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Working Families Party
Indy Chair On Cuomo: ‘Proud To Hold His Coat’
May 25th - 9:05 am
For the first time in its history, the state Independence Party is poised to give a pre-convention nod to AG Andrew Cuomo for governor, and he appears ready to accept the party’s line in spite of an ongoing investigation by the Manhattan DA’s office.
The executive committee of the state’s third-largest minor party is scheduled to meet in Troy this afternoon and will all but surely vote “unanimously” to endorse Cuomo, according to Indy Chairman Frank MacKay.
The decision will be codified by the full party at its convention in Albany on June 5, MacKay said.
Cuomo will join MacKay at 12:30 p.m. for a joint press conference in Troy to announce the party’s decision.
The Indys recently gave a very early endorsement to Sen. Chuck Schumer, but have never before chosen a standard bearer before the convention, MacKay said. I asked why the party is going this route, and he replied:
“We’re getting out ahead and letting all the other candidates know we are with Andrew Cuomo.”
“…I think Andrew Cuomo is a proven statesman. I think he’s the one man out there – the one person out there – that can handle the issues and the challenges and he certainly has the experience.”
“I believe strongly that he’ll be the next governor, and we’re proud to hold his coat on the way to the governor’s mansion.”
(That’s a rather unfortunate choice of words. A similar phrase employed by Cuomo to criticize then-Gov. George Pataki’s post-9/11 leadership in comparison to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani ignited a spate of negative press during the 2002 gubernatorial campaign, which Cuomo ended up quitting early).
I asked MacKay if he expects Cuomo to accept Row C, and he replied: “Absolutely. We are fully expecting Andrew Cuomo to be our gubernatorial candidate.”
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Cuomo’s First Union
May 23rd - 10:14 am
Before he had even formally announced his candidacy for governor yesterday, United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1500 President Bruce Both offered a formal endorsement of AG Andrew Cuomo, calling him “a man of action, not just empty rhetoric.”
The 23,000-member union has a habit of getting in very early with candidates in hopes of maximizing its investment and gaining maneuvering power in a field dominated by bigger labor heavyweights like SEIU 1199, CSEA and the AFL-CIO.
Both’s pre-speech statement ended up hitting on a theme of Cuomo’s event, which featured Jon Bon Jovi’s blue-collar anthem “Work for the Working Man.” The union president said the AG “as been an unwavering supporter of working men and women,” adding:
“Through his policies, he has shown us all he goes well beyond talking the talk. Andrew Cuomo walks the walk.”
“…We live in difficult political times and New Yorkers are crying out for leadership, direction and hope. That call will be answered by Andrew Cuomo as the next Governor of New York State.”
WFP Candidate Cattle Call
May 21st - 12:57 pm
The Working Families Party will hold an all-day interview session tomorrow at the TWU headquarters in Manhattan for legislative and congressional candidates running in the NYC area.
Some 80 Democratic contenders interesting in a cross-endorsement from the labor-backed party are expected to show up.
Everyone has been asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire, which, as CapConf’s Jimmy Vielkind has reported, asks for a pledge of support on a host of key WFP platform elements, including: Closing the so-called LLC loophole, a bonus tax or additional income tax surcharge, and extending the rent laws.
The WFP is hoping to replicate the success it had in the 2009 NYC elections, which saw a number of its Council candidates and its marquee contender, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, win significant victories at the ballot box.
However, much has changed since last year’s elections. The WFP’s for-profit arm, Data & Field Services, was the subject of a (now-settled lawsuit) and an (ongoing) US attorney’s office investigation.
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WFP Affiliates Push Schneiderman For Row E
May 20th - 3:18 pm
Key stakeholders in the Working Families Party have sent a letter to fellow committee members on behalf of Sen. Eric Schneiderman, calling him the “only choice” to receive the labor-backed party’s endorsement in the AG’s race.
