Citizens Action NY Justice Works Conference - June 4th and 5th

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On June 4th and 5th, hundreds of New Yorkers who fight for justice came together in Albany. Justice Works was a conference that brought together a cross section of progressive politics and activism in New York State. Bringing together people working on different issues, all going in different directions. But the fact is, we are all in this together, fighting for a society where we all do better, where government and the economy work for every person, not just the rich, and where justice is something shared by everyone, regardless of the color of our skin, our sexual orientation, our religious beliefs, where we live or how much money we make. Because Justice Works, we work for it, every day.

The keynote speaker at the event was Melissa V. Harris-Perry professor of political science at Tulane University, where she is founding director of the project on gender, race, and politics in the South.She is a columnist for The Nation magazine. Harris-Perry is a contributor to MSNBC, appearing as a bi-weekly guest on the Thomas Roberts Show and a frequent guest on the Rachel Maddow Show and The Last Word.

The other principal speaker was NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. As Attorney General, Schneiderman is the highest ranking law enforcement officer for the State, responsible for representing New York and its residents in legal matters. Schneiderman has worked to restore the public’s faith in its public and private sector institutions, by focusing on areas including public integrity, economic justice, social justice and environmental protection.

Among the other speakers were Bob Master. Bertha Lewis, Stephen Allringer, Richard Kirsch, Richard McNary, Ana-Maria Archila, Dan Cantor and many others. For bios, click here.

The event was sponsored by Salsa Labs, Solidago Foundation, Public Policy and Education Fund of New York and Citizens Action of New York.

Sshhh! It's a Surprise! from the Working Families Party - Pete Seeger's 92nd Birthday

So, we pause from the hurly-burly of organizing and politics, the need for jobs and clean water, and even the antics of idiotic right-wing Presidential candidates to note something wonderful.

Today is Pete Seeger's 92nd birthday. Folk singer, song writer, activist – the man is a living legend and a friend to the Working Families Party.

Some younger folks may remember Pete as the guy in the flannel shirt joining Bruce Springsteen on stage to perform “This Land is Your Land” at Barack Obama’s inaugural concert two years ago.

Whether or not you know the impact that he has made, each of us knows of the gains that social movements have made – at the workplace, the lunch counter, on a fishing boat, or at a mass demonstration for peace – that came in part due to Pete and his banjo. 
Please join us in giving Pete a memorable birthday. Watch this video that Pete made for the WFP last year, and then add your name to our Birthday Card:





If there is an American alive who more deserves the good wishes and gratitude of his countrymen, we don’t know who that is. For 70 years, Pete has fought the good fight with music, wit, smarts and love.

Since before most of us were born, Pete’s shown us that things can improve, but only if we organize. Cynicism is the easy way out, he’s taught us.

Click here to add your name to the card, and add a message

Pete has always believed in the ability of ordinary people to change the world. And we believe in the ability of ordinary people to know when to stop and say thanks.

Please forward to anyone and everyone, and let's get thousands of Americans to let this wonderful man know how much we appreciate how hard he has worked to make America truly a land with liberty and justice for all.

Don’t forget to help us spread the word – we guarantee Pete will be surprised by your outpouring! We’ll send the card at the end of the week.

All the best,

Dan Cantor
Executive Director, WFP

Working Families Party Statement on Cathie Black -- "Public Schools Are Not Businesses"

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The following statement can be attributed to Dan Cantor, Executive Director of the Working Families Party:

“The departure of Cathie Black is confirmation that public schools are not businesses in need of a CEO. Public service and public education are about something more precious than alleged corporate efficiency. Public schools are part of what makes democracy possible, and we need leaders who fully appreciate that education is not just about testing.”

Save the American Dream Rally on February 26th at City Hall Park...

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Working Families Party Takes Line "D" (+ 7 Fun Facts)

COMMON-SENSE PROGRESSIVE PARTY IMPROVES ITS BALLOT POSITION WITH BEST SHOWING EVER

Official 2010 election results certified by the New York State Board of Elections on Monday show that the Working Families Party had its best showing in any statewide election in its 12-year history, and will move up the ballot from line "E" to line "D."

Senator Charles Schumer was the party's top vote-getter ever, receiving 183,707 votes, or 4% of all votes cast on Election Day – joining Tom DiNapoli, Eric Schneiderman, and Kirsten Gillibrand in breaking 4% of the total statewide vote on the WFP line for the first time. (These four candidates received even more WFP votes than Barack Obama in the 2008 election.)

"These results show that, no matter what politicians or pundits say, middle- and working-class New Yorkers are thrilled about a party that focuses on common-sense, progressive solutions to our biggest challenges," WFP Co-Chair Karen Scharff said.

