Junk Data (updated)

New data shows that the Fair Share for Health Care Act will have a positive effect on New York's economy, creating as many as 21,600 new jobs in our state. But McDonald's the fast food industry is on the attack anyway, releasing a report today through a fast food industry front group that intentionally misleads the public and the press about the effects of the bill.

They trot out the same Chicken Little complaints that were used to argue against our successful work to raise the minimum wage. Those complaints were proven wrong in a recent study from the Fiscal Policy Institute (via DMIBlog), which found that increasing the minimum wage helped New York's economy, creating more jobs because working families have more money to spend, powering the economy.

Here are a few of the specific instances where McDonald's the fast food industry gets it wrong:

• Junk Data Point #1: "This policy would ignore over 83% of the uninsured in New York."
  
• The Healthy Truth: The Fair Share for Health Care Act:
  
  
  
  • Extends health insurance to more than 450,000 uninsured New Yorkers currently working for large employers (approximately 17% of the total number of uninsured in New York).
    
  • Moves 200,000 New Yorkers from Medicaid and Family Health Plus to employer-provided health coverage.
    
  • Strengthens health care for 3.5 million additional New Yorkers working for large employers.
    
  
  
• Junk Data Point #2: "The cost per newly insured employee will be as high as $19,617 a year."
  
• The Healthy Truth: The cost per covered employee of the Fair Share for Health Care Act is less than $2,000 per year. The report's spin applies the total cost of the bill to covering approximately 450,000 uninsured workers. This ignores the effect of the Fair Share for Health Care bill in:
  
  
  
  • Moving 200,000 workers from Medicaid and Family Health Plus to employer-provided health coverage.
    
  • Strengthening health care for 3.5 million New Yorkers who have insurance but face exorbitant co-payments, rising co-premiums and unrealistic deductibles.
    
  
  
• Junk Data Point #3: "The low-end job loss estimate exceeds 69,000 during the first year of the mandate; the high-end job loss estimate is nearly 100,000 jobs."
  
• The Healthy Truth: After taking into account (1) new jobs created in the health care industry by providing cost-effective primary and preventive care and (2) the effect of multi-national corporations spending more money in New York rather than exporting it out of New York, as many as 21,600 net new jobs are likely to be CREATED by the Fair Share for Health Care Act.
  

It makes you wonder how much McDonald's the fast food industry benefits from an unlevel playing field where most businesses do the right thing and provide health care while big corporations dump their employees on public assistance to increase their profit margins. McDonald's The fast food industry should come clean and say if the real reason they oppose the Fair Share for Health Care Act is because they don't want to compete on a level playing field.

Take the time to tell McDonald's and its front group to get their facts right.

UPDATE: McDonald's rang to disclaim responsibility for the efforts of the industry front group, the Employment Policies Institute. They're off the hook, but we're going to keep on digging to find the junk pushers.

What's Suozzi up to?

Tom Suozzi keeps promising that he won't run for Governor as a Republican, but then it seems like every month he turns around and flirts with Senate Republican Joe Bruno (here's the March version of this story).

At least he's still got more credibility than Bill Weld, whose corruption-filled tenure as CEO of Decker College is a disturbing look at how he'd run our state.

An open letter to Rep. Towns

Dear Rep. Towns,

I remember when you sold out working families in your district by voting for CAFTA. You were one of just 15 Democrats to vote for the bill, which narrowly passed the House in a 217 to 215 vote.

Now, a new report shows that donations to your reelection campaign from pro-CAFTA corporations has skyrocketed from $65,500 to $91,164.

That seems good, but your New York colleague Rep. Meeks saw his corporate campaign cash go from $60,676 to $121,321 (almost double!). I don't understand why he able to get so much more campaign cash for his vote than you?

I would appreciate a letter from you letting me know if you are a worse negotiator than Rep. Meeks or just cheaper. I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

A Single System of Justice (via DIA)

A report from Albany from (who else) Democracy in Albany below. A little context. Today's Times Union reports: "Assault charges will be filed next week against a city police officer who was suspended last month for allegedly roughing up a retired dentist in a station-house garage, according to law enforcement sources."

