This is a version of the first Campaigner Update from 2/18/09. It has been modified from the original email for your convenience.
Contents
1. Update from Executive Director Dan Cantor
2. March 5th events in support of Fair Share Tax Reform
3. Live from the campaign trail
4a. Take action: Support Green Jobs!
4b. Take action: Save Affordable Housing!
1. Update from Executive Director Dan Cantor
First, let me join Charles in welcoming you to our first Campaigner Update. It’s a sign of our growing capacity that we are now able to communicate more directly and personally with you. Personal relationships are the heart of any successful political movement, as the amazing Obama campaign taught us.
We intend to do our share to redeem the promise of democracy, and ask you to do yours. Getting more Row E votes allow us to demand more of what we want from our elected officials. These votes give us influence that few middle- and working-class organizations have in our media and money-obsessed era. We think of WFP votes as a precious loan from our supporters, one that we must use wisely. And its one we need to constantly increase if we want to stand up successfully to the big business lobbies.
- Fair Share Tax Reform:
The budget crisis is dominating Albany. We are part of the leadership of the coalition effort to beat back the Governor’s budget proposal. Working with affiliates and allies (including 1199 SEIU, ACORN, AQE, Citizen Action, CWA, NYSUT, One NY, UFT), we are arguing for the principle of “Real Shared Sacrifice.” We know that some spending cuts are inevitable, but we insist that raising taxes on the rich, not merely laying off workers and cutting services that everyone relies on, has to be part of the solution. Visit our campaign specific site for up-to-the-minute details: www.fairsharereform.com
The core of the fight will be to persuade the State Senate to side with us and our allies. Given how much work we did to put them in office, you’d think this wouldn’t be so hard. But it is, and we knew it would be.
- New York City and Brookhaven
We are excited about our two candidates: Debi Rose in Staten Island and Julissa Ferreras in Brooklyn. The election is a week off (2/24), but there are still opportunities to plug in – if you aren’t listed as a volunteer in these races – come on in, the water’s fine!
Our organizers and canvassers also have been out in force in Long Island to help elect Mark Lesko as Brookhaven Town Supervisor. The election is on March 31st – count on us to be hard at work until then.
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2. March 5th Events for Fair Share Tax Reform
The past two weeks featured excellent press events in Buffalo, Rochester and White Plains. (Check out coverage of our Rochester event here.) More are being planned. Please RSVP for events in your area here. Among them you’ll find many on March 5th, with events in most major cities. If you want to be involved with our local coalitions – reply to this email and let me know.
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3. Live from the campaign trail
George A. is one of the hardest working canvassers we have. And all of them are heroes! He writes:
“Recently I was out on a very cold night. A woman invited me in and was being very nice – and then she saw my WFP sweatshirt. She told me her husband had passed away recently, and he was a big fan of ours.
“He taught her all he knew about Working Families. She said she was willing to join up and become a member even though she was alone and facing financial hardship, like so many of the other people we meet while canvassing. I told her, this is a great memorial for your husband. So she signed my survey form and wrote across the top:
“In memory of William Pickering, Chairman of the WFP, Nassau.”
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4a. Take Action: Support Green Jobs!
The Working Families Party is advocating for new energy policy that will create thousands of family-sustaining green jobs, lower energy costs for homeowners and combat climate change. The federal stimulus money should be spent wisely to ensure that these goals are met. We need your help!
Demand that stimulus funds be spent on Green Jobs/Green Homes
Congress has just approved an unprecedented $789 billion economic stimulus package for the nation, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Will that translate into new, good, green jobs for New York State? It certainly should. The federal legislation “includes $16.8 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects and technologies” including for New York, “$126 million through the State Energy Program and $31 million in alternative energy block grants.” New York is also expected to receive $404 million for weatherizing low-income households. That means the state has the funding to perform a lot more residential energy efficiency improvements than it otherwise could have, which will require a much bigger green collar workforce.
Therefore, how effectively these federal funds are put to use is a matter of great import – we can’t squander this opportunity! Governor Paterson has shown he understands this; he fought for the money and now he’s created a cabinet made up of agency heads and top gubernatorial staff to manage the projects financed through these federal funds. The cabinet is designed to “ensure federal dollars reach critical projects and put people to work as quickly as possible.”
It is often a challenge for government to find the financial resources to fund much needed energy efficiency projects. The federal stimulus, however, poses an unfamiliar challenge for New York: how to ensure that a workable energy efficiency program can be put in place – at scale – to receive the available funds. Here’s where we come in: The Green Jobs/Green Homes program that the Working Families Party is pushing for provides a viable blueprint for how the State can ramp up its residential energy efficiency work and create good, green jobs.
Lots of progress on this by our friends at the Center for Working Families, who have done an enormous amount of detailed policy work to make this idea come to life. This program will: (a) save consumers on their energy bills, (b) create jobs, and (c) reduce greenhouse gases.
Please – take a minute to tell “Stimulus Czar” Timothy Gilchrist to support Green Jobs/Green Homes.
4b. Take Action: save affordable housing!
It’s all about “vacancy decontrol“. That’s the process that pushes rent regulated apartments out of the pool of affordable housing. Since 1997, tens of thousands of units have been decontrolled, feeding a spiral of rising rents, lack of affordable housing, and inflated real estate speculation. It harms all of us – even those that live in the suburbs or pay market rent. Landlords make enough profit already. We need a policy that protects middle-class and working-class New Yorkers too.
The Working Families Party is kicking off an effort to sign up thousands of New York City, Nassau, Westchester and Rockland residents willing and able to take a stand FOR repealing vacancy decontrol. Our bill passed in the Assembly (2/2), which means the fight is in the State Senate. We need your help to give this issue the attention it deserves. With enough pressure, this will be a win in our column in ‘09.
We hope to get 1000 signatures on the petition during the first week – but we need you to be first. It only takes a moment – please sign the petition to repeal vacancy decontrol.