The Board of Elections' final, certified 2010 voting results show the following:

1. The WFP received 154,847 votes for Andrew Cuomo on its line, 8,201 more than the Independence Party, moving it up the ballot from line "E" to line "D." (The Conservative Party will occupy line "C.")

2. Both in terms of raw vote totals and percentage of the overall vote, the WFP received more votes on its line for statewide candidates than in any previous election. WFP voters accounted for more than 4% of total turnout for the first time in the party's 12-year history.

3. 183,707 New Yorkers voted for Charles Schumer on the Working Families Party line, more than have voted WFP for any other candidate since the party's creation. (158,891 voted WFP for Obama in ’08; 155,184 voted WFP for Spitzer in ’06; and 51, 325 voted for Peter Vallone in the party’s 1998 inaugural election.)

4. WFP voters also turned out strongly for Comptroller Tom DiNapoli (182,983 WFP votes), Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (182,648), and Attorney General-elect Eric Schneiderman (178,850), each of whom also received more than 4% of all votes cast in their races from the WFP line.

5. In New York City, the Working Families Party was the third largest vote-getter of any party, receiving nearly half as many votes as the Republican Party, and more than double the vote of any other minor party. (The WFP vote total in NYC, 76,953, was 42% of the Republican vote in the city.)

6. The WFP received 50% of its votes from Upstate New York and the suburbs of New York City, and 50% from NYC. Especially strong growth in WFP turnout occurred in Suffolk County and the Hudson Valley.

7. The WFP achieved these impressive results on a shoestring budget, spending just 1/8 of what the party spent in the 2006 election to contact and mobilize voters.

WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor was not all smiles, however. “Another 16,293 votes and Matt Damon would’ve put on that Yankees cap for us, and that would have been sweet.”

Cantor was referring to the video challenge made by actor/activist Matt Damon about his willingness – even though a lifelong Red Sox fan – to wear a Yankees cap should the WFP crack the 200,000 vote barrier in this election.

“There’s always next year,” said the downtrodden Mr. Cantor.

Unions Made the NY Difference by Jerry Skurnik - NYPOST.com

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"Republicans nationally just had one of their best days ever -- but New York stands out as one of the few places that the wave missed. Every Democrat running for statewide office won, three in landslides, plus Attorney General-elect Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who'd both been thought vulnerable to defeat by attractive Republican opponents.

More significant, the Democrats may have kept their 32-30 control of the state Senate, and they re-elected almost all of their Assembly members, despite poll numbers showing voters were disgusted with Albany governance."

OK, New York isn't completely different: Democrats lost at least five House seats and seven to 10 Assembly seats. Democrats did fairly well in a few other states on Tuesday, among them California, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Hawaii.

But, compared to most of the country, we certainly voted differently -- and have for at least a decade.

While there are many reasons for this, a crucial one is organized labor. New York has more than 2 million union members, second only to California -- more than 25 percent of workers here are union members, tops in the nation.

And New York unions are politically active. Some limit their actions to donating to favored candidates; others make sure their members are registered to vote and inform them of which candidates support the union's positions.

But many do much more -- from forming the base of the Working Families Party (which was remarkably successful in last year's New York City Council elections) to having union members canvass or phone voters in close races.

A personal example: Last Friday, someone helping Republican state Sen. Frank Padavan told me that the campaign was worried because the United Federation of Teachers was making a major effort on behalf of his Democratic opponent, former City Councilman Tony Avella.

This was the first I'd heard Padavan might be in trouble; internal polls supposedly had him with a big lead. But the teachers unions can be quite effective: I served as a consultant this year for an incumbent assemblywoman who lost the Democratic nomination by 56 votes -- and whose opponent was encouraged to run by the New York State United Teachers, which was his largest contributor.

The unions were effective again. Avella was one of two Democrats to take a GOP Senate seat; the other was David Carlucci in Rockland County. UFT President Michael Mulgrew told me that hundreds of union members campaigned for both candidates, with members from Manhattan and The Bronx going to Rockland.

Mulgrew also says the union was active on behalf of Tim Kennedy, a Democratic Senate candidate in Erie County, who was defending a seat that most observers thought was hopeless -- but who won.

Conversely, the two Democratic senators who lost were not endorsed by either the teachers or the AFL-CIO, as is one whose race is too close to call, which may determine who controls the Senate.

Jerry Skurnik is a partner in Prime New York, a political consulting firm.

Working Families and Conservative Parties Agree: New Ballot Favors the Political Establishment by Dan Cantor and Mike Long - NY Daily News

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Anyone familiar with New York politics knows that there isn't much the Conservative and Working Families parties agree on. But one idea we both hold dear is that voters should have the right to have their votes for minor parties count. That's why we're extremely concerned about a judge's recent decision to let stand a policy that will penalize voters and minor parties alike by disregarding votes cast on minor party lines when a voter makes a mistake at the ballot box.

