Woman Who Ran for President on a General Election Ballot

Who is the woman who put the first crack in that highest, hardest glass ceiling, the Presidency?

That honor belongs to a beautiful, colorful and convention-defying woman named Victoria Woodhull, who ran for the office in 1872.  Woodhull, who died nearly twenty years before Hillary Clinton was even born, hazarded a path on which no woman before her had ever dared to tread.  Even more amazing is that she did it almost 50 years before the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920 gave women the right to vote.  On Election Day, November 5, 1872, Victoria Woodhull couldn’t even vote for herself.  Although it must be noted that she could not have voted for herself in any case, given the fact that she was incarcerated on Election Day, and for a month or so after, in New York City’s Ludlow Street Jail on obscenity charges.

Woodhull ran under the banner of the Equal Rights Party, formerly the People’s Party, which supported equal rights for women and women’s suffrage.  The party nominated her in May 1872 in New York City to run uphill against incumbent Republican Ulysses S. Grant and Democrat Horace Greeley and selected as her running mate, Frederick Douglass, former escaped slave-turned-abolitionist writer and speaker.  On paper, it was an impressive pick, but not really.  Douglass never appeared at the party’s nominating convention, never agreed to run with Woodhull, never participated in the campaign and actually gave stump speeches for Grant.

But that’s just one more of many caveats about Woodhull, who, throughout her long life, she died in England in 1927 at age 88, never much cared for rules or regulations of a game she considered egregiously rigged against women.  On inauguration day, she would have been just 34 years old.  Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution requires that the president be 35 on the day “he” takes office.  In the end, though, her youth was the most moot of moot points, because Victoria received zero electoral votes.  There’s no record of how many popular votes she received.

We do know that 12 years later, Belva Ann Lockwood, running ran for President under the banner of the National Equal Rights Party and racked up 4,149 votes in six states.

The next major candidate was Linda Jenness in 1972, running on the Socialist Workers Party and received 83,380 in 25 states.

Next we jump to 1984, where Sonia Johnson, running on the Citizens Party label and received 72,200 in 19 states.

Then we come to 1988 and my friend, Dr. Lenora Fulani, the first woman and African-American, who was on the ballot in all 50 states and received 217,219 votes and received Presidential matching funds.  She ran under the banner of the New Alliance Party.  She ran again in 1992 and received 73,714.

CLICK HERE for a full list of woman who ran for President in a General Election.











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

NYC Operation Conversation: Cops & Kids

After watching a MSNBC segment on the President's meeting discussing what happened in Ferguson, I wondered why they did not talk about our Cops and Kids program.

Operation Conversation: Cops & Kids is an innovative police-community relations model program run by the All Stars Project in partnership with the New York Police Department.&bsp; The program uses performance, improvisation and conversation to help teenagers and police officers in New York City's low income neighborhoods build respect and improve their relationship.

Cops & Kids began in 2006, at a moment when the relationship between inner-city youth and the police, while never easy, was especially tense following the shooting of Sean Bell, a young Black man in Queens.  The program was founded by Dr. Lenora Fulani, a developmental psychologist, community activist and co-founder of the All Stars Project, who was eager to change the culture of mistrust between young people in our communities and the officers who police those communities.  As she explains, "The two hardest things to be in this city are being a police officer and being a Black and Latino kid.  My interest is in helping each to see each other as a human being.  That might be useful in the middle of a tense situation one day."  Cops & Kids uses the ASP's innovative performance approach to create a new relationship between police officers and young people of color from New York's poor communities, a relationship that is all too often filled with mutual distrust, animosity and stereotypical attitudes about the 'other'.

Since the program's inception, Dr. Fulani has led over 100 workshops involving thousands of youth and police officers.  During the workshops, cops and kids play theater games and create improvisational performances together, thereby creating an environment for having honest (and difficult) dialogues.  In addition, thousands more community members and police officers have participated in Demonstration Workshop performances all over the city which have broadened and deepened the impact of Cops & Kids in the NYPD and across New York City communities.

A survey of program participants conducted in 2013 showed:

- 88% of young people and 66% of police officers said that they learned something new about the other in the workshop

- 100% of young people and 93% of police officers said that the workshops played a positive role in promoting communication between police and youth

- 84% of all respondents said that the experience would positively affect how they would interact in the future

- 89% agreed that the Cops and Kids workshop was a step in establishing positive communication and promoting positive interactions between police and young people



As of October 2011, the NYPD officially incorporated Operation Conversation: Cops & Kids into the training of its police officers.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

Interviews by a Black Independent

NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial

The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial is a memorial scheduled to be dedicated on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall on August 28, 2011, the 48th anniversary of King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
It will be located adjacent to the FDR Memorial, between the Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson Memorial, and will honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's national and international contributions to the American dream—a dream he spoke of in terms of possibility and hope—and its pillars of freedom, democracy, and opportunity for all.

On Saturday, August 27th, Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network are holding a march and rally. They will be marching from the Lincoln Memorial to the King Memorial----from the emancipator to the liberator.

Dr. Fulani's All Stars Project will be there as a co-sponsor of the March and Dr. Fulani will be speaking. Rev. Sharpton wants to make a statement about where Dr. King and the movement he lead came from---that movement came from the poor, the dispossessed, and the maladjusted. That is also where the All Stars comes from.

Use the above link for more information about the Memorial.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

SC Rep. Joe Neal - Independent Spirit Award

South Carolina Rep. Joe Neal Receives Independent Spirit Award from NYC Independence Party

On June 6, 2011, I attended the New York County Chairman's Reception. This event was special for me as I took part in one of the call banks to let the voters of South Carolina know that the republicans were trying to close their primary. We were able to stop their effort in the courts.

