Smoker's Rights Party
From Usgs
| Smoker's Rights Party (SRP) | |
|---|---|
| Historical Regional Party | |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Disbanded | 2013 |
| Political Ideology | Libertarian |
| International Alignment | None |
| Colours | N/A |
| Abbreviation | SRP |
The Smoker's Rights Party, often referred to as the SRP, was a regional party active in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Founded in 2009 in response to the Northeast smoking ban and New York City cigarette sale ban, later spreading to the Mid-Atlantic. It's two most prominent members were Ray D'Ambra and Joseph Mariano.
The party became dormant after the 2012 elections.
SRP in the Northeast
It was in the Northeast where the SRP had its greatest influence as a result of a backlash to the Northeast smoking ban introduced by Governor Robert Hudson and the New York City cigarette sale ban introduced by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, also assisted by the ability of the SRP to run a joint ticket with the regional Libertarian Party. In the 2010 election it elected 8 out of the 101 members in the regional legislature, also cross endorsing an additional 27 eventual winners from the major parties [1]. The party also received 21% of the vote in the 2011 New York City Mayoral election [2]. The SRP had endorsed the Republican candidate Ray Kelly, who was beaten by Democrat William Thompson 53% to 47%. However, this meant that just under half of Kelly's vote came not from votes cast for the Republican Party, but cast for the SRP.
The smoking ban was eventually repealed by the legislature in 2011, with Lieutenant Governor Zack Litchfield conceeding that it was now opposed by a majority of the Northeast and was also hurting the region economically. Hudson vetoed the bill, but his veto was subsequently overturned by the legislature and the Smoking Ban Act was repealed.
In mid 2012, when a large majority the Northeast regional Democratic caucus voted to leave the party and reform as the Working Families Party following Hudson's appearance at that year's Republican convention, 7 members of the SRP chose to join the non-Hudson aligned WFP, leaving a single SRP member of the regional legislature. No SRP members were elected in the 2012 election, marking the end of the party as a represented political entity.
SRP in the Mid-Atlantic
The SRP, based in Newark, New Jersey due to its proximity to New York City, soon gained support in the Mid-Atlantic. A senior party official explained this by pointing out that "[Lieutenant Governor] Andrews' solution to every problem, big or small, is to tax tobacco to pay for it".
The party achieved its greatest electoral victory in the Mid-Atlantic during the 2011 recall election, in which SRP candidate Joseph Mariano received 4.72% of the region-wide vote, including 8.10% in New Jersey. However, the SRP never had any elected officials at the regional or federal level in the Mid-Atlantic, which can be attributed to less radical tobacco policies in the region as well as their inability to align themselves with the Libertarian Party as occurred in the Northeast.
