Progressive New York

We've been quite busy responding to the deluge of requests at this site and the Facebook page (which is now at 673 members!) and meeting with allies and other political activists. So, apologies for not keeping this fresh.

But, there has been a lot of news about our caretaker Senator:

Check out this New York Daily News editorial: "The daring young senator: Kirsten Gillibrand proves quiet the acrobatic flip-flopping contortionist"
http://www.nydailynews.com/opini...

It speaks for itself.

And The New York Times was only a bit kinder in an editorial called Listening to Ms. Gillibrand. Some highlights:

"Can she represent a constituency beyond the narrow politics of her district, where she has been a bullet-headed opponent of gun control, proudly basking in the extremist affections of the National Rifle Association?"

"Hmmm. There’s flexibility, and then there is rootlessness. We doubt New Yorkers want to send someone to Washington carrying a bag of random principles determined mostly by constituents’ angry phone calls and her patron’s personal priorities."

"Ms. Gillibrand’s House votes on immigration amounted to a repudiation of New York’s special gift to America. She allied herself solidly with expulsionist Republicans, who reject assimilation in favor of locking down the border, deporting 12 million illegal immigrants and enshrining English as America’s one true tongue."

And did you know the caretaker was a friend of Big Tobacco? Here's the scoop: http://awearnessblog.com/2009/02/senator-gillibrands-big-tobacc.php#more

So, let's see: New York State has been saddled with a person who worked to defend Big Tobacco, was a darling of the National Rifle Association, targeted immigrants and has Al D'Amato has one of her close patrons. Nice.

We will see Senator SchuDabrand (that's the caretaker senator who was the choice of the senior senator from New York and is close to the ethically-challenged Al D'Amato) make copious efforts to cover up her past record and positions. It's clear to at least a growing number of people that she is extremely hostile to immgrants' rights. So clear that Hispanic lawmakers are already mobilizing to defeat her:

GILLIBRAND REJECTED - Peter M. Rivera leads NYS Hispanic lawmakers to meet with her potential challengers
HISPANIC LAWMAKERS TO ANNOUNCE MAJOR DECISION ON GILLIBRAND'S SCAPEGOATING OF IMMIGRANTS AND HER RECORD ON OTHER ISSUES

ALBANY, NY (01/27/2009; 0755)(readMedia)-- Group of New York State Senators and Assemblymembers will announce their total opposition to the Senator-designate Kirsten Gillibrand and will meet with potential candidates seeking to unseat her


WHO: State level Hispanic lawmakers


WHAT: Hispanic lawmakers will announce their total dissatisfaction with Senator-designate Kirsten Gillibrand at news conference in the Capitol Building today and will showcase her campaign literature as evidence of her scapegoating of even legal immigrants to win elected office. Announcement will come prior to her swearing in ceremony in Washington, DC scheduled for today.


WHERE: 3rd Floor level of Million Dollar Staircase, opposite Legislative Library, Capitol Bldg.


WHEN: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 at 11:30 AM


WHY: After a review of Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand's voting record and campaign literature in the areas of labor issues, foreign policy and immigration, State-level Hispanic lawmakers will announce that they will not support her re-election efforts next year. In New York, where as many as 1 of every 3 residents is an immigrant or a 2nd and 3rd generation born of immigrant parents, Gillibrand's pandering to xenophobes has made her persona non-grata in communities across the state.

   It's been quite a day. Our list of public supporters has expanded rapidly in the past 24 hours. So has the number of people ready to volunteer to work on behalf of a progressive candidate in 2012.

  As well, within 24 hours, the number of members signed up to our Facebook Cause page nearly tripled in size. Please go there to sign up.

   We will be broadening the blog in the coming days and announcing initial activities to build the movement in the coming weeks. Please spread the word.

   The flurry over the past couple of days has made it clear why so many people find so disturbing the entire process of annointing someone to take a Senate seat, without the consent of the voters. Every day, we hear of more people wanting to sign up to our campaign.

   Wrote one person: "It's a travesty. No matter who gets picked by the governor, he or she will be damaged goods and certainly won't represent me. Yes, that person will have the title, so what? I am not going to think of a person like that as my senator until we vote".

   Now, I can't imagine that all you political, smart people have nothing to say. So, please register--start blogging. We know from the many sign-ups we received that a lot of people are interested in the campaign to elect a progressive senator from New York in 2010.

   So, let's chat!

   BTW, here is one of the media pieces on the release of our statement.

Check out our statement--and below you can add your name and/or join the campaign...

A Progressive Senator for New York State In 2010

We, the undersigned, believe that New York State deserves a progressive United States Senator. By progressive, we mean someone who will: articulate a substantially different foreign policy than most “liberal” Democratic politicians support; someone who will aggressively push for single-payer health care; and someone who fights for a different economic strategy that favors people over corporations on the whole range of issues from trade to unionization to the power of corporations.

As it stands now, it appears that such an individual will not be chosen to occupy the soon-to-be vacated Senate seat in New York.

We, therefore, declare that we will support a progressive challenger for the Democratic nomination in the 2010 Senate primary in New York State. We make this statement now so that it is clear that we are not coalescing in opposition to a specific candidate who may be named to the Senate seat. Rather, the primary race will be entirely about presenting a dramatically different, progressive vision for the country. In the near future, we will work together to identify the strongest possible progressive candidate.

We believe the prospects for a progressive Senate primary challenger in 2010 are quite good for three basic reasons:

1. A progressive candidate will be facing an opponent who was not elected to the seat by the voters, and could be facing a candidate who has actually either never run for public office or someone who has never run statewide.

