Confession of a non-Lindsay Voter
KITMAN, MARVIN
NATIONAL REPORTS Confession of a non-Lindsay Voter By Marvin Kitman As I drove across New York last week, my mind kept turning to Mayor John Lindsay's recent assertion that New York is a...
...My only concern was that the Conservatives might not take my offer seriously if the price was too low...
...Buckley this year...
...But I now realized there was a chance to rise above mere partisanship and support fusion by trying to sell my vote to more than one party...
...I thanked her for the tip, which I assumed was based on inside information the Conservative research staff had dug up on the other candidates...
...Where did you get the idea Bill Buckley was buying votes...
...Democratic naturally," I replied...
...I recommend you check the other campaign headquarters and see how much they're paying...
...If I helped Lindsay," I said, "are you in a position to give me an IOU payable after the election...
...I was cut short in my musings, however, by sad memories of the story of how I personally had tried to vote for Lindsay-and failed...
...There were, however, pitfalls in doing business with the factionridden Democrats...
...Any place," I said happily, glad to be talking to one of the real political pros...
...You don't have to make up your mind right away," I added, knowing better than to try to win an argument with even a sentimental Conservative...
...As I waited for the right boss, I admired the lush furnishings of the Summit...
...Encouraged, I continued, "Then I'm sure he'll approve of my initiative in selling my vote...
...He was in financial trouble, having to pay off his enormous debt to Rockefeller for making his candidacy possible...
...The Buckley-Gunning-Markey ticket is against making poverty a profession," she said with the assured smile of an Upper Park Avenue poverty amateur...
...I did not know who was paying more for votes this year, the old-line regulars supporting Abe Beame or the reform element...
...Is it true your candidate is against the war on poverty...
...he asked, trying to place me...
...I asked the only person in the office what I could expect as a reward for helping elect Beame...
...It's only fair to warn you though that without buying votes you might lose the election and my own fair-priced loyalty...
...I mean which boss," he demanded impatiently...
...You'd better talk to Len...
...So when I approached Buckley's camp, I was an undecided voter...
...I started explaining one of our country's oldest political traditions...
...It all began when I received a pamphlet from the Buckley people...
...In any case, it's getting harder to make a dishonest buck these days in New York...
...Not wanting to confuse those analysts who might read significance into the big Protestant vote for Buckley, I also stopped off at a Roman Catholic graveyard to pick up some "Callahans" and "O'Gradys...
...Buckley...
...I don't know about that," she said...
...he was on the phone bargaining at wholesale rates...
...As a true conservative, I was committed to selling my votes only to Mr...
...Abe Beame, whose work as controller in Mayor Wagner's administration had won the admiration of New York's voters was out at the polls...
...Are you going to waste your vote again this year...
...Bearing in mind that the experts had predicted a close race-with every vote counting-and wishing to avoid my wasteful mistakes of the past, I determined to sell my vote to Mr...
...An aide did not say anything quotable...
...Sol didn't look like a member of the Mafia as I feared...
...I was glad to see the Conservatives were not wasting money on non-essentials like decorating...
...The Congressman was against patronage and clubhouse politics, so out of respect for his moral sensitivity I made my usual offer right out in the open...
...Everyone else was enjoying it too...
...As I reached Beame's posh second-floor command post, a guard stopped me...
...Don't you even want to unduly influence me by taking me out on the Congressman's expense account...
...I still have some questions about the election, I told a Conservative party campaign aide on the phone Election Day morning...
...The Democrats had a lot of money to throw around to win an election...
...All I'm trying to do is eliminate the middleman...
...But by not at least granting him an equal opportunity to buy my vote, I would be penalizing him for his honest reputation...
...I cautiously entered the Summit Hotel through a back door, and headed up to Beame headquarters...
...On my way home to the suburbs in Leonia, N.J...
...it asked challengingly...
...How much do I get for my vote...
...Having heard rumors that there was a lot of vote buying in a West Virginia primary several years ago, I called Senator Kennedy's office in New York City to get the latest quotations...