When David Soares campaigned for DA he said he would put an end to the old way of doing things where if you were connected, you were innocent. It begins:

"People are going to be prosecuted under one system regardless of title," Soares said. "That kind of influence will no longer have any kind of sway in this administration."

Seems like the kind of thing law abiding citizens should support.

The incident triggered an investigation after a surveillance video showed the man's head hitting the ground as the officer dragged the handcuffed man out of a police van by his ankles, officials said.

I haven't seen the video, but this doesn't sound good.

...the decision to file a misdemeanor assault charge against Geraci was made by the district attorney's office, according to sources close to the case. It underscores an apparent power struggle unfolding between prosecutors and the Police Department, which usually makes decisions about whether to charge its officers with a crime.

Can anyone else see the inherent problems with "self policing"? Well, anyone who isn't in the APD.

Officer Christian M. Mesley, president of the Albany Police Officers Union, said he's been on the force 14 years and cannot recall another instance, outside of McKenna and Bonanni, where an officer was charged with assault. He also said he's disconcerted that the decision to bring charges is being made by the district attorney.

"I'm not happy about it but there's nothing I can do about it," he said.

If you want to see the problems with "self policing" make sure to check out last year's article in the Metroland on the many incidents we've had at the APD and the almost complete lack of any repercussions for the behavior.

Helping elect David Soares was one of the more remarkable achievements in the WFP's history. It's always good to see his office following through on its commitment to equal justice for all.

Why We Fight (an occasional series)

It's hard to say it any better than Brother Jimmy Heyland from IBEW Local 1049 (via the Long Island Fed's Laborbeat blog):

Proud to be Union

I own a gun and hunt. I consider myself blue collar. I drive a pickup truck. I’ve drank more than my share of Budweiser in my time. I grew up on the stock car tracks of Riverhead, Islip, Freeport & Dexter Park thru the late 60’s & early 70’s. I fly an American flag at my house. My daughter & her husband are US Army and he just got back from Iraq.

Wait a minute. What am I doing here? A NY union activist voting the Working Family Party line. I must think that I can be a redneck union member.

My local union asked me, during the last presidential election, to go into the field and talk politics to my union brothers. I was amazed @union workers who were going to vote based solely on gun ownership. I was amazed @ union workers who felt that patriotism was the sole right of only one party. I was amazed @ union workers not seeing the way big business is involved in politics.

I have a "Support our Troops" ribbon, next to a Proud to be Union sticker on my pickup. I even had to wear a NRA hat to start a conversation on politics with some brothers. The point here is; I can do both. Anyone can. I can vote based on who cares about a national health plan or protection of my pension benefits

.

Three Towns primary challengers

The Daily News reports that Assemblymember Roger Green is joining New York City Councilmember Charles Barron and journalist Kevin Powell in challenging CAFTA 15 Rep. Edolphus Towns' reelection.

Which Congressional incumbent do you think is most likely to lose?

Rally for Immigrant Rights on April 10th

We're part of the Rally for Immigrant Rights happening in New York and over 40 other cities on Monday, April 10th, as part of a National Day of Action to demonstrate support for real, comprehensive immigration reform.

The rally is from 3 to 7 at City Hall (4/5/6/J/M/Z to Chambers, R/W to City Hall, A/C/E to Park).

Let us know you're coming or if you have questions in the comments.

Suffolk supports Fair Share for Health Care Act

Yesterday, the Suffolk County legislature passed a resolution in support of the Fair Share for Health Care Act. Here are some quotes on the resolution:

WFP member and County Legislator Kate Browning (WFP/D) said,

"The Fair Share for Health Care Act will level the playing field for responsible businesses that struggle to compete against large, hugely-profitable employers - like Wal-Mart and Home Depot -– that shirk their responsibility to provide decent health benefits to their employees."

