Sunday, March 23, 2008
Kudos for "Doing the Right Thing"
Frank Feinberg, chairman of the 29th State Assembly Democratic Committee, is honorable and honest -- and he demonstrated that and his commitment to democracy and fairness on Friday (3/21/08) evening when he "righted a wrong."
If you scroll down on this blog, you'll see we've been critical of how the endorsement of Brad Kirsch, candidate for State Assembly for the 29th District, was handled. After fairly assessing the situation and looking at all sides of the mess handed to him, Feinberg quickly assembled a quorum of the 29th in a neutral site to re-evaluate the situation.
The 21 members who were able to come or be represented by proxy had an opportunity to meet both candidates (Kirsch and Benjamin Irey, see below also). They fairly addressed questions to both, and reconsidered whether to have an "open primary" (where there are no endorsed candidates) or one in which the committee people endorse one candidate or the other. No matter the committee's decision, both candidates will be on the ballot on April 22nd, having both qualified by pe
tition. An endorsed candidate has his name listed on the County's official "goldenrod" sample ballot.
tition. An endorsed candidate has his name listed on the County's official "goldenrod" sample ballot.Brad Kirsch -- this time, fair and square -- received 15 of the 21 votes by 29th State Assembly Committee, and thus has received the endorsement.
Many people have both criticized and complimented our involvement in this issue, and have asked "why bother?" when the 29th is not our voting district. The reason is simple: the earlier process was flawed. We feel it's our place to be "right fighters" ... if you're going to have a process in place, at least respect it and the Democratic Way.
Thank you to the Chairman of the 29th, Frank Feinberg, for demonstrating this shared belief in doing the right thing. I respect him even more today for having done so.