...It was clear to me then Bill Buckley didn't have a chance to win the election...
...Marvin Kitman was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination in 1964...
...The bosses weren't adhering to their own theories of winning elections...
...I can't handle this, he said...
...It was getting late in the day, the market was fast closing, so I decided to lower my price...
...Buying my vote would have been a waste of money since Lindsay's principles dictated that he appeal only to Democrats and independents...
...If I stop by your office, will you be able to tell me what Mr...
...Let me talk to the bookkeeper...
...Just in case the Conservatives were willing to buy more than one vote from me, I stopped off at a Manhattan graveyard to compile a list of names of people who hadn't voted lately...
...she asked, blushing with righteous pleasure...
...No," I replied, "That wouldn't be right...
...Which one...
...I'd even be willing to vote for Mario Procaccino for Controller for a little extra...
...For your vote, he hissed, "what are you talking about...
...We're the poorest party in the race...
...I've only been here three weeks...
...where I planned to cast one priceless vote for the local Republican candidates, I figured out the mistake I had made in dealing with the Lindsay forces...
...Where do you vote...
...The voters would never support a man whose aides did not understand the implication of his own theories...
...he asked...
...I didn't expect to get rich selling my vote to Representative Lindsay...
...Then I decided to visit the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue's Second Cemetery on West 11th Street where I added the names "Joshua Canter" and "Haym Solomon...
...The way the aide eagerly accepted the invitation, I sensed the party was willing to negotiate...
...Conservative party headquarters was located in a modest, shabby suite in a West 45th Street office building...
...She handed me a sheaf of position papers outlining the Democratic candidate's future programs...
...Since the trip took up the greater part of four days, I had time to enjoy the fun...
...When Sol told me I'd better leave the Summit Hotel immediately, I knew the Democrats also were heading for a defeat...
...At Trinity Church cemetery, I wrote down names like "Robert Fulton" and "Alexander Hamilton...
...NATIONAL REPORTS Confession of a non-Lindsay Voter By Marvin Kitman As I drove across New York last week, my mind kept turning to Mayor John Lindsay's recent assertion that New York is a "fun city...
...Never mind," I said...
...How much are votes going for this year...
...But an assistant took me into a private room to discuss my proposition...
...He was a broad shouldered, short man with horn-rimmed glasses and an honest face...
...Many had skipped work and millions had left their homes and taken to the streets to celebrate the festive initial days of the new administration...
...They recognized that I was a Republican...
...I'm looking for the party boss," I said...
...But I knew Buckley was a firm champion of free enterprise and that I could perform a public service by finding out if New York City elections were as clean as they used to be in the days of Tammany Hall-when a man could work his way through Law School by voting...
...Well you take me into the polling booth and show me which levers to push...
...Buckley is offering the voters...
...Eighty per cent of our workers are volunteers," she said...
...God, no, she said...
...We certainly will owe everybody a debt of gratitude...
...A woman in Lindsay's threadbare research office denied that her boss was buying votes...
...Car horns were tooting and a spirit of cheerful intimacy prevailed everywhere from City Hall to the Hotel Americana, with some of the celebrants carrying on around the clock...
...We don't even have enough money for scissors...
...My financial angel shifted his eyes nervously...
...Now profit is a dubious political motive...
...It was very unpleasant going to so many cemeteries, but I knew that in New York a candidate couldn't neglect the Jewish vote...
...Len was too busy to buy a single vote...
...You'd better talk to Sol...
...I asked a Buckley campaign aide in a back room...
...Election Day is a legal holiday and I've got nothing else on my schedule...
...Look," I said, pointing to the heaps of campaign literature surrounding her, "You've already spent a fortune on printing trying to buy my vote...
...Sorry, I've already got a date...
...You don't understand," I said, after leafing through the papers courteously, "I only want to know how much the Beame team is paying for votes this year...
...The Republican-Liberal-Independent Citizens candidate also had spent months building his image as a knight in shining armor...
...The polls don't close until 9 P.M...
Vol. 49 • January 1966 • No. 2