County Legislator Jon Cooper (D/WFP), who also owns Spectronics, a manufacturing business in Westbury, said,

"This is a fight between Responsible Local Businesses that provide decent health benefits and Hugely Profitable Corporate Free-Loaders that try and avoid their responsibility."

Working Families Party Suffolk County chapter co-chair Brian Schneck said,

"No employee of multi-billion dollar companies like Wal-Mart or Home Depot should be forced to go without medical care nor should they be forced to resort to Medicaid. The Suffolk County Legislature should be commended for its leadership for working families."

Thanks go out to Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D/WFP) for leading the charge and pushing this resolution through.

Crain's covers business support for Fair Share bill

From today's Crain's Insider/Crain's Health Pulse (no link):

"The Working Families Party says that more than 150 businesses signed on to support the Fair Share for Health Care Act after the group sent out an e-mail petition to businesses on Thursday afternoon. Given its pro-labor tilt, the party was unsure of how many businesses were on its e-mail list but estimated that no more than 20 would respond. The message’s reference to Wal-Mart may have hooked some. The bill is opposed by the Business Council and others. Affected firms would be assessed $3 per worker per hour for employee health care; they would have to file paperwork with the state claiming their expenditures to offset the assessment."

If you're a business owner or manager there's still time to sign on to support the Fair Share for Health Care Act.

Jay Leno Says

(Courtesy Manhattan WFP Chapter Leader Kenneth Schaeffer)

Long-Awaited Medical Study
Questions the Power of Prayer
Benedict Carey, NY Times 3/31/06 A1

Gee, there goes the Republican health plan.
-Jay Leno

Dan Cantor talks health care on WROW-AM

The Working Families Party's Executive Director Dan Cantor was on WROW-AM talking to NY Post Albany bureau chief Fred Dicker (play mp3) about the Fair Share for Health Care Act and the fall elections.

Business support for the Fair Share for Health Care Act

Responsible local businesses are starting to speak out in support of the Fair Share for Health Care Act. The Albany Times Union ran a great piece about business support for the bill and business leaders upstate held a rally that got coverage in the Buffalo News.

Bill Hiliker, who owns American Images in South Buffalo, talked about the threat to the business community from hugely profitable corporations like Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Victoria's Secret that gain an unfair advantage by forcing their employees to resort to Medicaid.

"As an entrepreneur with a small business in South Buffalo, I can tell you that I've seen responsible local businesses close because they can't compete against these big box stores that don't provide decent benefits for their workers."

If you're a business owner or manager who wants a level playing field for responsible businesses, sign on to a letter from businesses that support the Fair Share for Health Care Act. Everyone else should email their State Senator.

Good Jobs, Good Food

City Limits Weekly takes a sneak peek at a study that will be released on Wednesday by the Restaurant Opportunity Center of New York:

Restaurant workers who are mistreated on the job are less likely to prepare food safely, according to a new report to be released Wednesday by the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York (ROC-NY). "Dining Out, Dining Healthy" details the link between public health and good labor practices in the city’s restaurant industry. For example, approximately 21 percent of workers without paid sick days reported having sneezed, coughed or spit in food, compared to the 12 percent of those who did receive these benefits. The report also found that of the workers from restaurants with many labor violations, 66 percent did not receive any health and safety training compared to the 34 percent of those with few labor violations.

Read the rest here.

Cantor Dickers Around - Live Tuesday 10:15 a.m.

WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor will be a guest on NY Post Albany bureau chief Fred Dicker's radio show tomorrow on WROW-AM in Albany. He'll be talking about the Fair Share for Health Care bill and some of the WFP political priorities for 2006.

Listen live starting at about 10:15 am by going to www.wrow.com and clicking on "Listen Live."

Immigration and New York

If you've been following the fight over the anti-immigrant bill in Congress, the Drum Major Institute blog has a post up about the New York City Council's Wednesday immigration hearing.

Follow the Rat

(via Gothamist)

A new web tool to follow the giant inflatable rodents that highlight workplaces with bad labor practices: Check out this flickr stream.

