The Nation's got a new article up on CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement), which narrowly passed the House in a 217 to 215 vote. Turns out CAFTA isn't any more popular in Central America than it is in the United States. You'll recall that back in August 2005, the Working Families Party and some of our allies held one of the first press conferences attacking the CAFTA 15 (the 15 turncoat Dems who voted in favor of CAFTA).Makes you wonder why anyone in Congress voted for it (here's looking at you, Edolphus Towns).
Anyone want to defend Rep. Towns voting for it?
4 comments:
Does WFP have the guts to support progressive city councilmember Charles Barron in the primary against Townes? They didn't have the guts to go with a third party candidate against Markowitz.
What do folks think? Is Towns beatable and is Barron up to it?
Towns is the lead Democratic sponsor of another corporate sell-out bill. This time it's to get rid of food safety laws. CAFTA, bankruptcy bill, budget vote, now food safety. Corporate lobbyists love him.
NY won't lose union jobs to Central America because most of the union jobs here are service oreinted and don't transfer well.
The bill is good for NY because it will create more jobs. According to Crain's, "...few places in America benefit more from the expansion of free trade than New York does. About 350,000 jobs, involving nearly 10% of all workers here, are at least partially dependent on the ability of law firms, ad agencies, accountants, consultants and media companies to sell their goods and services all over the globe. A quarter of Wall Street's revenues are derived from international activity; tourism, by many measures the city's second-most important industry, is growing because international visitors are again flocking to New York.
If your memories are long enough, you'll remember that he voted AGAINST NAFTA, because he believed it would take jobs from NYC. Although the names are similar, the bills differ.
I applaud his courage to stand up for what he thinks is best for the community he represents in the face of pressure from corporations, unions and/or the democratic machine in Washington and Brooklyn. That is real leadership!
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