El Diario Endorses Change

El Diario, the oldest and largest Spanish language newspaper in New York City, has endorsed two pro-marriage equality candidates: Gustavo Rivera and Charlie Ramos.

Both candidates are running against powerful incumbents: Senator Pedro Espada, Jr. and Senator Ruben Diaz, Sr., respectively.  With a daily readership of over 290,000 people, the El Diario endorsement could potentially reach thousands of Bronx voters.

Of Gustavo Rivera, the endorsement reads:

The time has come to close the door on the politics of “me” and for the politics of “we” to reign. District 33 has a chance to do this on Sept. 14 by supporting Rivera.

To help elect pro-marriage equality candidates, visit the MYD 2010 Campaign Page.

Majority of New Yorkers Want Continued Democratic Control of the NYS Senate

While polling at the national level for midterm elections has looked grim for Democrats, it looks like the story is more positive at the state level:

New York Democrats have had to face a rocky economy and recession-induced budget shortfalls in their first few years as the majority party in the State Senate.  But New York voters remember the previous 40 years of GOP control, and according to a new Siena College poll, only 27% of New York voters want to go back:

• 33%:  Want to see Democrats expand their State Senate majority
• 34%:  Prefer the status quo, in which Democrats hold a narrow edge
• 27%:  Want to see Republicans re-take a majority

This has to be unwelcome news for State Senate Republicans.  Between the GOP infighting occurring up and down the ballot and the atrophy of the Senate Republicans’ statewide campaign apparatus, Republican Senate candidates were depending on a hostile electorate to carry them over the top in key districts.

But that electorate, while clearly hostile to incumbents (only 31% plan to re-elect their incumbent Senator in a generic question), is not scapegoating Democrats for the state’s troubles.  And with Republicans showing extreme weakness in every statewide contest tested in the Sienna poll, there are no coattails for GOP legislative candidates to ride.

But, making sure the Democratic majority is expanded–so that we can avoid situations like the last summer’s coup and really get going on enacting a progressive agenda for the state–is going to be hard work over the next three months. Learn why it’s so important we fight for better Dems and a better Albany by watching MYD’s Take Back NY video here:

Check out information on campaigns here and get plugged in with the MYD field team by emailing Colin at field [at] goMYD [dot] com!

The Albany Project

Three Reasons Why Espada Has To Go – And What You Can Do About It

Reason #1:

He’s accused by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo of siphoning $14million from his Bronx-based Soundview health clinics.

Reason #2:

A high-end Manhattan tailor is suing Espada for walking out on a $7,200 tab for six custom suits.

And this just out, Reason #3:

The Bronx Democrat still owes the state Board of Elections $10,310 for failing to turn over timely financial disclosure forms, board spokesman John Conklin told the Daily News on Tuesday.

Agreed:

“It’s a disgrace,” said Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group. “After repeated promises to do otherwise, the majority leader is still in violation of the state election law.”

Want to help us oust Pedro Espada Jr? We’re canvassing this weekend in the 33rd District. Free transport, 10-3PM on Saturday, and likely back up there on Sunday.

Email vp [at] goMYD [dot] to get this deadbeat out of office!

Daily  News

NYS Welfare Recipients Win A Battle In The Fight For Equal Access to Education

A group of about 20 people met in the backroom of the Black Bear Lounge in late June to listen to Maureen Lane from Welfare Right Initiative speak about her efforts to promote “Access to Education for all”. Over the course of an hour we were given the short history of a movement predicated on the principle that making higher education opportunities available to those who need it most is our best weapon for reducing welfare dependency and providing the life changing catalysis that can turn lives around.

The Welfare Rights Initiative is a 15 year old organization dedicated to addressing the systemic issues behind welfare reform by providing education, legal, social service and advocacy program training. These tools empower young men and women to organize for fair and equal access to among other things, the right to a higher education.

Part of what allowed this program to flourish was their successful push in 2000 to get college enrollment and work-study recognized as sufficient for fulfilling  the welfare work requirement . However to get this passed advocates had to jump enormous hurdles. The passage of the Work Study and Internship Bill in 2000 essentially rested on the leadership of State Senators Tom Duane (D) and Ray Meier (R) ability to foster bi-partisan cooperation between the parties and correct an injustice in the CUNY system that had already “lost over 20,000 students receiving public assistance because of misguided federal, state and city welfare policy”

Read more

Paterson Sets Budget Deadline Of June 28

Paterson said to legislative leaders yesterday that he would not sign any budget with deficit financing in it, and that he is setting a deadline of June 28th for the budget. Now, budget deadlines have come and gone in the past, but yesterday Paterson said he would put his budget plan into an emergency spending bill (a bill proposed by the Governor to the legislature, that they have to more or less approve up or town), giving the legislators the choice of adopting his budget or a government shutdown.

