On the master lever, I am a hypocrite
On Monday morning, I argued that abolition of the single party option (SPO, better known as the so-called “master lever”) should fail, even though it’s good policy to abolish it. In it, I argue the opposite for what I’d argued about five months before: that regardless of the benefit abolition would accrue for proponents, it [...]
What’s really wrong with the master lever
Bob Plain has spent a lot of time in a back and forth with Ken Block about the issue of eliminating the straight-party option (a.k.a. master lever), even bringing in Speaker Gordon Fox to defend its place on the ballot. I’d like to move the debate away from questions of political motivation and toward some [...]
Master lever politics: Fox responds to Block
Here’s my unedited interview with House Speaker Gordon Fox, who expressed no small amount of frustration with Ken Block for the way in which he has handled his campaign to make straight party voting more difficult in Rhode Island. Important update: I’m told this is the first time Fox has publicly taken a position on [...]
Why Ken Block Wants To Kill The Master Lever
Ken Block seems to be on a mission to distract Rhode Island from issues that actually matter to our economy. This week it’s the master lever again. Last week it was temporary disability insurance. The week before that it was food stamp fraud. What these issues all have in common, besides being among Block’s favorite [...]
Lose the Lever
Rhode Island is one of only 15 states left that still offers the option of party-line voting, and the only state in the Northeast. It appears as if 2013 will see a renewed and strengthened effort to remove this vestigial electoral organ. Ken Block is leading a petition drive to push the issue. [You can [...]
Quiet Conservatives by Banning Master Lever
Moderate Party chairman and possible gubernatorial candidate Ken Block is out with a new website, masterlever.org, which petitions the Governor and the General Assembly to eliminate the ability to vote solely based on party line (a.k.a., the “master lever”). As a case study for why it should be banned, Mr. Block offers up the 9000+ [...]
Don’t Rule Moderates Out
In a year where there were only four candidates across the state marked as belonging to the Moderate Party on the ballot (most people never saw them and the fifth and sole successful Moderate Party candidate ran in a nonpartisan race), 9249 voters used the so-called “master lever” to vote for the Moderate Party. With [...]
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