Republican View: Ithaca’s election signals rising power of the city’s Marxist and socialist faction

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of author Zachary Winn and are not representative of the thoughts or opinions of Tompkins Weekly. 

Ithaca’s recent Common Council election made national news. The newly elected Fifth Ward representative, Hannah Shvets, and her membership in the Communist Party were widely seen as a bellwether. Her defeat of an older, more traditional Democrat is another example of the erosion of what was once the Democratic Party. The trend of liberal Democrats aging out or being pushed out by young Leftists will continue to accelerate and will change politics locally and nationally.

Shvets’ victory brings Ithaca’s Socialist, Marxist and Communist faction one vote closer to a majority on the Common Council. This has been their stated goal for several election cycles. She is also a member of the Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), as are incoming First Ward Alderperson George DeFendini and sitting Alderperson Kayla Matos. Mayor Robert Cantelmo campaigned for both Shvets and DeFendini and now wears a DSA pin on his lapel. While not explicitly disclosed, Ithaca’s mayor is now effectively a member of the DSA. Under the new City Manager form of government adopted in 2022, he also has a vote on the council.

It remains to be seen whether any moderating influence will survive into the new term. One proposed law championed by Shvets, DeFendini, Matos and Cantelmo is “Just Cause Labor Protections,” an effort to eliminate at-will employment in the city. The law would extend union-style termination protections to all workers. A memo circulated about the policy proposes requiring employers to follow “progressive discipline,” defined as using increasingly severe steps when an employee fails to correct a problem after being given a reasonable chance to do so. Employers would no longer be able to fire workers without a documented pattern of misconduct and documented opportunities to improve.

The current council has been largely supportive of the proposal. A minority has favored an exemption for small businesses, citing the cost of the regulatory burden. In 2026, passage of this law appears virtually certain, and the small business carveout is unlikely to remain. More than a dozen local business owners and stakeholders recently authored a letter asking to be included in discussions of the law and expressing frustration at being shut out of the process. Their exclusion did not surprise me. Although the stated goal is to protect workers, I believe the true intent is rooted in Marxism, which views business owners as “bourgeoisie,” meaning owners of the means of production and, by definition, exploiters of the working class.

Similar laws have already been enacted in the city, including Good Cause Eviction protections, which force landlords to renew leases while limiting rent increases, and restrictions on short-term rentals such as Airbnbs. Opposition to both was also largely ignored. These policies share a disregard for their negative outcomes. I believe those negative outcomes are, in fact, their purpose. They erode the rights of property and business owners in favor of government control.

Ithaca has no shortage of policy failures to illustrate the consequences, from the disaster of Reimagining Public Safety to the Asteri and Downtown Ithaca Conference Center next to City Hall. Touted as a success two years ago, the building has become a blight on downtown and the site of routine deaths only steps from City Hall. The conference center is also a financial sinkhole, losing about $90,000 a month, and its operators recently filed a five-million-dollar lawsuit against the Asteri’s developer. The City is providing a financial guarantee for 30 years on expense shortfalls for the conference center, paid for by the city’s 5% room occupancy tax.

Personally, I am curious to see how much damage the new council can do. Real opposition to this faction will not come from Republicans, not in Ithaca. It will have to come from Democrats who choose to take their party back from the Marxist faction that has seized it. Moderate Democrats recognizing the consequences of poor policy decisions, and voting accordingly, would be the best outcome. Unfortunately, things will have to get a lot worse before Democrats wake up to what is going on. There is also the reality that the entire county is affected by decisions made in the City of Ithaca. As the saying goes; People get the kind of government they deserve.