By now, many voters know that New York has replaced its lever machines with optical scanners. This November will mark the first general election in which all New Yorkers will vote on paper ballots that will be read by the scanners. What is less well known is that the state has set up these scanners to favor the major parties - Democrats and Republicans - at the expense of minor parties.

Here's how it works. New York's "fusion" voting system allows for the same candidate to run on both a major party as well as a minor party line. For instance, this year voters can cast their ballot for Andrew Cuomo on either the Democratic, Independence or Working Families Party line and Carl Paladino on either the Republican or Conservative line. This allows voters to vote for a major party candidate while expressing their support for a minor party.

With the lever machines used in New York until this year, voters could not vote for the same candidate on both major and minor party lines. With the new system, voters can "double-vote" in this way, without any warning that their vote will only be counted for the major party and without any opportunity to correct their ballot.

In other words, this November, if you happen fill in the oval for Andrew Cuomo under both the Democratic and Working Families Party lines, the machine will not alert you to your mistake - nor give you an opportunity to correct it. It will simply count your vote for Cuomo on the Democratic line and disregard your vote on the Working Families Party line. Same if you filled in the bubble for Paladino on the Conservative and Republican lines. The Republicans get the vote, while the Conservative ballot is cast aside. The state ignores the fact that the voter has expressed intent to support a minor party.

So what, you might say. At least my vote for Cuomo or Paladino got counted. Not so fast. By cross endorsing-candidates, minor parties are able to advance the issues they care about by forcing politicians to acknowledge an additional constituency. It is critical for minor political parties to be able to measure the support that they receive at the ballot box in order to attract new candidates, raise money and advance their agenda.

Unfortunately, the new voting method places the very existence of minor parties in New York in jeopardy. Under state law, a party must receive at least 50,000 votes for its gubernatorial candidate, or it will lose an automatic spot on the ballot in the future. Not only that, but the parties appear on the ballot in an order determined by the number of votes that their previous gubernatorial candidate received.

With the obstacles that already exist for minor parties, it is anything but a level playing field to compete with the major parties. The gears of the political system in Albany have been set for too long to benefit them. And now, there is yet another obstacle to third parties earning the voters' attention.

A double vote is an honest mistake. The state should choose to recognize it as such by returning the ballot and giving the voter an opportunity to choose which party they intend to support. The state should never make this choice on behalf of the voter - especially if that choice might cost a political party recognition and support.


While we lost the first round of our challenge to this law in court, we will continue to work to overturn it in court and in Albany, through legislative means. Until then, voters who support a minor party should take extra care to mark their ballot only once for each office on Nov. 2.

Cantor is executive director of the Working Families Party. Long is chairman of the Conservative Party.

Matt Damon's Birthday Wish - Working Families Party

There's one thing Matt Damon wants New Yorkers to give him for his 40th birthday...

You probably know Matt Damon from films like "Good Will Hunting" and the Bourne trilogy (or maybe for his recent cameos on "30-Rock"). But he's also a thoughtful and committed political activist who believes in the Working Families Party's ability to get real results from our elected officials on issues from health care to hydrofracking.

Mr. Damon recorded this video to encourage New Yorkers to cast votes on the Working Families Party line (row E of the ballot) this November 2. As you'll see in the video, he's even added a little extra incentive to vote WFP.

Petition Snafu Threatens To End Lynn Nunes Council Candidacy At BoE by Chris Bragg - City Hall News

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Lynn Nunes’ Council race may be over before it even began.

Just days before the end of his unsuccessful State Senate primary against Shirley Huntley, Nunes irked some of his backers by simultaneously applying for matching funds in the Council race to replace the deceased Tom White. At the same time, Nunes’ sister, Elaine, petitioned onto the ballot for the Council race, with the unspoken intention of ceding the spot to her brother via her committee on vacancies if the Senate campaign was unsuccessful.

And so the plan went into motion last week, after Nunes fell to Huntley by a 2-1 margin in Tuesday’s primary.

But it too seems to be falling short of expectations.
The New York City Board of Elections is initiating prima facie objections against the petitions of both Lynn and Elaine Nunes for the special election, based on the party name they created for the purposes of the election: Working Harder for Queens.

The problem is simple, and is one that has cut short special election candidacies before: their new party name is similar to that of the existing Working Families Party. And according to Board of Elections rules, the name of a party used on designating petitions cannot share all or any part of the name of an existing political party. (Huntley, as it happens, received the WFP line for the Senate race earlier in the summer.)