The letter is signed by Citizens Action’s Karen Scharff, 1199′s George Gresham, 32BJ’s Mike Fishman, 52nd AD District Leader Dorothy Siegel (treasurer of the WFP since Mike McGuire resigned amid the whole DFS mess), and the Long Island Progressive Coalition’s Lisa Tyson – all of whom have endorsed the Manhattan Democrat’s statewide bid.
“Eric is, and always has been, a proud member of what Paul Wellstone called ‘the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party,’” the group writes.
“He’s not afraid to stand up for unions, for the rights and dignity of working people, for the critical role of the public sector in providing a social safety net and reining in the excesses of the market.”
“And he’s always been a vocal opponent of discrimination of any kind, whether it’s against people of color, women, gays, lesbians, and transgender people, immigrants, seniors or people with disabilities.”
The group plays up the whole “true progressive” angle very hard, which has become something of a hallmark of Schneiderman’s campaign.
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The Invisible Line
May 18th - 2:17 pm
The GOP effort to make an issue of the Working Families Party line has reached new heights today, with a Republican congressional contender calling on his Democratic target to reject Row E despite the fact that it has been very publicly yanked from him.
Michael Grimm, one of two GOP contenders in NY-13, called on Rep. Mike McMahon to refuse the WFP line, citing the US attorney’s investigation of the party, its ties to the “the extremist group ACORN” and its support of a “radical” (and temporary) tax hike on individuals and businesses earning $250,000 a year or more.
“In 2008 Mike McMahon accepted the Working Families Party endorsement,” Grimm said. “Since accepting that endorsement the WFP has called for radical fiscal policies that will destroy New York.”
“The WFP has supported the liberal Obama/Pelosi agenda, including the disastrous health care bill. In addition, they support higher income taxes and property taxes. These are not the policies that the residents of the 13th congressional district want.”
“It is time for Mr. McMahon to admit he was wrong to accept their endorsement in 2008 and reject the line in 2010.”
Is this whole thing starting to seem a little orchestrated to you?
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Levy Rejects Line He Can’t Recall Accepting
May 18th - 1:53 pm
Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy today sought to curry favor with conservatives (not to mention the DN and Post editorial pages) by issuing a statement from his campaign spokesman announcing he won’t be seeking the Working Families Party line this year, and doesn’t think AG Andrew Cuomo – or anyone else for that matter – should, either.
“In Suffolk County, the Working Families Party may have stood for some sound policies at one time, but as a whole, over the last few years, the Party’s agenda has morphed into a radical, left-wing platform,” Levy spokesman Josh Hills said.
“Today, the Party has become a voice for higher taxes and job-killing policies that will bloat the public workforce and increase the role of government regardless of the consequences, at a time when we need fiscal constraint,” Hills continued.
Steve will continue to work closely with the hard-working men and women of our trades who helped build our infrastructure, but will resist the call of this party’s leadership to solve all of our problems with higher taxes and more spending.”
“Neither Andrew Cuomo nor any candidate should accept the Working Families endorsement because their platform would hamper the next governor’s ability to get the state’s fiscal house in order.”
Hills started out his statement by admitting Levy “has in the past” run with the labor-backed WFP’s support – a fact the county executive himself sought not just to downplay, but completely eradicate from the record, during an interview in March with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer.
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WFP’s 2006 Redux
May 7th - 1:20 pm
The Working Families Party has endorsed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s first statewide bid this fall – a coup for the former Blue Dog Democrat and a sign of how successful she and her allies, both locally and at the national level, have been in neutralizing her opposition from the left.
Gillibrand spent considerable time wooing the labor-backed party along with other so-called “progressive” interests (the LGBT community, black and Latino stakeholders etc.) Her initial selection by Gov. David Paterson to fill the seat vacated by former Sen. Hillary Clinton was met with considerable skepticism – and, in some cases, flat-out hostility – from a number of key liberal figures, who subsequently either considered challenging her in a primary themselves or encouraged others to do so.
