Showing posts with label Working Families Party. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Working Families Party. Show all posts

Sunday, August 31, 2014

Teachout calls for investigation into LICH sale

‘‘Classic corruption’’

Statewide “whistleblower tour” brings Teachout to Long Island College Hospital

“The closing of LICH and the process through which the sale happened -- a sale where a health facility becomes a real estate development – is classic corruption,” said New York gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout.

Joining Ms. Teachout at the demonstration outside LICH was Doug Biviano, candidate for the Democratic Party primary in the 52nd State Assembly District race.

Mr. Biviano told The Brooklyn Daily Eagle that he looked forward to Ms. Teachout drawing attention to the “special interest relationships, the power grabs behind all this,” referring to the closure and the sale of LICH to a luxury housing developer. Mr. Biviano added that there was reason to worry about the close relationships between the “political machine,” Mayor Bill de Blasio and the Working Families Party, Brooklyn Democratic County boss Frank Seddio and his law partner and SUNY attorney Frank Carone, according to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle's report.

RELATED


In Brooklyn, Teachout calls for investigation into LICH sale (The Brooklyn Daily Eagle)

Friday, August 29, 2014

Activists fear Teachout will back Cuomo in General if she loses in Primary

PUBLISHED : FRI, 29 AUG 2014, 07:42 PM
UPDATED : SAT, 30 AUG 2014, 05:53 PM

Given Teachout's Soros-connection, if you are voting in the Democratic Party gubernatorial primary, then please consider voting for Randy Credico.

Randy Credico

While many in the mainstream media take up the cause of protest candidate Zephyr Teachout to oust the corrupt incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo in this year's New York gubernatorial race, many overlook Ms. Teachout's connection to the scandal-plagued financier George Soros.

According to the Open Society Foundations Web site, "Zephyr Teachout is a member of the Information Program Advisory Board and a member of the Fellowship Selection Committee." Mr. Soros uses his Open Society Foundations to control the liberal agenda to suit his political needs.

"... control over the social sciences by monied interests has depoliticized this field and reinforced a capitalist view of modernization."

There is a hypocrisy in the political left that the extremist, right-wing billionaires from the Republican Party are destroying democracy in America ; meanwhile, there are billionaires doing the same thing amongst the political left. The role of big money in elections destroys any voice of the people marginalized in the money-driven society that billionaires seeks to maintain. For Ms. Teachout's participation in Mr. Soros' billionaire politics, Democratic voters going to polls in the gubernatorial primary on Sept. 9 should consider casting their anti-Cuomo votes for Randy Credico, a long-time activist. And if rejecting the role of billionaires in politics isn't enough for Democratic primary voters, then consider that many political bloggers fear that Ms. Teachout will bend to conventional Democratic Party pressure if she loses the primary, leading to her eventual endorsement of Gov. Cuomo for the general election. Visit Mr. Credico's Web site and educate yourself on your options. Voters have more choices than the false binary choice between Ms. Teachout and Gov. Cuomo in the Sept. 9 Democratic Party primary.

RELATED


Comedian/activist Credico seeks Dem nod for governor (Press Connects)

Zephyr Teachout (Open Society Foundations)

Reforming the World : George Soros, Global Capitalism and the Philanthropic Management of the Social Sciences (Centre de Sociologie Européenne)

Soros charitable foundation sometimes leans right : Groups touting conservative ideals among recent beneficiaries (The Tucson Sentinel)

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Before federal fraud indictment, Melvin Lowe was director at Bertha Lewis's new non-profit

Bertha Lewis, close advisor to Mayor de Blasio, still playing with political fire

The indicted political consultant, Melvin Lowe, served as a board of director of The Black Institute, the current non-profit out of which former ACORN head Bertha Lewis now operates, The New York Post reported today. Mr. Lowe was charged in a federal criminal complaint with federal fraud and tax violations. Mr. Lowe was identified as a board member of The Black Institute in 2012, but he is no longer on the board, according to the group’s Web site, The New York Post reported.