The Board of Elections considered a very similar issue just last February, for the special election fill the Council seat Joe Addabbo vacated to go to the State Senate. Glenn DiResto, a former police officer who had petitioned for the seat as the candidate of the Families First party was booted from the ballot because he had used the other operative word in the WFP’s title.

Eventually, DiResto was allowed back on the ballot by a judge, but only because the Board had given another candidate in the race the chance to change the name of their party after making a similar error.

In a phone conversation early Monday, Nunes said he was not sure if he would be running for the Council, and did not mention the BOE snafu.

Nunes did not return subsequent calls for comment.

J.C. Polanco, the Board’s Republican commissioner from the Bronx, said a BOE hearing
would be held on Tuesday, Sept. 28 regarding Nunes’ petitions. The special election is set to be held on the day of the general election, Nov. 2.

Already, 22 general objections have been filed in the race against nearly every one of the dozen potential candidates. A general objector named Joseph Thomas Jr. filed objections against Elaine Nunes, while general objectors Sharon Smith and Troy L. Jackson filed objections against both Elaine and Lynn Nunes.

Between them, Smith and Jackson appear to have lodged general objections at least once against every candidate except for Ruben Wills, the favorite of Huntley and Assembly Member Vivian Cook. Wills, who is running as the candidate of A Better Way, had his petitions challenged by Jaime Nunes.

General objections were also filed against the Taxpayers line petitions filed by Michael Allegretti, who lost the GOP Congressional primary to face Rep. Mike McMahon last week, as well as the Taxpayers petitions of Nicole Malliotakis, hoping to unseat Assembly Member Janele Hyer-Spencer. New lines with names playing off the word “taxes” appear to be somewhat taxing themselves: the Tax Cuts Now! line of Anthony Como, running against State Sen. Joe Addabbo, was challenged by three people, and the Taxed Enough line of Vince Tabone, running for the seat being vacated by Ann-Margaret Carrozza, was challenged by two people.

A Moratorium on Fracking Possible by Nick Reisman - Vote Up! - Vote Up NY

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Click here to: Sign WFP letter to NYS Senate

Lawmakers may consider this week a moratorium on granting permits for drilling natural gas in the Marcellus Shale formation of the Southern Tier.

It’s a goal environmental advocates and some property owners in that area have hoped to accomplish as energy companies gear up for the potentially lucrative drilling.

The practice, known as hydraulic fracturing, uses a mixture of chemicals and water to blast through rock and access the gas underneath. Business groups want the drilling to move forward because of its potential boost for jobs and the upstate economy. But environmentalists are skeptical the process is safe.


The drilling is pejoratively known as “fracking.”

Advocacy groups today were trumpeting the support of Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, Orange County, who has said he supports a bill that would put a moratorium on granting permits for the drilling until May 15, 2011.
Bonacic told the Albany bureau’s Joseph Spector that he was urging for a vote on the measure.

“We have to move cautiously on this,” Bonacic said. “Water is our most precious commodity.”

The labor-backed Working Families Party sent out a letter to supporters today pointing to Bonacic’s support and the likelihood that the bill could come to a vote when the Legislature meets again this week in Albany.

“This is a big deal: over the weekend, Republican State Senator John Bonacic announced that he will vote for a moratorium on risky natural gas drilling in New York State,” wrote Dan Cantor, the party’s executive director. “With Democrats and Republicans uniting on this issue, the NY State Senate almost certainly has the votes to pass a “hydro-fracking” ban. We just need the Senate’s leaders to make that vote happen — and they’re deciding right now whether it will be on their agenda for the week.”

Cantor urges opponents of drilling to call Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson’s office to voice their support for the moratorium.

“The only reason we’ve gotten this close is the immense grassroots outcry in support of a drilling ban,” Cantor. “Over 20,000 New Yorkers signed our letter urging Albany to act before it’s to late — and clearly, both Democratic and Republican Senators are recognizing just how much this issue matters to New York families.”

Talk on Jackson Heights Neighborhood Development & Immigrant Displacement by Arturo Ignacio Sanchez - Thursday August 5th...

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On Thursday, August 5th (7:00 pm - 9:00 pm), Arturo Ignacio Sanchez, Phd will be making a presentation - at the Jewish Center of Jackson Heights - entitled "Is Jackson Heights Sustainable: Economic Crisis, Changing Demographics, and Quality-of-Life Issues." The one-hour presentation will be followed by a one hour interactive conversation with the general audience.

What: Talk "Is Jackson Heights Sustainable: Economic Crisism Changing Demograohics and Quality of Life Issues" with Arturo Ignacio Sanchez, Phd

When: Auguest 5th - 7pm - 9pm


Where: Jewish Center of Jackson Heights - 37-06 77th Street, Jackson Heights, NY

Help the Working Family Party Stop Hydro-fracking in NYS Now..!