Sweeney's Meltdown

After all the skiing and the sledding, spring has come and the snow is melting ... and so is Sleddy's re-election campaign.

The T-U blog reports on the buzz that Congressman Sweeney may bow out.

Fossella Was Robbed

The New York Press has published its annual list of the 50 Most Loathsome New Yorkers (thanks to Gothamist for noticing). There's a lot to disagree with there, but this stood out as an particularly egregious mistake:

47 VITO FOSSELLA

Congressman

Republican Congressman Vito Fossella is actively bucking any tradition of Italians putting family before everything else. As the U.S. representative from Staten Island and Bay Ridge, he has assembled a horrible record on LGBT issues, especially gay marriage—despite the fact that his sister is a lesbian in a long-term, committed relationship with children. Fossella, however, has an even-larger “family” to worry about: the national Republican Party. No one has done more to march in lockstep with the Bush administration than Fossella, who has become one of the most reliable toadies to the Bush agenda anyone could have ever asked for. Fossella has a zero rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America on issues of choice, another zero rating from the American Civil Liberties Union on civil liberties issues. He continually is thrilled with the warrantless wiretaps of American citizens, but he has never dared to utter a critical word on the Iraq war, even though many of his Republican colleagues have. He has been hand in glove with Bush on Social Security “reform.” Fossella is the timid pup to George Bush’s dog-walker. Sure, he has a mean bite, but he’ll only go as far as his master’s leash will allow him.

47?!?!?! Vito was robbed. He's easily top 20 material in our book.

STATEMENT: WFP State Chair to Giambra: "You Gotta Be Kidding"

For Immediate Release: March 30, 2006

WFP STATE CHAIR TO GIAMBRA: "You Gotta Be Kidding"
Deflates Erie County Exec's Congressional Trial Balloon

BUFFALO -- Sam Williams, state co-chair of the Working Families Party, said today that Erie County Executive Joel Giambra had no chance of beating Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, and urged Giambra to think of other pursuits. According to a Rochester Democrat & Chronicle story today, Giambra is considering just such a move. Williams said:

"You gotta be kidding. Giambra is probably the most unpopular politician in Western New York. And Louise Slaughter's constituents know that she has been fighting hard for working families. I know Giambra has $800,000 burning a hole in his campaign treasury, but he should find somewhere else to spend it rather than wasting his time running for a congressional seat he can't win. I suggest he give the money to the County to help us balance the budget."

Sleddy Sweeney's Wipeout

Want to hear the sound of a sled crashing? It sounds something like this: The Times Union blog reports that a state investigation has been launched into Rep. John "Sleddy" Sweeney's publicly-subsidized sledding trip to Lake Placid.

Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign is all over it.

From today's Glens Falls Post-Star, here's a list of guests that accompanied Sleddy:

Traveling independently to Lake Placid: U.S. Rep. John Sweeney, R-Clifton Park, Gayle Sweeney (the congressman's wife), Angela Sparks, Wayne Beddoe, Dan Gage, Phil Oliva (former Sweeney aide), Jim Clark (Sweeney aide), Chris Nedwick (Sweeney aide), Jim Adler (Sweeney aide), Tony Scannella.

Traveling to Lake Placid via Southwest Airlines flight from Baltimore

U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, Nete Sessions (the congressman's wife), Sean O'Shea, Geoff Gleason, Matthew Trant, Ian Musselman, Bill Teator (aide to former U.S. Rep. Gerald Solomon who later worked in Solomon's lobbying firm), Joe Reiss, Louise Perkins, Bob Bissen, Deborah Bissen, Shawn Smeallie, Ian Steff, Mike Johnson, Garrett Johnson, Thurgood Marshall, Teddi Levy, Steve Bull (USOC government representative), Sherry Turner, Amanda Cernik (Sweeney aide), Sean O'Neill (Sweeney aide), Melissa Carlson (Sweeney aide), Bill Rayball (Sweeney aide), Meredith Curcio, David Taft (Sweeney aide), Vickie Sanville (Sweeney aide), Anne McGuire, Peter Goelz, Maureen Dwyer, John Epting, Bob Okun, Jennifer Taylor, Brad Card (former Sweeney chief of staff, now a lobbyist), Scott Schloegel, Luci Gikovich, Dan Crane, Amanda Parsons, Lisi Kaufman, Robert Van Wicklin, Tim Powers, Ellen Powers, Don McGahn, Creighton Schneck