The report by The New York Post raised questions about other board members, as well as the finances, of Ms. Lewis's new non-profit. These questions come as federal prosecutors in New York, led by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, are waging a historic campaign against political corruption.

The charges against Mr. Lowe stemmed from a plan to defraud $100,000 from the New York State Senate Democrats' campaign committee. The payment was made to a New Jersey political consulting firm, which the media identified as Cornerstone Management Partners. Cornerstone was run by Elnatan Rudolph, who has a relationship with the lobbyist Michael Cohen. Mr. Cohen worked on Councilmember Mark-Viverito's controversial campaign for New York City Council Speaker. Before Mr. Cohen's lobbying firm took the lead on Councilmember Mark-Viverito's speakership campaign, Councilmember Mark-Viverito was advised by the lobbyist, Scott Levenson, who has years-long ties to Ms. Lewis. Mr. Levenson was ACORN's chief spokesperson as the group was grappling with several controversies that eventually led to the closure of ACORN. To save on rent, Ms. Lewis's new non-profit also shares office space with Mr. Levenson's lobbying firm. The space is roomier now that NY-CLASS, a 501(c)(4) animal rights political group, moved out. For a time, all three entities shared the same office space. Ms. Lewis and Mayor de Blasio have close ties to the Working Families Party, which they both take credit for co-founding. And finally, Mr. Levenson's consulting firm managed several political campaigns last year at the same time he both advised Ny-CLASS and administered a Super PAC for NY-CLASS that are the subjects of several investigations for possibly coordinating their political activities to help elected Mayor de Blasio. In the face of investigations, Mr. Levenson's firm, The Advance Group, has been rapidly downsizing to get rid of witnesses, some government reform speculate.

Given that Mr. Lowe was a director at a non-profit sharing space with The Advance Group, it's not known what relationship might have developed between Mr. Lowe and Mr. Levenson.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Barfing into bags, voters face a moment of truth about Democratic Party incumbents

Andrew Cuomo photo andrew-cuomo-smiles-jpg-alg_zps9d0cdc97.jpg

Democratic Party bouncers give voters no choice but to re-elect Gov. Cuomo

"Every place is not Greenwich Village," said Assemblyman Keith Wright, who is also chair of the state's Democratic Party, referring to a lack of support in the rest of New York State as an excuse for why Gov. Andrew Cuomo has failed to roll out any liberal reforms.

The ironic thing is that everybody knows where there are concentrations of liberal thought. Gentrification does a very good job of corroding these neighborhoods to disperse like-minded individuals. Dissent almost doesn't exist anymore, and nobody respects autonomy. The last few hold-outs are haggard, and true solidarity has all but shriveled up. After the number that real estate developers have done to the Village, especially the harvesting of St. Vincent's Hospital before the poor corpse had even died, isn't it more true that Mr. Wright's quote should be, "Greenwich Village has become like every place ?"

The hopeful thought would be that activists would realize that going back to fighting for single issues is the fastest way for everybody to lose. Thinking small is a losing way to think. Caring about our own pet issues makes us unprincipled, because it means we are only in this for ourselves and not for all of us. This pressure is real. After all the evidence of corruption coinciding with the Cuomo administration, look at how the only ones practising discipline are Democratic Party "leaders," who want your votes in exchange for more cheap-ass talk. Somebody complained yesterday that there is nobody, who can run against Gov. Cuomo, but that is a lie, because there are other people running against Gov. Cuomo. But people seem to be more impressed with the celebrity of a candidate than with casting a vote for an alternative that involves the slightest bit of taking a chance on a new face. Keeping voters in this place of fear works nicely for incumbents.

If people fail to achieve solidarity and fail to take a chance on someone new, then the only winners here will be Gov. Cuomo, Democratic Party bouncers, and their permanent government operative insiders, who double as big business lobbyists. It's enough to make one barf.