To stop risky natural gas drilling in New York, we have to get our State Senators back to Albany now.

At the moment, they're on recess for the indefinite future -- but if they don't return and pass a moratorium on hydrofracking ASAP, the first gas drilling permits could be issued this August, and it could be too late to save New York City's drinking water from pollution.

The Working Family Party (WFP) is about to send a letter to every single Senate office around the state, insisting that they return and pass a drilling moratorium right away.

Will you please sign the letter before they send it?

Sign the letter by clicking here...

In June, WFP delivered a 12,000-person petition to Senate Majority Leader John Sampson urging him to bring a moratorium bill to the floor. But Albany was in the middle of intense budget negotiations, and the Senate never got to voting on the bill before they adjourned.

They can still come back and pass a moratorium, but we have to put pressure on EVERY member of the State Senate to make it happen.

Some Senators are worried that if they do the right thing and vote for a ban, the drilling industry will come after them in the fall elections, spending hundreds of thousands to smear their reputations and try to defeat them at the polls.

We need to show these Senators that New Yorkers' grassroots support for a drilling moratorium overwhelms any threats from the drilling industry. The more signers we have on the WFP letter, the clearer that message becomes -- and then they'll make sure every single member of the State Senate gets it.

It really is now or never. I hope you'll sign the WFP  letter today, and ask all of your friends to sign it, too.

Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer Launches Re-Election Campaign

Assemblywoman Audrey I. Pheffer (D-Queens) is happy to announce that her campaign for re-election to the New York State Assembly has begun. She has received the nomination of the Democratic Party and will be the endorsed candidate for the Working Families Party and Independence Party lines.

She is a long time champion for the many working men and women in the district. Job creation and improving the local economy are amongst Assemblywoman Pheffer’s top legislative priorities. That is why many organizations and unions have endorsed Assemblywoman Audrey Pheffer’s re-election.

• “Your untiring dedication and professionalism that you have shown us over the past years, as well as your commitment for future years have secured you our endorsement,” stated the Sanitation Officers Association.

• “Your outstanding record as a legislator is beyond reproach. Your support on issues which affect the working men and women of this state has been unwavering,” said the New York State Supreme Court Officers Association.

• “The firefighters of this city are confident that you will continue to be an asset to the residents in your District,” said the Uniformed Firefighters Association.

Assemblywoman Pheffer also received the endorsement of the Plumbers & Gasfitters Local Union No. 1 and the Uniformed Fire Officers Association Local 854.

Assemblywoman Pheffer has been a resident of the 23^rd Assembly District for over 50 years and continues to work on behalf of all the constituents she represents.

Monserrate, Ousted State Senator, Seeks Assembly Seat by Stephen Ceasar - NYTimes.com

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Hiram Monserrate, who three months ago failed to regain the State Senate seat he had lost after being convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault, is again running for office, this time for a Queens Assembly seat.

Mr. Monserrate filed nominating petitions on Tuesday to be placed on the ballot in the Democratic primary in September for the 39th Assembly District seat, Board of Elections officials said on Wednesday.

Mr. Monserrate, a former police officer and city councilman, is running for a seat representing parts of western Queens. It was left vacant when José R. Peralta was elected to Mr. Monserrate’s old Senate seat.

In October, Mr. Monserrate was convicted of recklessly injuring his companion, Karla Giraldo, after dragging her through his apartment’s lobby.

He was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to perform 250 hours of community service, participate in a yearlong counseling program and pay a $1,000 fine.

The Senate expelled Mr. Monserrate in February. The following month, he was handily defeated by Mr. Peralta in a special election for his former seat.

In the September primary, Mr. Monserrate will face Francisco Moya, a government affairs official for Cablevision. Mr. Moya has considerable support among New York Democrats and has the endorsement of the Working Families Party.

Doug Forand, a spokesman for Mr. Moya’s campaign, said that Mr. Monserrate’s history made him unfit for public office. “His continued insistence on being taken seriously as a candidate is both delusional and offensive to the voters,” Mr. Forand said.

Calls to Mr. Monserrate and his staff were not returned.

New York’s New Voting Machines Flawed, Suit Says by Jack Healy - NYTimes.com

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Electronic voting machines being deployed for the first time this year across New York City and the rest of the state contain a flaw that could lead to thousands of votes being thrown out, according to a lawsuit that advocacy groups will file Monday.

The problem, according to the legal complaint, revolves around voters who accidentally pick too many candidates for a particular race — an error known as “overvoting,” which invalidates the incorrect part of their ballot.