But thanks in no small part to the intervention by the White House and Sen. Chuck Schumer on her behalf, all of Gillibrand’s well-known would-be challengers – from former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. to Reps. Steve Israel, Carolyn Maloney and Carolyn McCarthy, to Manhattan BP Scott Stringer – have taken a pass on the race.
The only Democrat left in the field against Gillibrand is labor activist Jonathan Tasini, who also mounted a long-shot challenge to Clinton in 2006, running to the then-senator’s left by focusing almost entirely on her “yes” vote on the Iraq War. Tasini managed to garner 17 percent of the vote against Clinton in the primary, during which she largely ignored him and completely outspent him.
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WFP Calls For All-Star Game Boycott
May 4th - 2:16 pm
The Working Families Party is calling on the Mets and the Yankees to “become leaders” in a national push to move the All-Star Game out of Arizona to protest the state’s recently-signed new immigration law.
“Will Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera have to show ID to take the mound next year?” WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor wrote in an e-mail to supporters of the labor-backed party earlier today.
“Major League Baseball’s 2011 All-Star Game will be hosted in Arizona, where a harsh new immigration law requires police to detain anyone they ‘suspect’ might be an undocumented immigrant unless they can prove their legal status on the spot.”
Arcuri Won’t Commit To Running
Apr 18th - 8:40 am
Rep. Mike Arcuri, who is under fire from organized labor and the Working Families Party for switching his vote from “yes” to “no” on health care reform, is refusing to say definitively whether he is running for re-election this fall.
YNN reporter Sabina Kuriakose caught up with Arcuri yesterday at the train station in Rensselaer where he was on-hand to promote high-speed rail. (The congressman jumped on the train and rode it home to the Utica area). Asked before his departure whether he is definitely in the race, Arcuri replied:
“I haven’t made any formal announcement yet, and I won’t be making an announcement for a few months. Obviously, you know, projects like this are what I think are really important. That’s what I get elected for Congress for. There’ll be more than enough time to talk about politics in the future, but for now obviously the important thing is making sure that we get projects like high speed rail and as much funding for upstate New York.”
When pressed on whether he has at least thought about a campaign for the formerly GOP-held seat he won back in 2006 (the post was open due to the retirement of former GOP Rep. Sherwood Boehlert; Arcuri defeated former state Sen. Ray Meier), the congressman said he’s focused right now on health care (!), the economy, and high-speed rail – basically everything BUT politics.
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Early WFP Nod For Schumer
Apr 12th - 6:36 am
The Working Families Party has issued its first statewide endorsement of the 2010 campaign season, throwing its weight behind incumbent senior Sen. Chuck Schumer.
This was sort of a no-brainer, considering Schumer has just one long-shot primary opponent – comedian and drug law reform advocate Randy Credico – and no GOP challenger yet for the general election.
The WFP’s executive committee voted unanimously last Friday to endorse Schumer after interviewing him at length during a late afternoon sit-down that followed his appearance in the NY1 newsroom (which was about the same time we learned of the decamping of Schumer spokesman Josh Vlasto to AG Andrew Cuomo’s yet-unannounced campaign for governor).
In backing Schumer, the labor-backed party cited his leadership as “key” to passing health care reform in Washington, DC last month.
When the insurance industry was on the brink of killing reform, we needed a hero. Chuck Schumer answered the call. Without his leadership, health care reform might never have succeeded,” said WFP Co-Chair Bob Master.
The WFP has made health care reform its cause celebre this cycle, pulling its support from the two House members who voted “no” – Mike Arcuri (NY-24) and Mike McMahon (NY-13), and even threatening to back primary challengers against them.
That’s actually more of a threat in Arcuri’s case, where the WFP has actually had discussions with a potential challenger, Les Roberts, who dropped out of the 2006 primary to clear the field for Arcuri and improve the party’s chances of winning a long-held GOP seat.
What’s perhaps most significant about this endorsement is the fact that Schumer is willing to accept it.
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