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

After gaming NYC campaign finance model, mayor and his allies plan to game the NYS model, too

PUBLISHED : SUN, 09 APR 2014, 09:30 AM
UPDATED : SUN, 11 MAY 2014, 10:00 PM

If we have to depend on the Working Families Party for election and campaign finance reform, we are in big trouble

The $200 million cost of spreading the corrupt New York City campaign finance model to the rest of New York state would form an avalanche of money, and all this money would pick up wild speeds as it hurled straight into the pockets of the corrupt campaign consultants and lobbyists that keep the political system broken and owned by big money donors and special interests. This is not what real reform would look like. Real reform would be banning all private donations, ending the appointment of campaign finance regulators by politicians, and instituting newer, tougher regulations of campaign consultants/lobbyists.

"The WFP, a strong ally of Mayor de Blasio’s and, after a string of victories in last fall’s elections, the most potent player in city politics, believes that winning approval of a public-finance system — which could cost taxpayers $200 million per election cycle — would enhance its quest for higher taxes and more government spending throughout the state."

In it's article, The New York Post lumped the Working Families Party in with "election reformers" and "good government groups." What a joke !

In last year's municipal elections, the most visible Working Families Party political operatives, Scott Levenson and Patrick Gaspard, became the subject of federal complaints over corrupt electioneering activities. These and other corrupt campaign consultants and lobbyists know how to game the system of public matching dollars that once made the New York City model of campaign finance such a darling for government reform activists. However, in the years since its inception, the New York City campaign finance model has shown that it can be exploited by shady lobbyists seeking to make Swiss cheese of city campaign finance regulations. Not only that, but the Working Families Party is said to have many issues with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's neoliberal policies, but the Working Families Party is actually engaging in negotiations to broker a deal to endorse Gov. Cuomo in this year's race reelection race, in spite of Gov. Cuomo's failure to revolutionise campaign finance reform in New York state. It is now possible for candidates to violate caps on political campaign donations by opening several campaign accounts across several jurisdictions and for multiple political campaigns -- all during the same election cycle. Just look at what New York City Councilmeber Melissa Mark-Viverito did in last year's race.

With support from the Working Families Party and operatives loyal to the WFP, Councilmember Mark-Viverito was eligible for four campaign accounts last year: a campaign account, for which there is no transparency, for a Democratic Party District Leader race ; a campaign account for a City Councilmember race that was eligible for public matching dollars in exchange for a spending cap ; a largely unregulated campaign account for a controversial Council speaker race ; and, as icing on the cake, a campaign account for inauguration and transition activities to reward her donors and political operative supporters. Combined, her dependence on a never-ending cycle of corrupt campaign finance spending opens New York City government to the corruptive influence of big money donors, corrupt campaign consultants, and shady special interests and their lobbyists. Add to this the fact that the corrupt political campaign system selects do-nothing officials to nominally oversee campaign finance regulations. In New York City, Rose Gill Hearn oversees the Campaign Finance Board, the city's campaign finance regulatory authority. In her past post as chief of the city's Department of Investigation, Ms. Hearn did nothing in the face of a massive $600 million CityTime fraud by SAIC. If she has no integrity to stop massive corporate fraud, then her corrupt record makes her perfect to keep allowing political operatives and lobbyists to keep gaming the city's campaign finance regulations under the de Blasio administration.

This same model is the vision that the Working Families Party has for the rest of New York state : a campaign finance model that can be gamed and exploited, that leaves elected officials incapable of providing any checks-and-balances on government or corrupt special interests, precisely because all these elected officials are feeding off the nipple of a corrupt campaign finance system that allows big money donors and special interests to set government agenda. It's been reported that the WFP plans to use changes in the state's campaign finance regulations to enact its agenda across the state. But the WFP has shown that what drives its agenda is the source of its campaign donations. In the effort to raise vast amounts of money for state-wide political campaign races, the WFP is going to represent the interests of its donors and the lobbyists, who are paid to conduct these campaign, similar to how the party conducts its business in the city level. How many Bloomberg-era policies have yet to be fully ended or reformed ? If the WFP portrays itself as a reform party, where has it been on the controversial appointment of William Bratton as police commissioner ? What is the WFP going to do to force City Hall to settle the class action lawsuit filed by homeless youths by fully providing the resources to homeless youths so that they can receive shelter, as required by law ? It seems like the WFP isn't interested in reforming some social issues, unless there are big money donors attached to those issues.

