Nashua (New Hampshire) Democrat Reveals He's A Communist

CBS4BOSTON ^ | 06 NOVEMBER 2006 | AP

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

(AP) NASHUA, N.H. -- Democratic Party leaders in New Hampshire are disavowing a legislative candidate in Nashua who identified himself on a questionnaire as a Democrat and a Communist.

Twenty-two-year-old Daniel Keating is one of five candidates running for three seats House District 25, in the Nashua area.

Keating is listed on the ballot as a Democrat, but in a questionnaire for The Nashua Telegraph's online voter guide, he also described his party affiliation as Communist Party of the United States of America.

Keating said Monday that he joined the Communist Party USA about a year ago because it promotes issues of concern to working people, such as a fair minimum wage.

The Democratic Party isn't endorsing Keating because he listed the Communist Party affiliation.

[longshadow]

Apparently they only get $ 200 a year.

$200/term = $100/year....

........ plus mileage.

[Cincinna]

I live in NY and I got a call today from Eliot Spitzer urging me to vote for him on the Working Families Party line.

They are very aggressive and have been very successful.

If you are in NY you might want to vote for GOP candidates on the Conservative Party line D. The WFP is looking to bump up a not h and go from line E to line D.

[RegulatorCountry]

All three of them look like they've been living under a bridge for a few years.

[sergeantdave]

Why would rats reject a fellow communist comrade? Marx (not Groucho) is written over everything they do.

[So Circumstanced]

That guy is the poster child for the insidious phenomenon called "Massachusetts North".
(Goodbye to self reliant individualists of independent thought ; ... Hello to "sheeple" herded by nanny state ruses and empty promises.)

[RoadTest]

Hmm. First John Kerry reveals the Democrats' sentiments about our protectors and now Daniel Keating reveals the Democrats' political identity. Lots of October surprises. I'll take 'em, even of they're in November!

Go and vote, all you Conservatives! Vote for the lesser of the two evils!

[muir_redwoods]

They are both small states but there is a difference between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In MA, the democrats would have endorsed a communist or maybe even required their candidate to join the CPUSA

[RoadTest]

"WORKING FAMILIES PARTY"

Is that like the Peoples' Democratic Republic?

[3niner]

"Communists are just Democrats in a hurry!"

That one's so good it should be a tag line. :-)

[oyez]

he joined the Communist Party USA about a year ago because it promotes issues of concern to working people, such as a fair minimum wage.

That is a poor reason to embrace an organization who's goal and singular purpose is to to destroy the constitution.

[DesScorp]

Anyone really surprised?

[relictele]

The Democratic Party isn't endorsing Keating because he listed the Communist Party affiliation.

He failed the 'too truthful' test.

[joylyn]

I got this call, too. The voice of Spitzer urges me to vote my values and pull the lever for the Working Families Party.

[Cincinna]

What is The Working Families Party? A Far Left Group that is on the ballot in NY State running candidates like Hillary Clinton, Andrew Cuomo, and Eliot Spitzer. http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6965

* Front group for ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)

* Functions as a political party in New York State and Connecticut, running or cross-endorsing candidates for local, state, and federal office

* Works closely with Hillary Clinton

The Working Families Party (WFP) has exhorted New York State voters to "help stop the Bush agenda and elect a Democratic majority to the House of Representatives" by supporting its "Take Back Congress" project. "If Democratic candidates win 15 seats nationally this fall," says WFP, "Republicans will lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and lose the ability to pass legislation that advances the Bush agenda. A Democratic majority would have the ability to hold real oversight hearings on the abuse of civil liberties, fraud by military contractors like Halliburton, and the way war is being waged in Iraq. We believe there is no more important political effort in 2006 than taking back the House of Representatives. … New York is a key battleground state in the fight to Take Back Congress, and voter demographics make the WFP an essential part of any realistic plan to win several seats in this state. … Our thesis is simple: The WFP provides an effective vehicle for persuading independent voters, many of whom are alienated from the Democratic Party but ready for change, to vote for the Democratic candidate."

Currently composed of some 30,000 members, the Working Families Party (WFP) is a front group for ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). WFP functions as a political party in New York State and Connecticut, promoting ACORN-friendly candidates. Unlike conventional political parties, WFP charges its members dues -- about $60 per year -- a policy characteristic of ACORN and its affiliates.

According to the party's website, WFP is a coalition founded jointly by ACORN, the Communications Workers of America, and the United Automobile Workers. However, ACORN clearly dominates the coalition. New York ACORN leader Steven Kest was the moving force in forming the party, and WFP headquarters are located at the same address as ACORN's national office, at 88 Third Avenue in Brooklyn, New York.

"The [Working Families Party] was created in 1998 to help push the Democratic Party toward the left," noted the Associated Press in 2000. In pursuit of this goal, WFP runs radical candidates in state and local elections. Generally, WFP candidates conceal their extremism beneath a veneer of populist rhetoric, promoting bread-and-butter issues designed to appeal to union workers and other blue-collar voters, Republican and Democrat alike.

The Working Families Party benefits from a quirk of New York State (and Connecticut) election law which allows parties to "cross-endorse" candidates of other parties. Thus when Hillary Clinton ran for the Senate in 2000, she ran both on the Democratic Party ticket and on the Working Families Party ticket. Of the 3.4 million popular votes Ms. Clinton received from New Yorkers, the Working Families Party delivered 103,000.

"Candidates know that when they're on our line, they're committed to certain things," explains Bertha Lewis, who moonlights as WFP co-chair and New York ACORN Executive Director. Speaking days before Mrs. Clinton won her Senate seat in 2000, Lewis noted, "Hillary knows that if she wins, we're going to be knockin' on her door. She won't be able to hide."

In the November 2000 election, WFP cross-endorsed Al Gore and Hillary Clinton. WFP won 80,000 votes for Gore and, as noted above, some 103,000 votes for Clinton.

During the campaign, Mrs. Clinton spoke at numerous WFP events, most memorably at the party's debut convention, held March 26-27, 2000 at the Desmond Hotel in Albany -- an event which the Communist newspaper People's Weekly World approvingly called "a turning point in New York politics." After receiving WFP's endorsement, Clinton vowed to wage a "people's grassroots campaign." "[T]here have been few candidates in history more supportive of our issues than Al Gore and Hillary Clinton," proclaimed WFP campaign literature.

In the 2004 election cycle, a new force entered New York politics: billionaire financier George Soros. The Soros-funded Drug Policy Alliance -- a drug legalization lobby through which Soros often funnels political contributions -- gave $81,500 to the Albany County District Attorney campaign of Democrat David Soares. Instead of donating the money directly, however, the Drug Policy Alliance laundered Soros' contribution through the Working Families Party -- an illegal act according to New York State law.

WFP expanded into Connecticut in 2004, and promises that it will soon be active in all ten states where "fusion voting" -- that is, cross-endorsement of candidates by multiple parties -- is still legal. Those states include Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Mississippi, New York, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Vermont.