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A Progressive Senator for New York In 2010

Posted on Thursday, January 15, 2009 at 11:20AM by Registered CommenterJonathan Tasini | CommentsPost a Comment | References47 References

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)

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