Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A Constitutional Amendment to Take Back Our Government

I found this on the website, New York Civic, by Edward Koch who served as New York City Mayor from 1978 to 1989.

"Money has taken over our political system in a way that is simply horrifying. Special interest groups in particular corporations, unions, Wall Streeters and bankers dominate our politics. They have devastated this country economically, yet they have gotten away with it because they choose and finance our candidates for low and high public office. We complain but do nothing about this situation and feel helpless.

But we are not helpless. Because of our numbers, we have in our power the ability to amend the Constitution of the United States to vastly limit the power of money to manipulate and control the electoral process. Let's do it. Those in our society who unfairly use the power of money to oppress us do not have to prevail. They are vastly outnumbered by the backbone of our nation, the middle class, and by others who are similarly outraged by the power of money to oppress us."

Use the above link to read the entire aricle.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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NY Redistricting Update

Redistricting in New York is always a partisan process, but it usually comes down to a tacit agreement between parties to maintain the status quo at the state level.

But some sources said yesterday's State Court of Appeals rejection of Nassau County's district lines indicates the coming fight at the state level might be even more rancorous than usual.

The lines have been criticized as a violation of the federal Voting Rights Act for the way they pack and crack Nassau's growing minority populations, and the same team who drew them, Debra Levine and David Schaefer, are responsible for drawing the state's lines for 2012.

Schaefer and Levine were hired by Nassau County attorney John Ciampoli, who used to work with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos when he was counsel for the Senate Republican Campaign Committee.

Will Governor Cuomo veto the partisan plan and put it into the hands of impartial judges?









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Tuesday, August 30, 2011

NYC Mayor To Testify

From the NY Post article by Josh Margolin.

Mayor Bloomberg is set to testify in the criminal case of a political operative charged with stealing $1 million from Bloomberg's campaign.

The against former Bloomberg operative John Haggerty Jr. is set to open Sept. 12, and Bloomberg will be asked to explain how his 2009 campaign worked, how he spent nearly $110 million to win re-election and how he decided which civic and nonprofit groups benefited from his generosity, sources said.

"This is potentially explosive," said one person familiar with the confidential discussions between the Manhattan DA's Office and Haggerty's lawyers.

Bloomberg and former Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey are both going to appear on the prosecution's witness list, sources said. And even if they get scratched by the DA at the last minute, defense lawyers plan to include them on their roster.

The mayor has already testified before the grand jury that indicted Haggerty, but most of that testimony has not been revealed.

Haggerty's lawyers, according to sources, also are considering adding Bloomberg's top aide, First Deputy Mayor Patti Harris, to their witness list. And they are likely to call Bloomberg's 2009 campaign manager, Bradley Tusk.

Haggerty's attorneys, including former state Attorney General Dennis Vacco, plan to pry open secret discussions about the mayor's strategy to line up the support of City Council members in his bid to overturn term limits.

They also plan to question Bloomberg and Sheekey about the campaign's use of the state Independence Party to funnel money to Haggerty instead of simply channeling the funds through Bloomberg's own political operation.

The DA and defense lawyers have declined to comment on the case, citing the judge's gag order. Bloomberg's office also declined to comment yesterday.

The Haggerty trial is shaping up as one of the strangest and most intriguing in the city's political history. Prosecutors contend Haggerty, a GOP operative from Queens, committed grand larceny by stealing most of the $1.1 million Bloomberg passed to him through the Independence Party for a poll-watching operation on Election Day 2009.

Haggerty contends that he stole nothing and that the mayor never complained that any money was taken illegally.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Saturday, August 27, 2011

TX Court Upholds Pole Tax

With all the talk about voter suppression, what is happening in TX? Now the real story.

In 2007, Texas imposed a $5 per visit charge on people visiting a strip club. It was called the "Pole Tax". The Texas Supreme Court ruled the U.S. Constitution doesn't bar the fee.