In spite of all of his empty rhetoric during last year's campaign season, Mayor Bill de Blasio is still going to allow real estate developers to get their hands of valuable hospital property for zone-busting luxury housing development deals in gentrifying neighborhoods, like what is happening at Long Island College Hospital. Amongst big business special interests, real estate lobbyists and developers have become key mayoral supporters, so it should come as no surprise to see the mayor carry out a city agenda that delivers on the corrupt expectations of real estate developers. On the other end of the political spectrum, you had a Super PAC administrated by Mr. Levenson, the WFP operative and former ACORN spokesman, which spend a million dollars to defeat former Council Speaker Christine Quinn in last year's mayoral race in what some have said was a coordinated act to benefit the mayoral campaign of Bill de Blasio. Further muddling this electioneering controversy is that the NY-CLASS animal rights group and their supporters, trying to enact a noble ban on carriage horses in Central Park, chiefly funded the Super PAC, provided electioneering support to Councilmember Mark-Viverito, and its Super PAC administrator, Mr. Levenson and his lobbying firm, helped to select Councilmember Mark-Viverito as Council speaker, a position from which NY-CLASS would expect Speaker Mark-Viverito to deliver the horse carriage ban.

Once the mayoral race was over, the corruptive role of money in politics cycled out of their Super PAC structures and into 501(c)(4) structures. Witness how the mayor became entangled in a political vendetta against the powerful charter schools executive, Eva Moskowitz. After the mayor took actions to destroy Ms. Moskowitz's charter school corporation, Ms. Moskowitz raised big money donations and launched a powerful multi-million TV attack ad campaign against the mayor. Ms. Moskowitz was so successful that the governor, impressed by her fundraising prowess, came to her rescue ; the mayor, out-raised and out-spent, had to retreat ; and now, the mayor is fighting to resuscitate his damaged popularity poll numbers by mounting his own TV campaign blitz, touting his nominal win in expanding pre-kinder in New York City.

If the mayor needs to keep fluffing his image with political TV commercials, then he's going to have to keep raising more and more special interest money from big money donors. And the Working Families Party, which the mayor co-founded, will undoubtedly keep helping the mayor to keep money in politics, so long as it is to their advantage, meaning that we have very little hope of ending campaign finance corruption in New York. And what can big business interests, like Ms. Moskowitz, learn from these first 100 days of the de Blasio administration ? Keep raising 501(c)(4) political campaign money until it comes time to switch back to Super PAC's, for Ms. Moskowitz has proven herself to be able to challenge Mayor de Blasio in 2017. It's not that her ideology is right, it only comes down to her ability to raise big money donations that can roll over the mayor's political machine in a backdrop of lax campaign regulations and do-nothing regulators. In this vicious cycle, the awareness by the mayor and by his scores of political operatives of Ms. Moskowitz's campaign finance threat frightens the mayor into greater and greater dependence on political campaign donations to fund paid sick day advertising blitz and the pre-kinder commercials. Instead of reforming campaign finance by banning all private donations, along the lines of reforms called for by Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins, the mayor and his team of political operatives are going to double-down on their dependence on big money campaign donors.


QUESTIONING THE NEW YORK CITY CAMPAIGN FINANCE BOARD

With John Liu's lawsuit against New York City over conflicted city campaign finance regulators, this makes three federal referrals of elections violations, forcing Mayor de Blasio to lawyer-up, recruit special inside election counsel.

After a wave of federal complaints that have been lodged over electioneering violations in last year's municipal elections, Mayor Bill de Blasio has hired a special legal advisor specializing in election law.

Since Mayor de Blasio and City Council Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, and/or their political operatives, are entangled in some of these federal complaints, it should come as no surprise that Mayor de Blasio is now maneuvering to use his public office to defend himself against allegations of wrong-doing that took place during the electioneering of last year's municipal elections.

