the staff and we have a broad base. That's a pretty potent combination." After polls closed, WFP staff and volunteers gathered in the friendly environs of the Reboot Restaurant on the Lower East Side to watch the returns. As the night progressed, it appeared as if the party had obtained the necessary votes to move ahead of the Conservative party, which was greeted with chants of: "Row D! Row D! Row D!" At the bar eating pizza, Mr. Lipton said he wasn't tired despite the late hour. "How can I be with these results?" he asked, as two blurry television screens in the restaurant ran news of the latest tallies. But WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor appeared more reserved, pacing in and out of the eatery. He fiddled with his phone and several times asked aides around him if they had any updates on the latest counts. Back inside, he took particular interest in the Westchester Senate race, pointing to the TV screen and waving his fist after it showed Ms. Stewart-Cousins leading Mr. Spano. With a glass of beer in hand, WFP co-chair Bob Master reveled in the victory from the sidewalk, even as it began to drizzle. Gaining votes on its line was more significant this time, he noted, because the state's other major Democratic candidates were also far ahead. "For a change, we're not an island of victory in a sea of misery," he said. "We're a surfer riding the wave of triumph." 'A Good Night for WFP' At a quarter to midnight, Mr. Cantor got on a chair to address the largely young and enthusiastic crowd. "It's been a very good night for America and it looks like a very good night for the Working Families Party," he said, adding that the final tally was still unknown. He once again recalled that it was the same spot in 1998 where he stood to tell supporters of the fledgling political movement that it had failed in its efforts to get the 50,000 votes necessary to automatically be placed on the ballot next election. (It was not until several days later that party officials discovered that a recount and absentee ballots put it over the edge.) But times had certainly changed. "Everyone gets a share of this one," Mr.
Cantor told the faithful last week. "We love to win these elections."
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