When a voter submits such a ballot, the new machines do not automatically return it to be corrected and recast. Instead, the machines that scan the new SAT-style ballots are programmed to start beeping and to offer a choice on their digital touch-screens: a green button for voters to confirm their choices and cast their ballot, or a red button to scrap their votes and start over.

Lawrence D. Norden, senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law, which is representing the New York State conference of the N.A.A.C.P., the Working Families Party and other groups in the lawsuit, said that the setup was poorly worded and confusing, and that the design of the new machines could prompt thousands of voters to press the green button accidentally, casting parts of their ballots into oblivion.

The lawsuit, filed against the State Board of Elections, says voters who are minorities or non-native English speakers would lose their votes in disproportionate numbers.

“They have to make a fast decision,” Mr. Norden said. “There are people behind them, and they tend to press ‘cast,’ especially because there’s nothing there that says, ‘Your vote will not count.’ ”

The machines tell people they have “overvoted,” but do not explain what, exactly, overvoting is, or its consequences, Mr. Norden said. And many voters are just more likely to hit a button with a green check mark than a red X — even if it has the effect of quashing part of their vote, he added.

In 2000, thousands of voters in Florida made a similar mistake by accidentally choosing two candidates for president, invalidating their selections and helping plunge the razor-thin contest into a chaotic stalemate for weeks.

The new scanning machines offer improvements like the creation of paper records of votes, but Mr. Norden said the way they were programmed to handle mistaken votes put New York at risk of sowing confusion. “This completely ignores what happened in Florida in 2000,” he said.

The old lever-operated machines prevented overvoting by locking themselves up if a voter flipped too many switches for various candidates. But Douglas Kellner, co-chairman of the New York State Board of Elections, called the conflict “a very minor issue” and said the new voting machines had taken a trial run in some upstate counties in elections last year with no major problems.

Rather than reprogram thousands of voting machines a few months before the primaries in September, Mr. Kellner said the board had agreed to assess how the system performed after the elections in November, in which New Yorkers will select a governor and vote on both Senate seats, among other races.

“We have a completely new system,” Mr. Kellner said. “That’s why the consensus is, don’t do an emergency fix of this one little minor point right now.”

A spokesman for the elections board called the new machines “compliant and legally sufficient” and said that tweaking how they handle improperly completed ballots would take months of testing and layers of approval to recertify the changes.

The new machines, which replace the lever-operated antiques many election districts in New York had used for decades, sprang from the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which aimed to update voting machines to prevent another election marred by thousands of rejected ballots. Voters in New York will now fill out ovals on a paper ballot, feed the ballot into a scanning machine and drop it into a locked box.

Public-interest groups began raising concerns about the potential for invalidated ballots this winter, citing a study in June 2009 by the Florida Fair Elections Coalition that attributed high numbers of overvoting in Florida’s 2008 elections to flaws in some electronic voting systems.

A letter sent in February to the New York State Board of Elections from several groups, including the Brennan Center, said that as many as 40,000 votes could be lost in a heavy election year.

Mr. Kellner disputed that estimate, saying the number was “made up out of thin air.”

The lawsuit says the current setup violates the Voting Rights Act and asks that New York not use the new machines until more safeguards are put in place.

The complaint, which was given to The New York Times by the Brennan Center, says that Wisconsin developed its system to “return a ballot to the voter immediately” if the scanning machine noted an overvote.

Connecticut does the same thing, said its secretary of state, Susan Bysiewicz, adding that it gives voters a chance to fix the ballot or to send it through, errors and all.

“This can happen a lot,” Ms. Bysiewicz said. “It’s much better if the voter has the opportunity to ask a question of a poll worker and be given the opportunity to vote a fresh ballot.”

Working Families Party Executive Committee Votes to Support Gillibrand for U.S. Senate

Tout Gillibrand’s Commitment to Creating Good-Paying Jobs, Rebuilding New York’s Economy with Equal Opportunity for All, Leading NY Into New Clean, Green Economy, Making Health Care Reform Law of the Land

Growing Grassroots Support, Momentum Behind Gillibrand

New York, NY – The Working Families Party Exective Committee voted unanimously today to recommend the endorsement of Kirsten Gillibrand for U.S. Senate – touting her tireless efforts to create new, good-paying jobs and rebuild New York’s economy with equal opportunities for all, protecting the air we breathe and the water we drink, and passing historic health insurance reform.

“Kirsten is a strong voice and a true champion for New York families,” WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor said. “Kirsten understands the real struggles that so many New Yorkers are going through, and she will always stand and fight for us – not the big corporate special interests. She’s fighting for our small businesses to help them grow and put more New Yorkers back to work. She’s fighting for fair wages for each and every employee. She’s helping to lead New York into the clean energy economy of the future – protecting our environment, while creating new jobs right here and making us more energy independent. And she stood up to the insurance companies to pass health care reform that gives New York families access to affordable health care. While powerful special interests have their high-priced lobbyists in Washington, we’ve got Kirsten – a leader that New York families can always count on. That’s why we are to recommend the endorsement of Kirsten for U.S. Senate.”