Lawmakers and Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch have urged the governor to a consider a range of borrowing plans. Mr. Ravitch, whom Mr. Paterson appointed last year, has sought to link a bond sale to tighter fiscal controls, but legislators have balked.

The state has been running without a budget since the beginning of the fiscal year on April 1. The Paterson administration has pressured lawmakers to approve chunks of an estimated $130 billion spending plan. But lawmakers have adopted only a fraction of the cuts and taxes that Mr. Paterson has proposed.

But the governor will have none of it: “I will not sign a budget that has any deficit financing in it.” Why?

The rejection of borrowing to close the gap is needed to show the public that “we are not pushing any problems of today off into the future,” Mr. Paterson said.

Mr. Paterson, who isn’t seeking election in November, said the state will continue to face budget pressure after his term is completed at year-end. Federal stimulus money runs out this year and in 2012 the three-year increase in the top tax rate for individuals earning more than $200,000 will expire, he said.

Assuming this year’s deficit is bridged as Mr. Paterson proposed, the budget gap for the year beginning April 1, 2011, would be $5.39 billion, according to state projections. That gap would be larger if this year’s deficit was closed by additional one-time actions not sought by Mr. Paterson, such as bond sales.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat like Paterson and front-runner in November’s gubernatorial election, also opposes selling bonds to close the deficit.

Sampson Cares More About Yankees Than Job

The Daily News reported this morning that John Sampson, the Democratic Majority Conference Leader, did not attend “crucial budget talks with Senate Dems on Sunday to host a lavish fund-raiser at Yankee Stadium.” I can’t say I’m shocked to hear that a State Senators doesn’t much care about the state, or his constituents. The Daily News continues:

So while Sampson’s colleagues sweated out the prospects of an unprecedented government shutdown, he scooped up $2,500 a head from 75 donors in a swank luxury suite – fattening his war chest by $187,500.

The fund-raiser had more than financial perks.

Sampson, the Senate Democratic conference leader, received a private tour of the Stadium before the Yanks completed their three-game sweep of the Houston Astros.

And he was rewarded with a pregame trip to the dugout, where he chatted up Yankee greats Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia, his aides admitted.

“It was just something that the organization wanted to do for him to be hospitable,” said Josh Cherwin of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.

Cherwin, who noted the cash bash was scheduled long in advance, said the campaign picked up the tab for the luxury suite and catering.

Sampson tried to pull off a political version of the double play, rushing to Albany after the game to make the 7p.m. Democratic budget summit.

He didn’t get to the state Capitol until 8:15 p.m. – and he never made it to the meeting.

State Senate Coup Anniversary Celebration This Saturday – And What You Can Do Even If You Can’t Make It

A year ago next week, Pedro Espado and Hiram Monserrate decided to support Republican control of the State Senate in what the AP called a “”parliamentary coup.” A week later, Mr. Monserrate switched his support back to the Democrats, but Pedro stuck with the republicans for a 31-31 split in the State Senate. For four more weeks he held the democratic caucus, the senate, and ultimately the state hostage, leading to “gridlock that was unparalleled even by Albany’s notoriously dysfunctional standards.” In the end, Pedro blackmailed the Democrats into making him Senate majority leader.

This has ended up par for the course. Pedro held up the democratic caucus for months in early 2009 refusing to vote for Malcolm Smith until he was named vice president of the Senate for Urban Policy and chairman of the Housing Construction and Community Development Committee. Pedro also doesn’t live in his district. He is the subject of two civil lawsuits by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo: one that claims Espada stole more than $14 million from health care clinics he founded, and the other claims that he radically underpaid janitors at his health clinics. The first suit also claims that Pedro spent $20,000 on sushi.

In honor of Pedro’s outstanding character, MYD has decided to visit his house (the real one in Mamaroneck) this weekend. You’re invited to an Anniversary Celebration of last year’s State Senate June Coup at the REAL home of corruption poster-boy and current State Senate Majority Leader, Pedro Espada Jr. It will be an afternoon of indictments, corruption, special interests, FREE sushi and FREE t-shirts in Mamaroneck.