Sounds like quite a party. Wonder if the gang will be getting together for a game of Eight Ball at the next Sweeney bash. It's a lot safer than sledding.

How Sweeney Rakes It In

One of the WFP's favorite Albany bloggers, Democracy in Albany (a/k/a DIA), did some digging to explore ways besides skiing and toboganning that the Congressman enjoys fun-raising and fund-raising with Washington lobbyists. DIA discovers events on a yacht and on St. Patrick's Day.

Here's another. Turns out the Congressman likes a good game of Eight-Ball with the K Street crowd:

April 5, 2006 7:00 p.m.

Congressman John Sweeney's 3rd Annual Eight-Ball Tournament Buffalo Billiards 1330 19th Street NW Washington, DC Casual Attire $1,000 PACs $500 Personal Enquiries: 202-302-7678 (Phone) 202-986-5319 (Fax) MikeGBurton@aol.com

Sigh. At least taxpayers aren't paying for this one.

Rep. Sweeney Goes Sledding

U.S. Rep John Sweeney went sledding recently. But the Republican Congressman who represents a 200-mile long district stretching from Poughkeepsie up to Lake Placid didn't take his children.

Rather, it was taxpayers that Rep. Sweeney took for a ride.

As the Syracuse Post-Standard first reported on Sunday:

The New York Power Authority used public money to pay for a $25,000 ski weekend for Rep. John Sweeney, of New York; a Texas congressman and his wife; at least a dozen lobbyists; and other D.C. staffers in Lake Placid. New Yorkers paid the way for the congressmen and other invited guests to ski, skate and toboggan like real Olympians for three days this winter.

Needless to say, Rep. Sweeney said that the trip received advance blessing from the always-rigorous (not) U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee.

However, according the Times Union Capitol Confidential blog when asked whether it was appropriate for NYPA, a State agency, to pick up the tab for the Congressman's tobaganning with lobbyists, Sweeney's spokesperson "took a pass: 'I don’t think it’s the congressman’s place to tell the state how to spend it’s money.'"

What!?!? It's for Sweeney to take the State's money, but who knows if it was okay for the State to give it to him?!?!?!

The Congressman's sledding adventure comes shortly after it was reported that he flew out to Utah for a fundraising-cum-skiing trip with Capitol Hill lobbyists. One of Sweeney's opponents, Kirsten Gillibrand, posted this vacation video.

The WFP's members look forward to interviewing Gillibrand and the various other challengers to the ethically bewildered Congressman.

Deirdre Schifeling talks health care on WBAI

The Working Families Party's own Deirdre Schifeling was on WBAI today at 1 PM (play download) talking about the Fair Share for Health Care Act. It starts at the 9 minute mark and lasts 22 minutes; give it a listen.

71 Fair Share for Health Care Act Assembly cosponsors

We're up to 71 cosponsors in the Assembly - the list is on our site - for the Fair Share for Health Care Act.

Take action.

Questions the Business Council Doesn't Ask

The Business Council of the State of New York, a vocal and ideological (anti-tax, anti-regulation) voice for the state's business interests, recently released a survey of state employers. The New York Post ran a brief story summarizing the findings, which predictably mirrored the Business Council's political agenda:

• More than 90 percent of respondents strongly agreed (71 percent) or agreed somewhat (20.8 percent) that New York's combined state and local taxes hurt their companies' ability to compete. New York's state and local tax burden is the nation's heaviest.
  
  
• Nearly 90 percent of respondents also strongly agreed (64.2 percent) or agreed somewhat (25.4 percent) that business taxes hurt competitiveness.
  