“I am honored to have the support of the Working Families Party's executive committee,” said Senator Gillibrand. “I look forward to working closely with these progressive champions to fight for our communities, and New Yorkers across the state.”

The Working Families Party joins a broad and growing coalition of support for Kirsten Gillibrand. From elected officials to community leaders, to teachers, doctors, nurses, environmental leaders, pro-choice advocates and civil rights leaders, thousands of New Yorkers are supporting Kirsten’s campaign.

Click here for the latest information about who has endorsed Kirsten’s campaign.

Bill to Help Out Ill Workers is Good for Everyone's Health by Eric Ulrich NY Daily News Op/Ed

As local and national public health officials work overtime to stop the spread of swine flu, they have made sure to highlight common sense measures the public can take to do its part. Almost always, near the top of the list is simply avoiding people you might infect when you are sick: staying home from work and keeping sick children out of school.

But for nearly half of all working New Yorkers, that common sense suggestion may not be an option. A report from the Community Service Society and A Better Balance estimates that 48% of New Yorkers - more than 1.65 million people - have no paid sick days where they work. Low-income New Yorkers suffer the most; fully two-thirds
(66%) cannot take a paid day off when they get sick. Nor can an astounding 72% of Latino low wage workers

For these working families, the next cold or flu means a tough choice between their health (and the health of their co-workers) and the paycheck they need to make ends meet.

Worse, the report suggests that access to paid sick days is on the decline. As recently as 2004, 69% of "near-poor" workers - those just above the poverty line ($22,050 for a family of four) - had paid sick leave where they worked. Today, just 33% of near-poor workers report having paid sick days. It appears that the recession is not only making jobs harder to find; the jobs that do exist are increasingly less likely to provide adequate benefits.

That thousands of working families live in fear that getting sick could be financially ruinous is troubling enough. But the consequences of lacking paid sick days may extend far beyond individual workers and their families

New York City has sensibly made it a policy to close public schools only as a last resort in the event of a swine flu outbreak. But key to the success of the city's swine flu plan is the ability of parents to follow the city's own advice by keeping flu-stricken children at home where they cannot infect their classmates and teachers.

For many working parents, that plan may sound doomed to fail. According to the report, 54% of public school parents (and 65% of low-income public school parents) lack paid sick days where they work. Unsurprisingly, 30% of low-income parents report having sent a sick child to school.

There is also evidence that the lack of paid sick days may even be contributing to our broken health care system, where preventable illnesses go untreated and the under-served choke our emergency rooms and hospitals.

Twenty-two percent of low-income workers who have health insurance report visiting an emergency room simply because they could not take time off work for a doctor's appointment.

The statistics are depressing, but the city can and should take action. The Paid Sick Time bill currently under consideration by the City Council would allow all working New Yorkers to earn paid sick leave on the job. With 39 Council co-sponsors, the bipartisan bill is a common sense way to help working families and protect the public health. (Actually, as a major priority of the progressive Working Families Party, it's a tri-partisan bill.)

New York would not be the first city to implement a universal paid sick days law. San Francisco and Washington have made paid sick leave a basic workplace standard, and more than 15 states are considering similar measures

It is an idea that unites New Yorkers from all walks of life - from single parents to labor leaders and business groups, liberals and conservatives, advocates for women and advocates for family values. It is time to put paid sick days at the top of the agenda

Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Howard Beach) is a sponsor of the Paid Sick Time Act.

Rally at City Hall for Paid Sick Time Bill with Gloria Steinem - November 17th, 2009

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Gloria Steinem's Call to Action; Chamber's Fuzzy Math

Just before the City Council held its first hearings on the Paid Sick Time act yesterday, Gloria Steinem joined over a hundred people who rallied on the City Hall steps to support the groundbreaking bill:

The Daily News, the Post, El Diario, and WNYC covered the action. From the News:

The bill would mandate up to nine days paid leave for people at firms with more than 10 workers, or up to five days at smaller firms.

It has widespread support in the City Council, but Mayor Bloomberg hasn’t embraced it for smaller companies, making for a potential showdown.

Proponents said leave would not only preserve individuals’ health, but help curb the spread of ailments such as the H1N1 virus.

“Paid sick days is a matter of basic fairness,” said Quenia Abreu of the New York Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

The sides had wildly differing cost estimates: Kevin Miller of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research said at least 850,000 workers would receive leave under the law, costing $332 million. But a city business coalition pegged the annual cost at $8.8 billion.

