After being passed over by the Independence and Conservative parties, Nancy Naples will be interviewing with the Green party next week. Her opponent, Democrat Jeff Swiatek has already interviewed with local members of the minor party that sponsored Ralph Nader’’s run for president last year. Usually, the Green endorsement is not considered tremendously significant in local races - since the line often attracts less than 1% of the vote. But, in the Erie County Comptroller ‘‘s race, which is expected to be close, it may be pivotal. Consider: the incumbent, Naples, has only the Republican endorsement, (and an obscure line named "Smart") and, some, mainly Democrats, as the old adage goes, will vote for a "yellow dog" rather than a Republican.
Naples needs the Green line.
Which reminds of us of an old story, which we might as well ascribe to Naples, to illustrate our point: Nancy Naples was going door to door in Cheektowaga and came upon a tree (crabapple) lined street. Knocking at the first door, she said, "Hi, I’’m Nancy Naples, the Republican candidate for Comptroller. Would you vote for me?" The man at the door looked at the comely Ms. Naples, but with a squinty eye, and said "Republican candidate? Why, I’’d sooner vote for the devil."
Naples replied, "well, would you consider me in the event your friend doesn’’t run?"
Naples’’s opponent, Jeff Swiatek will be on the ballot as a Democrat, Independence, and Conservative, and, quite possibly, Green. He is aligned with the general philosophy of the Greens--- anti-sprawl, pro- green space preservation and its public acquisition, pro- living wage laws, and agrees that government should keep out of the anti -abortion law making business (pro- choice).
Where Naples stands on these issues - some of which, admittedly, have little to do with a County Comptroller’’s race, is, of course, up to her to express. She will be asked.
If the Green’’s are looking for clout, however, supporting Naples may be opportunistic. Naples will likely attract more than the usual votes cast for candidates on the Green line - since "Yellow Dog" Democrats who prefer Naples to Swiatek would likely have recourse to the Green alternative rather than the unknown Smart line, or voting for Naples as a Republican. (In her last elections, Naples had the Independence and Conservative lines to accommodate the "Yellow Dogs") Hence, if the Greens were the margin of victory, or even if they gave Naples good numbers on their line, this might prompt future candidates to work harder to secure the Green endorsement and it could mean that Green ideals would be advanced more prominently in local political spheres.
On the other hand, the Green’’s decision on Comptroller may be made absent of much speculation about perceived gains in political clout; the Greens pride themselves on being indifferent to election considerations and are concerned with the ideology of a candidate. It can backfire dramatically. Consider their support of environmentalist Ralph Nader who, effectually, was the margin of victory for President Bush - a man who represents almost all things Greens oppose. Still, in answer to the critics who blamed the Greens, and Nader particularly, the Greens had a right to field their own candidate and a duty to support him. Unfortunately, sometimes politics work differently than ideology. Thanks in part to the Greens’’s quixotic effort to save our daily- degrading environment, the oil interests (Bush) - arguably, the single most polluting, anti-green influence in the world - now rules (and pollutes) and will be changing the landscape from Florida to Alaska.
Locally, however, the party needs to decide whom to support for County Comptroller. My guess is that the "watchdog" issue (ie elect a Comptroller who is of a different party than the County Executive to watch (partisan) expenditures) will weigh heavily- giving Swiatek a slight edge. But, Naples, who has charm, credentials and a host of interesting ideas, may well persuade the committee that she deserves another term.