  
• More than 85 percent of respondents strongly agreed (62.4 percent) or agreed somewhat (24 percent) that other state taxes, including personal income taxes and the state's estate taxes, undermine their competitiveness.
  
  

But here are some questions the Business Council didn't ask.

• Does a state public education system that the court have ruled is constitutionally inadequate affect your ability to recruit a competitive workforce?

• Does a failing physical infrastructure of roads and bridges and an over-priced, under-serviced mass transit system affect your ability to move people, goods and services?
  

• Does a dysfunctional health care system that permits hugely profitable large corporations to shift their health care costs to responsible employers threaten the competitiveness of local employers, especially small businesses?

Maybe next survey, the Business Council could take a broader look at some of these questions.

63 Assembly cosponsors and counting

Last week, over 1000 people emailed the Assembly in support of the Fair Share for Health Care Act. That work paid off - the bill was introduced by Assemblymember Gottfried with 63 Assembly cosponsors (a list will be on our web site soon).

Now, in one day, more than 700 people have already emailed their State Senators to support the bill.

Let's keep it going - first take action and then tell your friends.

This Time, the Business Council is Right

It must be Odd Bedfellows Day. First we give props to Gov. Pataki for the Contract Disclosure bill.

Now, we're forced into rare agreement with the Business Council of New York State, the ideological knee-jerk lobbying arm of the state's more conservative business interests.

Eliot Spitzer's comparison of the upstate economy to Appalachia was fair and justified. As Daniel Walsh, CEO of the Business Council, writes in an op-ed in the Rochester D&C today, "Is upstate really like Appalachia? The uncomfortable truth is that, in some ways, it is in even worse condition than the region that has symbolized American poverty for decades."

The WFP's prescription for recovery and growth varies sharply from the Business Council's, but our basic diagnosis is pretty similar.

In contrast, State GOP chair Steve Minarik seems to put his party in a state of denial and places politics ahead of policy -- arguing in another op-ed that glass is half full.

The truth is a decline in public investment and the absence of a real strategy to strengthen good jobs over the Pataki era has worsened economic conditions in the region.

Rare Props for Gov. Pataki

Fresh out of the hospital (continuing wishes for a strong recovery), Gov. Pataki has signed the Contract Disclosure bill. The legislation requires the state to disclose the true costs of government consulting contracts.

As the bill's Senate sponsor, Joe Robach said:

State agencies annually contract for consulting services that involve hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds. However at present, these contracts are subject to relatively little public disclosure or oversight. In many cases state agencies are hiring consultants for long periods of time and are paying them fees far greater than the amount that it would cost to hire state employees to do the same work.

Donna Lupardo was the the prime sponsor of the bill in the Assembly.

From an administration that has been racked by contracting scandal after scandal, enactment of the Contract Disclosure bill is a strong blow for the cause of good government.

And kudos, of course, to the WFP's affiliate, the Public Employees Federation, and allies that led a strong lobbying effort.

Friends with benefits takes on a whole new meaning

A story on the front page of today's Wall Street Journal (sorry, subscription required) gives a whole new meaning to the "Sex in the City"-era expression "friends with benefits."

Health insurance is expensive, complex and bureaucratic. These days, it's also sexy. Right up there with washboard abs, a steady job and a fun-loving personality, health coverage is emerging as a hot selling point among online daters. It's especially the case among suitors of a certain age who need, and prize, good benefits the most.

Those who have it sometimes flaunt it as an asset, a sign to potential mates that they are serious, professional and grounded. Others troll for partners with blue-chip policies because they need coverage themselves, or want evidence -- short of asking for a credit report -- that a prospect isn't a slacker.

Funny, yes, but not surprising. This is really just another cultural bellwether of the crisis in coverage.

Expand your horizons in online dating by supporting passage of the Fair Share for Health Care Act. The legislation would ensure that large employers provide decent and affordable benefits to their employees.

