Before Mayor Giuliani was elected, politicians told the voters that New York City was ungovernable, the welfare system could not be reformed and that high crime was inevitable. Meanwhile, middle-class working people in our city bore the burden of paying the nation's highest tax rates. Democrats, who completely ran the city back then, refused to address these problems. They called them the byproducts of living in a large, ethnically diverse urban environment.
Even throughout the 1980's, when America was experiencing the "Reagan Revolution," many American cities lagged behind, not feeling the full effect of the reform started in Washington, D.C. This was very much the case in New York City, which seemed to hit rock-bottom in the early 1990's.
In 1993 Rudy Giuliani was elected mayor in a stunning and close victory. He quickly proceeded to prove that the Democrats were wrong - New York City was not doomed to fail and reform was possible with the right kind of policies and the right kind of leadership.
With a clear agenda for governing the city, Mayor Giuliani succeeded dramatically in preventing crime, cutting taxes, and growing the economy. He foresaw, where others did not, that blighted neighborhoods were not lost causes and that new ideas could make a big difference. Quickly, these areas became major centers of commercial and community life. Businesses returned to NYC, property values climbed and New York became the safest big city in America.
In 2001, the Republicans nominated Michael Bloomberg as their candidate to succeed Rudy Giuliani's very successful 8 years as Mayor. Bloomberg vowed to continue to build on the Giuliani record of achievement and won the election in yet another close contest.
Both of these men were elected because they better represented the values of the people of New York City than their Democratic opponents. This, in spite of the fact that in NYC Democrats outnumber Republicans 5 to 1. They each proposed bold and innovative ideas to solve the most pressing issues facing New Yorkers, while attempting to make NYC a better, safer place to live, work and raise a family.
Strangely, the same New Yorkers who enthusiastically voted for republican mayors have not voted for republicans for local offices at the city, state or federal level. Even after all the successes of Giuliani and Bloomberg, NYC voters still hold on to negative stereotypes of what a Republican is. To a large extent this is because local races rarely offer voters as much information about the different candidates as a mayoral race. Voters often cast their ballots along party lines, basing their vote mainly on what they perceive to be a generic republican.
As Mayor Giuliani remains one of the most popular Mayors ever to have served and Mayor Bloomberg enjoys solid approval numbers, it is clear that if these Republicans were able to get enough votes to win in citywide elections, other Republicans, holding similar positions on issues concerning NYC, should be able to win local races.
Unfortunately, almost the entire delegation of NYC's elected officials today, at the city, state and federal level, are democrats. This is due in large part to the persisting inaccurate stereotype voters have of Republicans. In many ways, this stereotype has essentially caused NYC to lose its two party system and, along the way, a competitive election process.
Without competition, our present elected officials are able to cling to the failed politics of the past, continue to support higher state and federal taxes, watch as more than 20 billion dollars a year are taken from NYC taxpayers to be used in other counties and states. They then complain about not getting our "fair share" of state and federal spending. These legislators receive millions in campaign contributions from liberal special interest groups that then demand the continual expansion of government programs that serve the interests of these special interests more than the people of NYC.
Shortly after the 2001 election, a group of political activists who were seeking further reforms in NYC governance and who wanted to help Mayor Bloomberg keep NYC moving forward, banded together to foster a new identity, sense of purpose and a reform-minded agenda for an otherwise moribund NYC Republican party.
The Urban Republican Coalition was the result of that collaboration. The platform we have crafted addresses some of the fundamental problems (crime, taxes, education, etc.) that afflict New York City and offers solutions that we believe would help keep New York the greatest city in the world.
The Urban Republican Coalition's main goal is to reintroduce the Republican Party and it's candidates to the voters of NYC. We know that most New Yorkers agree with urban republican issues because of their overwhelming support for our Republican Mayors. This is why a successful re-branding of the word "Republican" in NYC will lead to making local Republican candidates more viable and will change the face of politics in our urban environment.
Our mission necessarily includes electing reformers to local offices in the City Council, State Senate and Assembly, and the US Congress who will better represent the interests of their constituents.
Our challenge is to be ready to confront the establishment politicians who rule urban politics and who seem more concerned with supporting the failed bureaucracy responsible for the deterioration of Urban America than in responding to the basic needs required by its people.
By giving the Republican Party a strong, identifiable message that is consistent with our values and philosophy, and that clearly differentiates us from the Democratic Party, we intend to appeal to many factions of disaffected voters - Republicans unhappy with the Party's urban effort's, Independents looking for responsible and effective leadership, and centrist Democrats who do not agree with their elected officials allegiance to labor unions, out of control welfare programs, ever higher taxes, and irresponsible spending policies.
In 2003, this group of Urban Republican activists, armed with a reform agenda and empowered with a new identity and sense of purpose, ran for NY City Council. Their efforts were rewarded with more money than normally contributed to small local races and a great deal more attention from the NYC press. Urban Republicans were now on the map, with the candidates even co-authoring an editorial in the NY Post on how to fix NYC.
The necessity for Republicans to devise a new strategy to compete for votes in the major cities is clear. The states with the largest cities are the ones where Republicans have the most difficulty winning statewide elections and electoral votes. We have no choice but to face the reality that it is in the urban arena that Republicans must challenge Democrats with a principled attack on their bankrupt policies.
Democrats are ill prepared for this fight. The house of cards that currently keeps all their disparate factions together will fall easily from a direct, principled, sustained attack that pits conservative ideas for reforming urban America against failed liberal ones. New York City is the ideal terrain to wage this historic battle. After all, if we can do it in NY, we can do it anywhere.
With minority voters beginning to abandon the Democratic Party, the time is at hand to take advantage of this shift in attitude and exploit the Democrats' weaknesses. To hesitate and lose sight of our ultimate goal will mean a tremendous opportunity lost, leaving only a footnote in the history books marking its passing.
In his farewell address to the nation in January 1989, President Reagan commented that "we meant to change a nation, and instead, we changed a world." With the Urban Republican Platform we intend to change a City, and in so doing, we hope to help change a nation. We believe that by leading on the big issues in ways that are consistent with Republican philosophies we will, in the words of Ronald Reagan, have our "rendezvous with destiny."
If Republicans can mount pressure for reform by running multiple candidates stressing the same reform-oriented themes, then finally we will be able to compete by attracting voters, new party members, and committed activists. We want New York to remain the model of success it became during the Giuliani era - an oasis of culture and prosperity with safe streets and neighborhoods - and continue to build on the progress he made.
Against long odds, Ronald Reagan and Rudolph Giuliani began their careers by offering voters a clear vision, principled positions and bold, new ideas. We seek now to do for New York City what they did for the nation and city they served. Please join us in our efforts to bring competition to New York City politics and all of urban America.