The 170 affected clubs claimed the law violated their free speech rights. The court stated "the fee in this case is clearly directed not at expression in the nude dancing but the secondary effects of nude dancing when alcohol is consumed".

Cash strapped states who want to impose "sin taxes" are watching this case closely. They all are waiting to see if this case goes to the Supreme Court. Utah imposed a 10% gross-receipts tax on strip clubs and also passed the Utah Supreme Court.

Texas has so far collected $15 million from the pole tax.

What do you think about a sin tax?









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

NY Redistricting Update

From the Opinion page of the The New York Times.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York has taken a strong stand against gerrymandering. He put forward a good bill that would create an independent commission to draw political districts and promised to veto any new maps that are “partisan.” Albany’s pols are not giving up.

Mr. Cuomo’s bill went nowhere, despite the fact that a hefty majority of legislators signed a pledge in 2010 to support such a commission. The old-style task force is now drawing up maps, and the business-as-usual crowd is trying to figure out how to get around the veto threat.

The word on the street is that they may stall the release of the new maps for the 2012 election (and the decade to follow) until early next year. Then lawmakers can say it’s too late to use anything else.

Mr. Cuomo needs to fight back now. He should press the Legislature to create the real independent commission that was promised to the voters. If that fails — things don’t look promising — he should name his own commission to draw alternative maps, using the best redistricting practices outlined in his bill. Those include such basics as ensuring that each district has about the same number of voters, makes geographical sense and isn’t drawn to guarantee the election of one party or candidate.

The governor’s maps could provide guidance — or shaming — for the Legislature’s task force. Or, if Mr. Cuomo vetoes the Legislature’s package, and it goes to the courts, the courts could use them to draw up final maps.

There is no time to waste. A federal law now requires that absentee ballots be sent out to military personnel 45 days before an election. That means New York’s legislators will have to move up the usual September primary in 2012 to August or perhaps June, to have enough time to certify results and mail out the military ballots. An earlier primary means new district maps for legislators and members of Congress must be ready sooner.

Mr. Cuomo should set a firm deadline for new maps to be made public before the end of the year. By then, he should also be ready with maps of his own.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Americans Elect 2012 Update

Thanks to Ballot Access News for this post.

On PBS NEWSHOUR, Judy Woodruff interviewed Elliot Ackerman, Chief Operating Officer for Americans Elect and a decorated veteran of both the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and former Clinton adviser and Democratic pollster Douglas Schoen, who sits on the group's board of advisers.

Judy reports on the latest attempt to push American politics away from a system dominated by two parties by a nonprofit organization called Americans Elect who will host an online national political convention to select the President and Vice President to be on all 50 states' ballot and upend the way candidates are nominated for the U.S. presidency.

Use the above link to hear and read a transcript of the interview.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial



The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial is a memorial scheduled to be dedicated on Washington, D.C.'s National Mall on August 28, 2011, the 48th anniversary of King's "I Have a Dream" speech.
It will be located adjacent to the FDR Memorial, between the Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson Memorial, and will honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's national and international contributions to the American dream—a dream he spoke of in terms of possibility and hope—and its pillars of freedom, democracy, and opportunity for all.

On Saturday, August 27th, Rev. Al Sharpton and the National Action Network are holding a march and rally. They will be marching from the Lincoln Memorial to the King Memorial----from the emancipator to the liberator.

Dr. Fulani's All Stars Project will be there as a co-sponsor of the March and Dr. Fulani will be speaking. Rev. Sharpton wants to make a statement about where Dr. King and the movement he lead came from---that movement came from the poor, the dispossessed, and the maladjusted. That is also where the All Stars comes from.

Use the above link for more information about the Memorial.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Pay-Per-View Government

This post was generated by a email from People for the American Way.

It seems that congressional Republicans either have a severe distaste for, or a severe lack of understanding of, the First Amendment of the Constitution.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) is not holding any open-to-the-public town hall meetings in his district this August recess, instead he's charging constituents $15 for face time with their democratically elected representative. And Ryan isn't the only member of congress whose recess meetings are, as Politico put it, "strictly pay-per-view."

