Len Bernardo, the Ulster County Independence Party Boss.

As a first order of business, the party’s name must be changed.

Read The Daily News article published Monday, December 10, 2012.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Far more than anyone else, Gov. Cuomo has the power to push Independence Party leaders to stop the deceptions by which they have undeservedly placed candidates on the ballot and altered the course of the vote.
• Cuomo must not be the candidate of a party that has built its enrollment through voter error.
• Cuomo must not be the candidate of a party whose election results are boosted by voter error.
• Cuomo must not be the candidate of a party whose very name — in this case IndependENCE, so easily mistaken for independENT — violates New York’s policy of eliminating all confusion at the polls.
• Cuomo must not be the candidate of a party that has stocked its governing structures with unwitting New Yorkers so as to appear to meet the legal requirements for placing candidates on ballots.
• Cuomo must set an example to be followed by other officeholders and would-be officeholders.
• Commonly, statewide candidates have explained signing on with the party by saying that its leaders represent more than 400,000 voters. This is now proven false. Instead, the party is dominated by a small clique of faux powerbrokers the shunning of whom must be complete.
• Independence Party founders saw value in the word “independence” from the very start.
• The confusion engendered by the Independence name is their primary asset. Without its pulling power, they would be forced to compete honestly for support.
• They would have to adopt a title that makes clear to voters and would-be voters that the organization is, in fact, a party and not a catchall for people and candidates who want to exercise the franchise free of political labels.

Read The Daily News article