Working Families

For Immediate Release: January 30, 2009
Contact: Dan Levitan
The Working Families Party released today the following statement on Mayor Bloomberg’s budget address. It can be attributed to Dan Cantor, Working Families Party Executive Director:
“The catastrophic budget picture presented by Mayor Bloomberg today shows again the desperate need to ask the wealthiest New Yorkers to contribute their [...]

EJ McMahon just can’t help himself. The Manhattan Institute’s “Director of the Empire Center for New York Policy” proves in a series of op-eds that he’s more far-right ideologue than economist and more worried about pushing his agenda than the facts. Last week it was the Daily News, today it [...]

The New York Times today points to the increasingly likelihood that New York will raise taxes on the wealthy to help balance the budget.  That’s good news for anyone who thinks school children, the elderly, and the disabled shouldn’t have to bear the burden of the state’s multi-billion dollar budget deficit alone:

Warning to rich New [...]

Over three hundred community activists and organizers gathered at the “SHARE” party on Thursday night at Brooklyn’s Soda bar to launch a grassroots campaign to fight Governor Paterson’s devastating proposed budget cuts.
The activists, many of whom joined political organizing for the first time during the Obama campaign, hope to build support for a millionaire’s tax [...]

Working families in Queens need Julissa Ferreras in the City Council. Election Day: Feb 24th!

The best budget briefing this side of Lake Ontario, from our friends at the Fiscal Policy Institute:
The Fiscal Policy Institute’s Nineteenth Annual Budget Briefing:
Balancing New York State’s 2009-2010 Budget in an Economically Sensible Manner
Sponsored by
The Community Service Society’s
Public Policy Department
WHEN:  Thursday, January 15, 2009, 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm
WHERE: Community Service Society of New York
105 [...]

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In his State of the State address yesterday, Gov. Paterson called for “shared sacrifice” to get New York through one of the worst recessions we’ve seen in decades.
But the budget proposal the Governor presented last month would mean anything but.
Billions of dollars in cuts to healthcare, education, and hundreds of essential public services.  [...]

Buffalo News columnist Rod Watson questions today why Governor Paterson’s budget proposal soaks working families with devastating cuts and regressive nuisance taxes, but asks nothing from the wealthy New Yorkers who could most afford to sacrifice:

Overtaxing middle class simply unfair
Rod Watson
01/08/09
Gov. David Paterson’s slash-and-burn (and then tax the fire) budget may get average New Yorkers [...]

Contact: Dan Levitan
Albany – A broad coalition of environmental, labor, and housing advocates convened by the Center for Working Families praised Governor Paterson’s “45 by 15″ plan announced in today’s State of the State address.  The plan calls for New York to meet 45% of its energy needs through improvements in energy efficiency [...]

Contact:  Dan Levitan
The Working Families Party today released the following statement on Governor Paterson’s State of the State address:
“Governor’s Paterson’s call for shared sacrifice in tough economic times is heartening.
“Working families across New York are facing the triple threat of a deep recession, painful cuts to programs they rely on, and nuisance taxes that will [...]