Congressmen like Ben Quayle (R-AZ) and Chip Cravaack (R-MN), instead of hosting town hall meetings, are having events hosted for them by friendly organizations with a fee for attendance. These Republican members of Congress are so desperate to shelter themselves from criticism that they are denying their constituents' basic democratic access to their elected officials.

The First Amendment states that Americans have the right to "petition the Government for a redress of grievances" and does NOT include the words "only if they are willing and able to pay for that privilege." What Ryan and his colleagues are doing is an affront to American democracy and to the First Amendment.

Selective disregard of the Constitution by different groups is nothing new, but this latest wave of hostility to the First Amendment is so cowardly and begs for a light to be shined on it and for accountability for the elected officials engaged in it.

Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) recently had a sign reading, "Private Property: No soliciting, No protesting, No loitering," appear outside his district office. This was in response to protests by progressive activists after Lamborn referred to President Obama as a "tar baby." However, the restriction appeared not to apply to Lamborn's supporters who held a "spontaneous" rally outside the office.

The "no protesting" portion was removed after Lamborn received pressure for his selective allowance of free speech at his congressional office and his blatant disregard for the spirit of the First Amendment.

Since voting on many anti-middle class policies, especially the "Ryan Plan" attacks on Medicare and Medicaid, Republican members of Congress have been facing angry constituents at town hall meetings and protests at their offices. That's called democracy, elected officials being held accountable by their constituents.

By outsourcing meetings to third parties that raise money on the events, members of Congress are ducking all but their most supportive constituents, and in some cases, creating a misleading media narrative by allowing in local reporters and TV cameras.

If these Republican members of Congress are so scared of Democracy, then they're in the wrong business.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Thursday, August 11, 2011

Three Different Approaches to Independents and the Problem of Partisanship

Political reporter Anna Sale, "It's a Free Country" political reporter spoke to leaders of IndependentVoting.org, as well as two other organizations: American's Elect and No Labels, to get their take on what defines an independent voter and what their approach is to addressing the problem of partisanship.

The conversation includes Jackie Salit, IndependentVoting.org President and Ted Downing of Arizona.











NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Redistricting Misuse and Opportunity To Ballot

The candidates for county legislator in District 4 (Yorktown), part of Jefferson Valley in Westchester NY, are headed to court Thursday in a fight over whether there will be an Independence Party primary.

At issue are the 115 signatures Republican Terrence Murphy collected on an OTB (Opportunity To Ballot) or write-in, petition to vie for the Independence line. In New York Fusion, a candidate from a different party can collect signatures to get on another party's primary ballot. Incumbent Michael Kaplowitz, D-Somers, challenged those petitions, then sued after they were upheld by the Board of Elections last week.

In the suit, filed Aug. 3, Kaplowitz disputes the signatures on several grounds, including claiming that many were signed by people other than those named, that many signees were not registered at the addresses stated and that signatures were obtained by fraud.

"The question is, can we prove it to the court's satisfaction?" Kaplowitz said. "We're just trying to see if we can hit that standard." Murphy, a Yorktown councilman, expressed outrage at the legal challenge, saying he abided by the Board of Elections ruling against his own challenge of Kaplowitz's petitions.
"He doesn't like anyone challenging him," he said. "This is exactly what the incumbency syndrome does."

He cited Kaplowitz's support in May for a redistricting plan that drew Murphy's Jefferson Valley home out of the Westchester Board of Legislators district and into one represented by fellow Republican John Testa.

Murphy said he has been advised that he can run from his current residence but that election law requires him to move into the newly redrawn district by Jan. 1 if he wins. He said he has made provisions to do so.

Kaplowitz said at the time that redistricting was necessary and sought to adhere to school district lines. He said the fight over primary petitions is less important than comparing his record to his challenger's.

"The bottom line is that lines don't vote," he said. "People are going to judge me on my record, my independence and my ability to deliver."









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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