The event is co-sponsored by:
Manhattan Young Democrats
New Roosevelt Initiative
Queens County Young Democrats
Citizen Action of New York
Reboot NY
Greater NYC For Change
Northwest Bronx for Change

Our free bus registration is now closed, but contact Emmy for help getting up to Mamaroneck: vp [at] goMYD [dot] com.

If you can’t come (well, also if you can), consider changing your Facebook profile pic to a Pedro photo for the next 48 hours as we head into the June 5 event! Above is our favorite.

Also, please share our video on Albany’s dysfunction:

Take Back New York from Manhattan Young Democrats on Vimeo.

State Pols Furlough Workers, Then Party

The State Senate and Assembly both passed another emergency budget bill yesterday which will keep the State running while they continue to not vote on an actual budget (which was due on April 1st).  However, this time the bill included a provision that, in an attempt to save money, will furlough about half of the State’s workforce for one day a week.

Of course, the legislators blame the Governor for forcing them into his horrible position, and the Gov blames the legislators for refusing to reach a budget deal.  Regardless of blame, any New Yorker would expect their elected officials to lock themselves in a room together and negotiate until they figure out a way end this mess.   So what did our beloved State Assembly do last night?  They held their annual Pilots and Rudders party to pat each other on the back and celebrate the spoils of incumbency.

Not only were our reps. singing karaoke  instead of working on the budget (thank goodness there is no video), but as Elizabeth Benjamin explains in her State of Politics Blog, the whole point of the fete is to laude those members who have won at least five elections.

This is just further proof that the top priority for those in office is to get elected over and over again.  As long as our elected officials continue to write laws and govern by rules that protect incumbents, the average New Yorker will continue to be left out of political process and in some cases out of a full time job.

NYS Senate Raises The Cap On Charters

With the June 1st deadline for part II of Race to the Top funding approaching fast, the NYS Senate voted 45-15 on Monday night to revise the State’s Charter school law and dramatically raise the number of charters allowed from 200 to 460.

Most observers of the nation-wide grant competition being sponsored by the US Department of Education say this was a major priority for New York in order to improve its chance to win almost $700 million in stimulus funds. During Round One, New York placed 15th out of 16 finalists, in the end losing out to Delaware and Tennessee.

The bill’s passage is being attributed to an ever–expanding budget deficit and pressure from groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Democrats for Education Reform with support from New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein who have been major champions for charter schools and mayoral control. After the vote Senate Majority Conference Leader John L. Sampson commented on the new bill by saying

Nothing is more important than investing in our children’s education and our future. We need to improve our score for Race to the Top, just as we need to increase accountability for charter schools and expand educational opportunities for all of our children,”

As expected, not everyone left happy after the vote. The New York State United Teachers union fought hard to get a repeat defeat of this bill like they were able to achieve earlier this year. Despite a new list of regulations and criteria that charter schools would now have meet , union leaders still believe that accountability reform is still missing for these quasi-public institutions. According to Andrew Pallotta, NYSUT’s Executive Vice President, NYSUT’s goal is

not to sink charter schools, but to reform the law to ensure greater accountability and transparency…Charter operators that are above-board have nothing to fear from accountability, but the law must also protect against those who are gaming the system and profiting off the backs of children

The bill is currently being reviewed by committees in the Assembly.

One to Watch: Justin Brannan

We’re focusing a lot on the 2010 Senate race here at MYD. You can catch Emmy doing the “State of the State” presentation over at TV-myd and we’ll be hosting a number of events / canvasses / phone banks etc as we get closer to election time (want to help plan these? Apply for Field Director, applications due TODAY)

Hopefully, by 2012 we’ll have elected such stand-up State Senators that we’ll be in a different place than we are now! Nevertheless I’m keeping an eye out for the former hard-core band guitarist turned community activist, Justin Brannan who announced this week that he’s considering a 2012 Senate run. It’ll be interesting to see how his campaign rolls out in the next few years, right now his anti-corruption message is strong:

As for the platforms he is considering, Brannan views Albany as “the poster child for political dysfunction,” which is why he’s gunning for a Senate seat. “There is arrogance and complacency — an unfortunate symptom of incumbents going unchallenged and unchecked for years on end,” he reasoned. “There was a time when the Empire State was the model of efficient government throughout the country — responsible for some of the brightest government programs around. Today, our state government has been dubbed the most dysfunctional in the nation.”

*As a general reminder, MYD doesn’t endorse in primaries even ones possibly 2 years away, we just inform!*

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