2. Because of #1, a progressive candidate could raise a significant amount of money, in part, because of the maturation of the power of the Internet and the role of decentralized fundraising and message projection.

3. Most important, the country and the state face a crisis not seen in generations: worldwide armed conflict and a worldwide economic collapse. As a result, a progressive candidate, and a progressive message, will have a huge audience yearning for deep, systemic change.

To be sure, a progressive candidate will likely face significant intra-party opposition to his or her candidacy. There will likely be pressure from the party machinery to unite around the replacement and that party machinery will likely work to raise huge amounts of money to create the impression that the replacement is a shoe-in.

However, we believe that the people deserve a choice. We believe primary contests are a time to debate the direction of a party. We believe progressive ideals represent views held by the majority of the voters of New York State. We pledge to support a strong, progressive candidate and we believe a progressive candidate can be elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010.

Initial signers*

Chris Agee, City University of New York
Eileen Bardel
Larry Beinhart, author, “Wag The Dog”
Eleanor Bell
Reverend Billy, activist, Church of Stop Shopping
Anita Brandariz
Kenny Britt
Robert Browne, Port Washington,NY
K. A. Burpee
Andre Calvert
John Caminiti
Theresa Canter
Tim Carpenter, national executive director, Progressive Democrats of America
Kathleen Chalfant, actor
Jeff Cohen, Progressive Democrats of America, Woodstock
Eugene Colon
Saundra Crowell
Johanna Cummings
Savitri D, activist, Church of Stop Shopping
Roseann Deluca
Philip DePaolo, President, The New York Community Council
Brian J Descovich
Kevin Downes
Matthew Edge, Director, The New York Democracy Project
Barbara Ehrenreich
Harvey Epstein
Lance Evans, Creative Director Graphlink Media/NY
Brian Fairbanks, Senior National Political Correspondent, Nerve.com
Gillian Farrell, Woodstock, NY
Jim Fouratt, cultural critic
Sylvia Friedman, NY State Democratic Committeewoman
Will Fudeman, Progressive Democrats of America, Ithaca
Dr. Barbie Gatton
Jonathan Geeting
Wendell George, Pine Hill
H. Lee Gershuny
Leslie Gold
Frances Goldin, Literary agent, activist, Manhattan
Yerah Gover, Ph.D. Sociology, Queens College, CUNY
Carl Gutman
Robert Harding II, Blogger, The Albany Project
Karen Hemerick, member of NW Bronx for Obama
J E A Herendeen
Flora Huang, community activist, Manhattan
Patrina Huff
Katherine Jacobson
Thomas Janowski, Organzier, Democracy For America, ROCHESTER
Sally Jones, Peace Action, New York State
David Jones, Peace Action, New York State
Connor Kilpatrick
Michael Krasner, Professor, Department of Political Science, Queens College, CUNY
Lucy Koteen, First Vice-President, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
Andrew Coakley Laub
Charles Lenchner, democracyinaction.org
Alan Levin
Tim Lillard, Ithaca-Tompkins Progressive Democrats of America
Fred Little
Alfredo Lopez, Co-Director, May First/People Link
Doug Lowe
Marty Luster, Former State Assemblyman, Member, Tompkins County Democratic Committee
Sharon Lynch, Progressive Democrats of America, NY CD-8
Laura McClure, writer and healthcare reform activist
Victor Mendolia, Chair, Hudson City Democratic Committee
Fran Merker
Daniel Millstone, Attorney, NY, NY
Chris Owens, president, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
Sandra Cuellar Oxford, Sullivan County
Robert A. Padgug, Brooklyn College, CUNY
Marie V. Panella
Peter Pohly
Sam Pratt, activist, Taghkanic, NY
Alisha Ritt, music educator and former president of FCBA
Al Ronzoni, Progressive Democrats of America, 14th Congressional District
Maida Rosenstein, president, United Auto Workers Local 2110
John Rusinko
Kate Ryan
Robert Sacco
Andy von Salis, Attorney and Democratic County Committee member, Brooklyn, NY
Fran Saykaly
Jay Schaffner, Executive Board Member, Local 802, American Federation of Musicians
Klara Seddon
Portia Seddon
Rev. Barbara Simpson
Michael Singer, Consultant, Medley Capital Partners
Josh Skaller, former president, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
Alice Slater, Chair, Progressive Democrats NY CD 14
Dr Dakota Smith, UnOfficialStory
Linda Stackhouse
Patric Stanton, Professor, New York Medical College
Judy Starr
Robert Stauf, Yonkers Community Activist
Wayne Stinson, Peacemakers of Schoharie County
William Stricklin, president of Village Independent Democrats
David Swanson
Jennifer Duba Swanson
Tamaara Tabb, retired New York State employee
Jonathan Tasini, executive director, Labor Research Association
Carrie Tirado, Professor, Suny-Buffalo
Levi Tooker
Brian Torby, Labor Democrats
Greg Travis
Yayoi Tsuchitani, activist
Elaine VinerFolgar
Roberta Wallitt
Adele Wasserman
Marc Weiss, creator, PBS’ P.O.V.
Dwain Wilder, poet, activist
Elaine Williams
Jack Willis, TV/Film producer
MIchael Wrona, Buffalo
Michael Calderon-Zaks, Ithaca College
Ellen Zaltzberg
Tamar Zinn


(*organizations listed for identification purposes only)

Want to add your name to this list? Go here.

Or want to volunteer to spread the word? Take this statement and send it to your list--and sign up here.