The three federal complaints lodged following last year's municipal elections :

  1. GOP consultant E. O'Brien Murray argued to the State Department that Patrick Gaspard, a former top White House aide with a deep history in Gotham politics, violated the federal Hatch Act by getting involved in Mayor de Blasio's campaign -- and City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito's subsequent election as speaker -- while representing the U.S. in South Africa. (GOP Operative Files Hatch Act Complaint Against U.S. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard * The New York Daily News)
  2. Louis Flores, a local political gadfly who ran a blog and wrote a book criticizing Christine Quinn, has filed a complaint with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s criminal division against Scott Levenson and The Advance Group consulting firm, which came under deep scrutiny during the mayoral campaign. (Federal Complaint Filed Against The Advance Group for Election Work * Politicker)
  3. Former New York City Comptroller and failed mayoral candidate John Liu has filed a federal lawsuit against the city and its Campaign Finance Board. He says the board unfairly crippled his campaign by denying him matching funds in last year's race for mayor. (Ex-NYC mayor hopeful sues Campaign Finance Board * AP/The San Francisco Chronicle)


Lax city campaign finance regulators allowed loopholes and exploitation to corrupt the race for the New York City Council Speaker

A series of editorials by the Editorial Board of The New York Daily News slammed City Councilmember Melissa Mark-Viverito during the Council speaker race, first for circumventing city campaign finance laws, and then for exploiting loopholes in the state's campaign finance laws.

"Mark-Viverito has opened a campaign account under state regulations. She is apparently accepting contributions and apparently paying different consultants to advance her cause. Who’s giving her money and who’s getting her money will not be disclosed until after the speaker’s contest is settled," the Editorial Board wrote in the second editorial, noting, "At the same time, hopefuls Dan Garodnick of Manhattan and Mark Weprin of Queens are dipping into campaign accounts to give tens of thousands of dollars to fellow councilmembers and party organizations," before concluding, "None of this is acceptable."

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Melissa Mark-Viverito, The Advance Group May Have Violated City Ethics Rules

Will The Conflict of Interest Board Investigate Mark-Viverito's Acceptance Of Unpaid Assistance From The Advance Group ?

Scott Levenson and Melissa Mark-Viverito photo Scott-Levenson-Melissa-Mark-Viverito_zps79ef0787.jpg

New York City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito may have violated city ethics rules by accepting unpaid assistance from the Advance Group, a lobbing firm, to further her candidacy for Council speaker, The New York Daily News reports (City Council Speaker candidate Melissa Mark-Viverito and her lobbying firm, The Advance Group, may have violated city ethics rules) .

"The Conflicts of Interest Board must investigate, and the Council must disqualify Mark-Viverito from consideration for so blatantly violating the rules. Elevating her to speaker would send the message that the Council is up for sale," wrote the Editorial Board of The New York Daily News. (No To Melissa Mark-Viverito)

But so far, nobody's asked whether The Parkside Group is working for free to provide any support to the pro-Big Business candidate, Mark Weprin, or whether Alison Hirsh, the 32BJ union lobbyist that was hired by Progressive Caucus of Councilmembers to promote Ms. Mark-Viverito, is being paid, or if Ms. Hirsh is working for free, too. Ms. Mark-Viverito is also receiving help from two other consultant-lobbyist firms, Bishop Pitta Del Giorno and the Mirram Group, Crains Insider reported. Indeed, Ms. Mark-Viverito opened a new campaign committee called "Viverito NY" on Election Day. Who is funding that campaign committee ? Who is receiving payments from that campaign committee ? (Friday wrap-up examines consultants in the speaker race, and more * Crains Insider)

Besides investigating possible violations of campaign finance law or conflicts of interest, this is a great time to update campaign finance laws.

Given that the violations involving the provision of free campaign services to elected officials is being referred to the Conflicts of Interest Board instead of to the Campaign Finance Board shows that campaign finance laws are not keeping up with the times. To roll back some of the worst impacts that Citizens United is having on the selection of the Council Speaker and on the rest of our municipal elections, we can begin by updating campaign finance laws by : (i) reforming the do-nothing Campaign Finance Board ; (ii) pressuring progressives to enforce transparency ; (iii) improving Speakership electioneering reporting ; (iv) ending subcontractor loopholes ; and (v) ending the provision of free campaign services, including for the Speakership.