For more details, New Yorkers should send an urgent message to your legislator, visit www.FairShareforHealthCare.com

Bush has got nothing on Robert Burns

From the AP story on Bush's news conference speech today:

"Listen, every war plan looks good on paper until you meet the enemy," Bush said, acknowledging mistakes as the United States was forced to switch tactics and change a reconstruction strategy that offered targets for insurgents.

Indeed, the best-laid plans of mice and men...

It would be funny if it weren't so tragic. Trouble is, these plans didn't even look so hot on paper.

Fair Share for Health Care Act text

We've got a copy of the Fair Share for Health Care Act on our web site, check it out and post your comments.

Talking Back to the Post

Some good letters in Sunday's New York Post, responding to the tab's unintentionally ironic editorial on "Bruno's Betrayal," i.e., supporting the WFP's Fair Share for Health Care bill.

One local business owner writes:

The Post is wrong to claim that Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno is betraying New York's businesses by supporting legislation that would require companies that employ 100 or more workers, like Wal-Mart, to provide at least some health-care coverage for their workers ("Bruno's Betrayal," Editorial, March 12). Far from betraying anyone, the legislation would protect New York taxpayers' wallets and large businesses that do provide health-care coverage from unfair competition from companies like Wal-Mart.

And WFP Manhattan chapter member Shirley Littman writes:

Is The Post suggesting that public programs should continue to shoulder the burden of workers' health care? If so, you're barking up the wrong tree, because Bruno is absolutely right. He's saying that, for a little bit of money, an employer who has over 100 employees can give his employees health-care coverage. Taxpayers like me think it's about time.

Finally, a single-payer advocate wonders why the legislature is considering Fair Share rather than immediately implementing a universal health care solution. The WFP's policy director, Josh Mason, considered that question here a few days ago.

Boehlert retires

It's official, Sherwood Boehlert has announced his retirement.

Level the playing field

Strangely absent from the conservative response to the Fair Share for Health Care Act has been any discussion of leveling the playing field for responsible businesses.

Most businesses already provide the health care coverage called for in the Fair Share for Health Care Act. So why push for the bill? Because it's the right thing to do. It levels the playing field and gets rid of the penalty on businesses that do provide health care coverage, and it means 450,000 New Yorkers working for profitable companies will get health care.

A better question is why are supposedly conservative papers shilling to have favored companies get anti-competitive government subsidies. Any explanations?

Will Boehlert retire?

Sherwood Boehlert has scheduled a press conference today at 3 in Utica where he's expected to announce whether he's running for the U.S. House again this year or retiring.

If he retires, it'll set off a ripple effect where 2 Republican state senators, James Seward and Raymond Meier, run for his open seat, and then state reps start running for the state senate.

Smart money says Boehlert will retire; if so, it should be interesting.

850 and counting

We passed 850 emails to the Assembly earlier today, cosponsors are signing on and the bill's being introduced soon. More news as it happens.

Jeanine's geography goof

AG candidate Jeanine Pirro is in the news again - this time for sticking her foot in her mouth when she tried to talk about upstate New York's geography. Pirro's explanation didn't help much, from the same article:

"Pirro later offered up another malapropism after acknowledging her geography mistake: 'Am I better than that? Absolutely not.'"

Maybe it's time to switch races?

584 and counting

On day 1 of our push to get emails in to the Assembly in support of the Fair Share for Health Care Act, we're already at 584 people taking action.

Get involved.

Sirota Gives Props to the WFP

David Sirota's got a great piece about the Working Families Party in today's San Francisco Chronicle; there's more on his blog and at the Huffington Post. Read it and share your thoughts in the comments section.

100 emails to the Assembly

It took a half hour to get our first 100 emails asking Assemblymembers to cosponsor the Fair Share for Health Care Act. That's great!

Keep them coming - and tell your friends!

Fair Share for Health Care Assembly cosponsors

The Fair Share for Health Care Act is being introduced next week, and we're making a push now to get cosponsors. We're starting with the Assembly, so everyone who supports the bill should email their Assemblymember and ask them to sign on.

