My Problems With the Non-Partisan Party, Part 2

This article has recently been edited to include new facts & figures.

Recently, a poster here on Patch published an article to rebut my debunking of the new CNC flyer. Now I'm going respond to his article, a debunking of his debunking of my original debunking, if you will. Putting aside any witty humor, there are problems with the CNC, and it's not just limited to the way that the party elects their candidates- the Non-Partisan Party has implemented failed policies on our Village.

The poster talks in his article about the policies that the Non-Partisan Party has implemented, such as improving roads and keeping tax growth under 2%. Starting on roads, we all recognize the need to improve our roads. However, while the current Non-Partisan administration has implemented policies to try to tame the problem, it cannot be fixed by merely "increasing investment" a little bit. This won't fix any problems, especially if it mandates that we raise taxes. Sure, the Village has been fixing some roads here and there, but the problem is that cracked roads deteriorate much quicker than the Village is fixing them. A common solution offered by the Voter's Choice Party is offering municipal bonds. This is where the Village issues bonds that private citizens can buy, and the money that is spent on these bonds goes towards a specific cause. In this case, the revenue from the bonds would go towards improving our roads. These bonds, compared to paying the costs out of the Village budget, are much more affordable for the Village. Unlike paying up front out of our budget, we can realistically pay off these bonds by directing a small amount of money in our budget to these bonds over a long period of time. The best part is that we will pay barely any interest because of low interest rates and our AAA credit rating (as the poster mentions in his article). These bonds are not new at all to Village fiscal policy, as towns and villages across the nation have used these bonds to successfully do public works projects.

The other problem that has emerged under Non-Partisan administrations is the issue of taxes. This issue is one that consistently comes up when talking to voters. Just yesterday, I was handing out flyers at the Hartsdale Train Station, and one woman said that her biggest issue were taxes, and that she's irked that taxes keep going up every year. If you feel this way, the Non-Partisan Party is not for you. They are the people who have caused this problem. Since the tax cap has been implemented in 2011, the Village budget has overridden it every year except one. The even worse prospect is that they don't seem to be stopping. Already, the Mayor and our Trustees have announced that they will once again override the tax cap. This is unfortunately not new. According to Appendix A8 of the 2016/17 Village budget, every budget starting from the 2005/6 budget has increased taxes over a rate of 2%, except for the 2015/16 budget. In fact, four budgets have increased taxes by over 5%, and all of the budgets have tax increases that outpace inflation. Not only have tax rates consistently outgrew 2%, contrary to the Non-Partisan talking point, but these increases have led to some unfortunate victims. Seniors and empty-nesters, who may have originally come here for the schools, are now the biggest victims of these high tax rates. These populations will have to move out, and then a younger family moves in. We don't lose any revenue, but it costs more to maintain our schools, and so we enter into a "death spiral" when it comes to our taxes. As a result, the current tax rate is unsustainable. However, it has been Non-Partisan administrations that have caused these, and it will not get better if we vote in the Non-Partisan candidates.

On the qualifications of the candidates, both slates of candidates are very qualified for their respective positions. This is something that the poster recognizes in his piece. However, he mentions the experience of the Non-Partisan candidates on the Board of Trustees. In fact, two Trustee candidates nominated by the Non-Partisan Party are up for re-election, and the Mayor nominee has served two terms on the Board several years earlier. However, while this seems like a good thing, this means that the failed policies of the Village have been directly created and approved by these candidates. The poster also mentions that it makes them more familiar with Village operations. While this may be true to an extent, it's misleading. The vast majority of the information that the Trustees and Mayor reads are open to the general public, and all Village Trustee meetings are open to the public. Ever since the proposal of the failed 2016 revaluation, the Voter's Choice Party's four candidates have been intimately involved in keeping up with the actions of our Village. I'm confident that, as a result, the four Voter's Choice Party candidates will hit the ground running when they are sworn into their positions.

Another issue that is mentioned in the Patch article is the Non-Partisan Party nominating system, and how the electors are elected themselves. If you don't know, all of the Non-Partisan candidates are nominated by a board of 30 officials. These officials, in turn, are elected for 3-year terms from each elementary school district. The poster of the other article mentioned that this system is similar to the way that we elect judges here in Westchester, because the system allegedly makes character more important than views on policies. I don't doubt that character is important, but policy views are also very important when you are running for elected office. The poster says that candidates do have views on issues, but the fact is, they are not allowed to express these views when being grilled by the CNC. There has not been a contested election in Scarsdale for 18 years, and so we are essentially electing candidates to important positions without finding out their views on pressing issues in Scarsdale. The poster also mentions that turnout for CNC member elections are "in the thousands," but this is factually false. According to the 2016 LWVS Consensus statement, since 2009, turnout for CNC member elections has not peaked above 664 votes. Turnout has consistently gotten lower, with the lowest turnout being 224 votes in 2015. In a town with more than 10,000 registered voters, these low-turnout elections should not give the 30-member CNC a mandate to practically choose all of our elected officials. Anyone would agree that this small of the electorate choosing all of our elected officials is not healthy for our Village.

The rebuttal from the Non-Partisan Party to the above is the fact that the Voter's Choice Party's process in choosing their nominees is that "four Scarsdale citizens who think they can do a better job for the Village got together to run for office." And, while that is true, the story of the Voter's Choice Party candidates is actually the essence of what democratic politics is all about: regular citizens are unsatisfied with the current government, so they run for office themselves. There's nothing wrong with this. What I suspect that the opposition means is that the Voter's Choice Party did not democratically choose their candidates. However, when the CNC was choosing it's candidates, the "Voter's Choice Party" was merely an idea. It makes sense that they did not hold primaries, because the only people who were involved in the Voter's Choice Party at the time were the candidates, and possibly some of their friends and family. Every new idea needs visionaries and leaders, and these people have stepped up to the challenge of giving the Non-Partisan Party some challengers. So far, the response from the public has been amazing.

Something that the article also mentions is that Non-Partisan candidates are completely free, and don't "owe their candidacy to neither party bosses nor to explicit promises made to one faction of Village voters over another." If anyone owes their candidacy to anyone or anything, it would be that the Non-Partisan candidates owe their candidacy to the 30-person board that nominated them. Our Village elections don't use the traditional Democrat-Republican system, but the Non-Partisan Party is still a political party, with the same power structure and "party bosses" as any other party. To be fair, I've had the pleasure of meeting some of the Non-Partisan candidates, staff, and volunteers, and they're all amazing people. However, the system nonetheless makes it politically profitable to schmooze the 30-member CNC. After all, all CNC procedures are private, and we have no idea what the conversation between CNC members and potential nominees looks like. On the other claim that candidates don't make promises, that may be true, but it may not be a good thing. We all know politicians as greedy individuals who make empty promises, and probably for a good reason. However, the promises that our elected official make, help keep them accountable once they are in office. Not making any promises will set the bar low for our elected officials, but we should have a high standard for them. The test of a politician is not whether or not they don't make promises, but whether or not they make promises, and then follow through on them.

For all of the reasons above, I believe that the Voter's Choice Party is the best pick for the March 21st Village election. Check them out more at voterschoiceparty.com.

Jack Greenspan is a freshman at Scarsdale High School, and is a supporter of the Scarsdale Voter's Choice Party.