If making reforms is seen as not enough, others, like Howie Hawkins, have suggested a fully-public campaign system.

The Growing Influence Of Lobbyists In Determining The Council Speaker, Other Investigations Against Scott Levenson

New York City’s county bosses face challenges from lobbyists over the election of the Council Speaker. (Despite Denials, De Blasio Team Met With Weprin and Mark Viverito About Speakership * City & State)

The flood of money into politics from Citizens United is creating a "clash of the titans" between the County Political Bosses and Big Business, on one side, and Lobbyists and Special Interest Money, on the other. With campaign finance law failing to keep up with the changes in money in politics, the voters are being kept in the dark about the true way that the speaker is selected. (NYC Council Speaker Race Campaign Finance Controversies * YouTube)

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Who is Paying the Advance Group to Lobby For Melissa Mark-Viverito ?

''If you can find a loophole, then the law is not doing what the law is supposed to be doing.'' -- Peter F. Vallone, former City Council speaker

Isn't it against Campaign Finance Board rules for politicians to receive political consulting services that are neither declared nor paid for ?

The Advance Group, one of the city’s leading political consulting firms, has been laboring behind-the-scenes for almost a month to assist Ms. Mark-Viverito.
(Advance Group Helping Melissa Mark-Viverito in Speaker’s Race * Politicker)
SEIU 1199, the city’s powerful healthcare workers union says they are lobbying for one City Council speaker hopeful, Melissa Mark-Viverito.
(1199 Leads Effort Boosting Mark-Viverito * Politicker)

The Advance Group has been laboring behind-the-scenes for almost a month to assist Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito in her quest to become the next speaker of the City Council, Ross Barkan is reporting on Politicker, adding, "When reached by Politicker earlier today, the firm’s president, Scott Levenson, confirmed he had been assisting Ms. Mark-Viverito, but declined to discuss any additional details. 'We’re just helping,' he said."

In 2001, The New York Times reported that it was against Campaign Finance Board rules for Alan Hevesi to receive free consulting services from Hank Morris.

 photo hank-morris_zpsdc283853.jpg

As part of the deal, Mr. Hevesi offered to pay his chief political consultant, Hank Morris, an extra $240,000 for work leading up to the Democratic primary on Sept. 11. Mr. Hevesi's opponents had charged that he was circumventing the campaign finance spending cap by allowing Mr. Morris, a longtime friend, to work for free or provide his firm's help at a steep discount. (Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi struck a compromise with the Campaign Finance Board * The New York Times)

Peter F. Vallone, the City Council speaker in 2001 and an author of New York City's campaign finance law, told The New York Times, ''The whole point of the law was to make it a level playing field so that money doesn't determine the outcome. So if you can find a loophole, then the law is not doing what the law is supposed to be doing.'' (What's a Campaign Debt Between Friends ? * The New York Times)

Political consultants, who work to elect lawmakers, are turning around and lobbying them on behalf of private clients.

Dark Pool Politics - Lobbyists, Meetings, and Backroom Deals are Hidden - Bill de Blasio photo DarkRoomPoliticsSlideExport_zps8f346168.jpg

"A growing trend in the state capital is raising alarms for ethics watchdogs: political consultants who work to elect lawmakers, then turn around and lobby them on behalf of private clients. At least two dozen political consulting firms are also registered lobbyists with the state, according to an analysis done for the Daily News by the New York Public Interest Research Group," Kenneth Lovett reported in The New York Daily News, adding, "The Advance Group was paid $756,907 in political consulting fees the past two years while also lobbying. Firm president Scott Levenson said he doesn’t get special favors from pols his firm helped elect, but he doesn’t deny that his firm emphasizes its access to lawmakers when drumming up business."

“We’re a lobbying organization,” Mr. Levenson told Mr. Lovett. “One of the things we do is talk about our ability to have access.” Mr. Lovett concluded his report by stating that, "Levenson also noted that straight lobbying firms often bundle money from clients for candidates."