If that $8.8 billion figure sounds high it’s because, well, it is. Crain’s New York Insider did the math:

Crain’s: About That $7.7 Billion …

The paid-sick-leave bill being debated today by the City Council would cost employers $8 billion annually, or about 1.6% of the gross city product, according to the city’s main chambers of commerce. But that assumes an average hourly wage of $27.44 and includes all private-sector workers, not just those lacking sick days. Proponents estimate the annual cost at $332 million in wages and lost productivity, about $7.7 billion less. They point to an Institute for Women’s Policy Research study that factors in only those lacking paid sick time.

Working Families Party Endorses Bill Thompson for Mayor

The Working Families Party released today the following statement after a vote by its New York City Coordinating Council to endorse Bill Thompson for New York City Mayor. The statement can be attributed to Dan Cantor, Working Families Party Executive Director:

As our city and nation tackle the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, standing on the sidelines is unacceptable. And the idea that Wall Street knows best no longer convinces anyone. As in last November's election for President, it's time for a new direction.

At our Forum last Thursday, Bill Thompson presented a clear, progressive message. He believes city government must first and always put the middle class and working families above the real estate developers and corporate interests that have dominated New York City for too long.

The vote tonight by the New York City Coordinating Council matches the overwhelming sentiment of WFP supporters who watched our Mayoral Forum, in person and online, and graded Bill Thompson the clear winner.

Addressing his profligate campaign spending, Mayor Bloomberg told the crowd last Thursday: “rich people don’t always win.”

The Working Families Party wants to help prove him right by helping Bill Thompson become the next Mayor of New York.

WFP And Queens Dems Go Separate Ways by Elizabeth Benjamin - The Daily Politics - NY Daily News

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Of the 11 endorsements it has made in Queens City Council races, the Working Families Party in four cases backed Democratic candidates other than those being supported by the Queens Democratic Party.

That's more than in any other borough, although the labor-backed party is bucking the Democratic organizations elsewhere, too.

The Queens races in question are as follows:

- 20th CD (Liu): S.J. Jung, WFP; John Choe; Democrats.

- 25th CD: Danny Dromm, WFP; Councilwoman Helen Sears, Democrats.

- 26th CD (Gioia): Jimmy Van Bramer, WFP; Deirdre Feerick, Democrats.

- 29th CD (Katz): Lynn Schulman, WFP; Karen Koslowitz; Democrats.

In the 19th CD (Avella), the WFP has so far made no endorsement, while the Democrats are backing Jerry Iannece.

The WFP and the Democrats agreed in a number of other cases, including on Assemblyman Mark Weprin for the seat being vacated by his brother, Councilman David Weprin, who is running for comptroller; and Frank Gulluscio to make another run for the seat now held by Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich.

Thanks to a 2006 lawsuit in which Assemblyman Richard Brodsky successfully argued on behalf of the WFP that one political party should have the right to interfere in the primary of another, the WFP will be able to work on behalf of its candidates in the September elections - which, in New York, are generally the deciding factor.

WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor said it's unlikely the party will put much effort into the general elections if its candidates don't win in the primary. He noted that only Councilwoman Tish James has ever successfully won in a general election on the WFP line only against a Democratic candidate, adding:

"We haven’t decided yet what we’re doing in general elections, but the action in New York is in the first round. So you know, in terms of priorities, I guess we’d have to see how much energy the local activists have, and how close a given race is. But in general, it’s fair to say that’s not where our energies go."

Cantor said the WFP's aim is not to be at odds with the Democrats, with whom the minority party is usually closely allied. But he did see the WFP's willingness to buck the Democratic organization as "evidence - if any was needed - that we are quite independent, and you can see that up and down the ballot."

In Brooklyn, the WFP backed two candidates - Steve Levin and Maritza Davila - who are being supported by the borough's Democratic chairman, Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

Also in Brooklyn, the WFP is supporting Jumaane Williams against Councilman Kendall Stewart and Mark Winston-Griffith against Councilman Al Vann.

The Brooklyn Democrats have issued endorsements in the citywide races (backing an all-Brooklyn slate of Comptroller Bill Thompson for mayor, Councilman Bill de Blasio for public advocate and Councilman David Yassky for comptroller), but didn't formally vote on a Council slate, I'm told.

UPDATE: Lopez called in to say that the party will be "defending and supporting petitions" for both Vann and Stewart and all other incumbents "with one exception" (Councilwoman Diana Reyna, who is being challenged by Davila).

The party hasn't yet endorsed anyone for the seat de Blasio is departing, but I would be surprised if the candidate of choice isn't Brad Lander, who got an early endorsement from the WFP, as did de Blasio.