My Predictions for Fusion
Jul 15th, 2010 by Tennessee Walker
First off, for those who have said that fusion is legal for filing in a major party primary based on the non passage of a particular bill, you have gotten it totally wrong.
The legislation that would have eliminated fusion was aimed at candidates wishing to gain GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT STATUS.
One could call the non fusion bill the Barbara Allsop bill. Barbara Allsop lost to John Feroce in a Republican Primary for the 14th Senatorial District. After losing in the Primary, Barbara Proceeded to accept the IPOD nomination for State Senator. Allsop got 2 bites of the Apple no one else got. Based on election results her entry into the race did little in Feroce losing to the terminally ill James Vaughn.
Celia Cohen has a different take on this. Celia blames former Republican State Chairman for this State of Affairs. In her post here http://www.delawaregrapevine.com/7-10triplefiling.asp
Celia blames Terry Strine for the current state of affairs. Celia Opines that it was a desire by Strine to see Markell as a fusion candidate that derailed the deal he made with John Daniello. Republicans could only pray that Strine had that level of forethought. The truth is no one could figure out why Terry Strine did what he did.
Hello Celia, Was it not Strine’s job to elect Bill Lee???? It would appear to me that those who booted Strine out in 2008 deserve a medal. He did the Republicans no favors and then he screwed John Daniello. What an idiot.
I suspect John Daniello and I have little in common politically. That being said, if Terry Strine screwed John Daniello on this issue then John has a legitimate gripe. To date the facts are with Daniello. (Yes this hurts me say this to no end)
Based on what I have seen so far I will work with anyone to clear up this chaos. Fusion does not imply Chaos. I had no problem with Fusion until this whole mess. This incident has changed my mind.
One can’t depend on the Beau Biden group of incompetnents and we must make election law clear to the biggest dolts out there. I am speaking of Ann Woolfolk.
The use of fusion to gain ballot access for the sake of access is silly. Fusion to address the need particularly as a Republican to build coalitions is necessary to win makes sense.
To be fair to the leaders involved Terry Strine had many more positives than negatives. He was head of the party as it hit the wall in voter registration and effectiveness from which it will take 10-15 years to recover from. I don’t know the inner workings of what he thought or did, I will let him speak for himself as Delaware Grapevine is hardly an authority on anything of merit.
The difficulty with fusion is how it is gained. I pursued the IPOD endorsement in 2008 and the Chancery Court ruled in our favor when the IPOD process was challenged. I came up short against Lee and I stepped aside to give Lee a fair shot at the general election. I was not asked to do it, I offered to do it.
Unfortunately, third parties are great reservoirs of principled people but not disciplined or effective party machines to gain election. That is their challenge to overcome.
In closing, Fusion to build a coalition to win is great. Fusion to disrupt the process is foolish.
Mike Protack
These guys are not trying to disrupt the process. They are trying to build a party. They are trying to make coalitions with voters who sympathize with them.
Dave, if the L’s are trying to build a party, doesn’t it make sense for them to reach out and get people to join the L party because of its principles, etc., etc.
Forcing you way onto another party’s ballot in hopes of becoming that party’s candidate as well is no way to win friends.
I understand fusion as a process.
I even knew Terry Strine oncit. egad….by me he ruined the Demo party. I also understand that IPOD is the Independent Party of Delaware, not that thing I have that constantly loses battery power after two songs.
But I really don’t know many of the people mention in TW’s post. Somebody named Woolrey?
I really wish folks would think a bit more like someone reading this info for the first time. I understand it’s a pain to be re-writing the same thing over and over.
Maybe links to a history of some sort?
People get bored, take their ball and go home when they don’t understand a narrative, even a well-written, thought-filled one.
Silly me…I meant Strine ruined the Delaware Repub party. That guy loved RINO’s.
And here I am complaining about lack of clarity.
Forcing their way on the ballot? It’s called FILING. It’s not illegal, it’s not extortion, it’s reality. The idea was to show that the Libertarian Party is the bridge between R and D. Is that true? I don’t know…maybe.
Don’t hate the playa…hate the game.
Sounds like a whole lot of people upset because the new kids learned how to play ball better than them.