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Election Big Loser Kathy Wylde, reports True News

Kathy Wylde had one job, and she blew it ! How long will she remain as head of the Partnership For New York City ?

(Revised : Thursday 7 Nov 2013 1:05 p.m.)  photo 2012-10-15PartnershipForNewYork_zps08baa4f6.png

Beaten By The Working Families Party, The Flack For The 1% Kathryn Wylde Fights To Keep Her Job

CYA Statement from Wylde : “I keep telling my members that the Bloomberg era was an aberration,” said Kathryn S. Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a leading business group. “Bill captured the disconnect for many New Yorkers between the fact of the city’s prosperity and the reality of their lives in this increasingly unaffordable city.”

The election of Bill de Blasio and the take over by the Working Families Party has more to do with the city's corrupt election system and an elite media, which most New Yorkers no longer follow. In the past, the 1% made it possible with great schools, hospitals for the poor, and good jobs for the 99% of New Yorkers to move themselves and their children up the social and economic ladder. Most New Yorkers today face an economic crisis as big as the crime crisis of the 70's and 80's.

The change voters were looking for in the exit polls was good jobs, good educations for their children, and an affordable place to live. The job of the Partnership For New York City, which Kathryn Wylde has run for the last decade, was to keep that social contract the rich always had with the other New Yorkers. Wylde sat there in her fancy office and collected her fat pay check while her real estate partners pushed the city's poor and middle class out of New York. Wylde lunched with her rich partners at the city's best, trendy restaurants in Manhattan, while record high numbers of New Yorkers went without jobs. Wylde visited her friends penthouses on Park Avenue, where their children pay $50,000 for private schools, while most New Yorkers parents send their kids to failing schools, destroying their children's future. Wylde sold her rich and media partners that the way to keep her fellow looters in power was through Bloomberg's puppet, Speaker Christine Quinn. It's not so much that the Working Families Party grew powerful and took over, so much as that the clueless Partnership-backed Joe Lhota did not even put up a fight. Wylde and her elite partners in government and the media allowed the protectors of the poor and middle class to be run by a bunch of bottom feeders. Elected officials and party leaders, who only care about growing rich and getting jobs for their friends. A media who tries to control New Yorkers rather than further their Bill of Rights mission to inform to protect. If Wylde stays in power and the Partnership does not end it class war in NYC, then so will the Working Families Party and Bertha Lewis.

True News's Biggest Loser of the 2013 Election : The Partnership's Kathy Wylde

From True News From Change NYC :

If you think the Giants are having a bad year check out the head of the Partnership. Wylede allowed the Working Families Party to take over the mayor's and Public Advocate's office. She now must count on Virginia resident Corrupt Queens' Boss Joe Crowley to line up enough councilmembers to elect Mark Weprin as Council Speaker. As long as Wyde is in power there will never be reform of the city's corrupt party leadership or Board of elections.

OFFICIAL DISPATCH from Lhota's closed-door meeting yesterday, via Kathy Wylde of the Partnership for NYC: "Joe Lhota met with about thirty members of the Partnership for New York City today to detail priorities he would focus on as mayor including support for job creation, making the city more affordable, and ensuring that it remains safe. the big question was whether there is a path to victory for a Republican in an increasingly Democratic town. Joe argued that most New Yorkers agree with him on big issues if he can get his name known and his message across. Those attending included CEOs from finance, real estate, media and law. The Partnership has met with all mayoral candidates, but does not make endorsements. Joe was introduced by Loews CEO Jim Tisch."

(Original : Friday 11 Oct 2013 3:10 p.m.)

Thursday, October 17, 2013

NYC's Impotent Protected County Political Party Bosses

New York Party Bosses Can't Get It Up Anymore

I am not endorsing the Working Families Party, but, as a third party, it was able to make advances this year, even though it may have involved shenanigans. Until the neoliberalism can be gutted out of the Democratic Party, maybe supporting a third party can either lead the Democrats to reform themselves (or face irrelevancy) or else help build up a third party that can actually deliver reforms ? Either way, reformers win.