Use the above link to The Hankster's blog to view this presentation.

Constitutional attorney Harry Kresky introduces Dr. Lenora Fulani who introduces South Carolina Representative Joseph Neal, "a black leader who stood up and said open primaries are fundamental to the political rights of black folks". Rep. Neal was honored with the Independent Spirit Award at the NYC Independence Party Manhattan Spring Chairman's Reception hosted by Cathy Stewart at Tribeca Grill.

Even if I think we need a new voting selection process, sometimes the good guys/gals win!!









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

National Conference of Independents in New York City in 2011

We will be holding a National Conference of Independents in New York City on Feb. 12, 2011 at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. It will be hosted by CUIP political director Jackie Salit.

Independents from over 38 states will gather for a day long event featuring an in-depth look at how independents can increase visibility and influence in the political process. Use the above link for more information.



The program highlights are:

New Documentary
Watch the premier of the latest political documentary by Jackie Salit, the President and Founder of IndependentVoting.org. This multimedia presentation covers the impact of the independent movement on the Obama White House, on Congress, on the political parties and on a cross section of political forces. This cutting edge documentary is a great introduction to independent politics. It explains the relevance of the independent movement to urgent social, economic and cultural problems in America.

Talk/Talk
Hear a "Talk/Talk" conversation with Jackie Salit and Dr. Fred Newman, the Stanford-trained philosopher, playwright, author and pioneer of independent politics. Talk/Talk is a Newman/Salit specialty - think Charlie Rose, Oprah and Aristotle all rolled up into one!

Panel Discussion
Moderated by Jackie Salit and General Counsel, Harry Kresky

The panel includes:

Theresa Amato, Ralph Nader's Presidential Campaign Manager in 2004
John Avlon, Senior Political Consultant, Founder, No Labels
Lenora Fulani, Co-founder, independentvoting.org
Michael Hardy, General Counsel, National Action Network
Douglas Schoen, pollster and author
Abel Maldonado, former Lt. Governor of California
James Mangia, Executive Director, St. John's Well Child & Family Center; Founding Secretary, National Reform Party
Cathy Stewart, Chair, New York County Independence Party
Bradley Tusk, Founder, Tusk Strategies; Campaign manager Bloomberg 2009

Mock Trial
Are you a fan of Law and Order, The Good Wife, or even Judge Judy? If so, you don't want to miss this. We will be staging a mock trial to explore a fictional (but not improbable) "people vs. the parties" controversy. A cast of prominent civil rights and election lawyers, actors, elected officials, and a famous "surprise witness" will stage a courtroom trial and in the process shed light on the growing conflict between parties' rights and voters' rights.

Dispatches from the Movement
Get the inside scoop from leaders on what's happening on the ground, behind the scenes, in the hallways of power and on the street corners, as independents intensify their efforts to enact structural political reforms like open primaries across the country. This is independent politics straight from the source.

Discussion and Dialogue
Conference attendees will have the opportunity to discuss the days' proceedings in an open mic session, not to mention the chance to meet and mingle throughout the day.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

National Conference of Independents in New York City in 2011

We will be holding a National Conference of Independents in New York City on Feb. 12, 2011 at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. It will be hosted by CUIP political director Jackie Salit.

Independents from over 38 states will gather for a day long event featuring an in-depth look at how independents can increase visibility and influence in the political process. Use the above link for more information.












NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

NYC Charter Revision Commission 7/26/2010

Thanks to The Hankster for this video.

I attended this meeting in Harlem of the NYC Charter Revision Commission. There was a panel discussing about the use of date and reporting requirements. There are many reports that are not needed anymore. There should be more use of new technologies for presenting the information for official and public use.

The meeting was upended when protesters stormed the meeting and demanded the panel slow down and listen to the public. "The city charter, revisions, is going too fast. I mean, they aren't discussing anything except term limits," said Joseph Little of Community Voices Heard. The disruption was allowed to do their thing and left peacefully.

The next panel discussed the consolidation of the many, around 12, Administration Justice Tribunals. This change would allow the standardization of procedures, use of judges, and putting the tribunals in each of the five boroughs under The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH).

Then the chairman gave dates for the next meetings. The most important date was 8/12/2010, the date the commission will decide which items will go on the November 2010 ballot.

Then the meeting was opened to the general public. Some of the topics the public spoke about was Term Limits, Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), Community Boards: Land Use, Budgets, Elected members not Appointed, and the lack of City Planners on the boards.

This is Dr. Fulani's comments about this commissions' operations.




As I have complained earlier, Dr. Fulani spoke about the commission trying to do what is the responsibility of community organizers and the voting public, educate and have a chance to express their choices at the voting booth, now an optical scan machine.

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us

NYC Charter Revision Commission Meeting

Thanks to the Hankster for this post.


I attended the meeting in Manhattan on 4/6/2010.


Dr. Lenora Fulani urges NYC Charter Revision Commission to consider nonpartisan elections that would allow all voters, including independent and unaffiliated, to vote in primaries.


Attorney Harry Kresky speaks in favor of nonpartisan elections at the NYC Charter Revision Commission.

You can read Lenora Fulani's testimony here, and Harry Kresky's here.

I was interested in discussions about Term Limits, Non-Partisan Municipal Elections, and Proportional Representation. I think the issues should be on the ballot individually, not bundled.

Michael H. Drucker
Technorati Tag in Del.icio.us