Nassau and Suffolk Democratic committee members are announcing a regional caucus arrangement that -- at least according to those involved -- shunts aside past border skirmishes between the county organizations. According to weighted vote calculations based on the 2006 election results for governor, they say, the two Long Island counties now combine for a 15 percent share statewide. That's formidable when you consider it takes 25 percent to, say, put a primary candidate on a statewide ballot.
"Long Island for too long has been taken for granted, regarded as just a suburb that hangs off of New York," said Nassau chairman Jay Jacobs. "We are very determined to use that voting power to make sure attention is brought to Long Island issues."
Richard Schaffer, Suffolk chairman, said, "This is a great opporunity to make sure our statewide elected officials know just how critical Long Island has been to Democratic statewide victories."
New York City, by comparison, has declined in its percentage of the weighted vote from 47 to 34 percent, and Brooklyn and Queens combined are said to total about 17 percent. Schaffer, in his brief joint appearance with Jacobs before the executive committee of the state party here today in Saratoga, even invited Queens and Brooklyn to join, for geographic solidarity's sake.
Dan Janison
Comments (1)
This is a smart move. When I was Suffolk GOP Chairman I tired to do this with Nassau in an informal way. In those days, combined we had about 22% of the weighted vote statewide. People take notice when you have such a huge block of votes....provided, of course, you can control them!