From True News From Change NYC :

Broken Party Bosses. Today both The Daily News and City and State both have done stories crediting the Working Families Party with winning the Mayoral election. What both papers failed to talk about is the disconnect of the city's Democrats and Republicans party bosses from the voters in their own parties. In other words they can no long deliver the vote. More importantly they represent only themselves and a few close criminal co-conspirators in dysfunctional parties that have cut off the public they claim to represent. The Queens Boss supported Quinn, the Bronx and Brooklyn bosses supported Thompson the Manhattan and Staten Island bosses did not endorse anyone. Over on the Queens side none of the party bosses supported Joe Lhota in the primary, but the voters in their party did.

Party Bosses and Ballot Lines For Sale. Former Bronx Republican Party leader Jay Savino and Queens GOP Vice Chair Vincent Tabone wait for their used to selling their party line to Bloomberg tried to sell their party this year to Malcolm Smith. The Queens party leaders even lost control of who runs the Board of Elections. It very strange that the media is doing story of Bill Lipton's WFP big win and not talking about who the losers are. What the newspaper should be looking into is not only the corruption connected to these party leaders, but how few people participate in party elections and picking who leads party bosses. Why are the newspapers and the city's permanent government, led by the partnership protecting the party leaders? The cluelessness of their Quinn endorsement shows they are as disconnected from the voters as the party bosses are. The permanent government has allowe a political and election system where only cleaver activists from the WFP know how to win in. And a media that covers the horse race rather the getting to the realities of the real issues that effect New Yorkers. The Working Families Party's long game is paying off(NYDN) * Last Look: Bill Lipton (City and State)

Robert Kennedy : The Last NY Politician, Who Tried to Reform the Party Bosses * Incumbent Protection * Party Leaders. Elected officials have taken over the party positions with the sole purpose of centralizing power and using it resources to help them get reelected. The party has no agenda or issue it pushes for. Most of the people in party positions have never beenchallenged. It function more like the old soviet union' Communist Party, then a democratic institution. It is even allow according to the U.S. Supreme Court to use politics to pick judges. Lopez Torres v. NYS Bd of Elections

Elected Officials, Reformer, Goo Goos Groups Silent On Party Reform. It has been 50 years since anyone has tried to reform New York's Democratic Party. In the mid 60's Robert Kennedy who defeated the democratic machine to become senator set his sights on cleaning up the state's Democratic Party. Kennedy tried to clean up Manhattan’s Surrogate Court, which to this day remains a Piggy bank for party patronage. Kennedy called the Court "a political toll booth exacting tribute from widows and orphans." He took aim at cronyism in Albany and fought to strengthen home rule of New York City. He also proposed nonpartisan redistricting, a move aimed at eliminating one of the main tools party leaders use to keep their incumbents in office for decades. Fiercely battled by a faction of the Democratic machine, Kennedy’s attempts reform the city's political parties died with his 1968 assassination. So called reformer and good government groups have never taken up his cause.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Did Scott Levenson sabotage Yetta Kurland's campaign in order to elect Corey Johnson ?

Scott Levenson : Biggest Loser Of The Week

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Scott Levenson – Levenson’s consulting firm, The Advance Group, appears to have found a sure-fire way to come out on top in campaigns: secretly represent both sides! That’s what seems to have happened in the race for New York City Council between Yetta Kurland and Corey Johnson. On one hand, The Advance Group was getting paid to run an independent expenditure for the animal rights group NYCLASS supporting Kurland; on the other it appears to have been promoting Johnson’s candidacy through an IE paid for by the UFT via a company called Strategic Consultants—apparently a dummy shell corporation set up to obscure the Advance Group’s double-dealing. With consultants like that . . . (City & State)

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Gloria Steinem Paid Sick Leave Petition

"The feminist author Gloria Steinem is leading a campaign to pressure Speaker Christine C. Quinn to allow a City Council vote on a bill that would require businesses to give their employees paid sick leave." (NYTimes)

To sign the MoveOn.org petition, please click on the photo below :

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