Fire Minarik

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun
NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

If Stephen Minarik succeeds in his campaign to crown William Weld as the Republican Party candidate for next year’s 2006 gubernatorial race before any rank-and-file Republicans have a say, Empire State Republicans will have to look no further than their state party chairman to know whom to blame when Eliot Spitzer romps to victory. This is not to dismiss Governor Weld’s candidacy – we’re sure he would be as successful in New York as he was in Massachusetts – but an open primary is the best way to reenergize the Republican Party, both with ideas and momentum. Winning an open primary would be the best thing Mr. Weld could do for his candidacy in the general election.


Yet Mr. Minarik has made it clear, as our Jacob Gershman reported Monday, that he wants party leaders to go into what passes for a smoke-filled room (now that Republicans have helped outlaw smoking in New York) to choose Mr. Weld as the candidate when they meet on December 12. After this, Mr. Minarik says, all other candidates should drop out of the race, reducing the state convention in May to being a celebration of Mr. Weld’s candidacy. The fear seems to be that holding primaries would be costly and divisive, leaving the candidate financially drained and scarred from attacks. And that candidates would be forced to appeal to the party extremes, diminishing their appeal to the general electorate. Therefore, Mr. Minarik and his fellow primary bashers argue, the only way to stop Mr. Spitzer, presuming he’s the nominee, is to choose a candidate now and let him build up strength.


Well, if it were possible to run hogwash through some kind of superannuated refinery, you couldn’t come up with a purer distillation than Mr. Minarik’s thinking. A primary would achieve precisely the opposite of that against which Mr. Minarik warns. It could ignite a serious policy debate that energizes the party. The party could emerge from the primary excited about new ideas and a candidate who embodies them. What are said to be extremes – those who, say, advocate cutting taxes or permitting giving poorer parents the same right to school choice as wealthy parents – could comprise more New Yorkers than Mr. Minarik fears. If it’s a question of time for the challenger to prepare for the election, Mr. Minarik could simply push to move the primary to an earlier date.


New York Republicans have already tried the strategy of avoiding primaries and edging out other candidates. In the 2004 race to challenge Senator Schumer, a passionate young reformer with free market ideas, Michael Benjamin, was edged aside by Mr. Minarik’s predecessor and the backroom crowd so Assemblyman Howard Mills could challenge Mr. Schumer. Mr. Schumer beat Mr. Mills in record numbers. Recently Edward Cox was edged out of the race to challenge Senator Clinton after Governor Pataki anointed Jeanine Pirro as his choice to fight Mrs. Clinton, only to see the excitement around Ms. Pirro, a doughty and admirable woman, wilt faster than a daisy on a wallflower.


Above all, it tells the voters something when the party of the invisible hand and the free market fails to ensure that these principles are applicable to elections. New York’s GOP badly needs a primary. Out-of-control spending in the state has helped make it one of the most highly taxed in the country, despite having a Republican governor since 1995. Maybe it would have helped had Mr. Pataki had a primary. For New Yorkers have yet to see Republican ideas – serious tax-cutting, school choice, reducing the size of government – fought for from the governor’s mansion. The GOP has a strong potential field, with the likes of Mr. Weld, Randy Daniels, John Faso, Thomas Golisano, Patrick Manning. They would benefit from honing their policies in a primary, while rank-and-file members would feel energized and excited again. The party needs a chairman who recognizes this.

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


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