Take action now. Then spread the word to your friends.

And I'm definitely interested in hearing what your Assemblymember says if you hear back from them - just leave a note in the comments.

The Wal-Mart Tax

The AFL-CIO came out with a new study (pdf) yesterday that shows that in 19 out of 23 states for which the authors had data, Wal-Mart had more employees enrolled in state public health insurance programs than any other employer in the state. (That doesn't include New York, where preliminary data compiled by the WFP (pdf) would make that 20 out of 24 states)

And in exchange for taxpayer subsidies for its workforce, what does Wal-Mart give back in terms of economic development? Well, um, er ... Here's what the AFL-CIO study says:

On top of its health care subsidies, Wal-Mart has wrung at least $1 billion in economic development assistance from state and local governments over the past 20 years. [citing research by Good Job First]

Wal-mart: the company that keeps on taking, and taking, and taking.

Reason # 687 to make employers pay their fair share for health care.

Buffalo News shills

The Buffalo News came out with an editorial yesterday arguing that multi-billion dollar corporations should dump their employees on to Medicaid instead of providing health care, and raising the laughable spectre of businesses only "sell[ing] to New Yorkers online." Apparently, the Buffalo News' biggest fear is that New Yorkers may start finding out about this "internet" thing and buying things online. Bad news, but that ship has sailed.

Who exactly are they looking out for here? Obviously not working families, since they're basically arguing that no one should get health care from their employer.

This study may shed some insight into who the Buffalo News is trying to protect.

NY Post editorial makes for strange bedfellows

We don't often agree with the Neighborhood Retail Alliance, but they have more on the New York Post's recent discovery that they support government provided health care - as long as it lets some favored businesses gain an unfair advantage over responsible businesses by not giving their employees health care and instead dumping them on to Medicaid.

The New York Post's Betrayal

In an editorial on Sunday titled "Bruno's Betrayal," the New York Post lines up agaist the the WFP's Fair Share for Health Care initiative.

I wouldn't expect the Post to be swayed by the WFP's first argument for Fair Share: that it's simply wrong for an employee of hugely profitable, multi-billion dollar companies to be forced to go without medical care.

But one might think the state's most conservative tabloid would have some concern for the burden that some freeloading, low-road big businesses place on taxpayers. The Post's editorial page is one of the loudest and usually most consistent anti-tax voices in the state.

Faced with a conflict that must create some internal dissonance, the tab sides with the Wal-Marts of the world over the taxpayers of New York.

Call it the Post's Betrayal.

Providers Give Fair Share a Boost

The WFP's Fair Share for Health Care campaign got a boost yesterday when the Greater New York Hospital Association endorsed the proposed legislation. GNYHA, a trade association representing more than 250 not-for-profit hospitals and continuing care facilities, is considered one of the strongest voices for sound health care policy in the state. From the press release (no link available yet):

"Hospitals in the New York metropolitan area would welcome this important proposal to expand health insurance coverage to hardworking New Yorkers," said GNYHA Kenneth E. Raske. “The Fair Share for Health Care Act will level the playing field and create a more equitable system that will ensure more working New Yorkers have the health care coverage they need and deserve.”

Amen.

Fair Share for Health Care Act launch gets 50 press hits

With three more hits today - one in the Kaiser Family Foundation Daily Reports and the AP story in the The Citizen in New York state and the Star Tribune in Minnesota - the launch of the Fair Share for Health Care Act is up to 50 press hits!

Fair Share for Health Care blog coverage

Following on the press coverage that the launch of our Fair Share for Health Care Act got, we've been getting blogged about as well. Here's a roundup:

• David Sirota on his blog, crossposted at Working for Change
  
• Nathan Newman at TPM Cafe and Daily Plan
• Neighborhood Retail Alliance
• The Politicker
• Wake-Up Wal-Mart
• Wal-Mart Watch
  

That's 6 posts, bringing us up to 47 press hits. If you see any posts I missed, let me know in the comments section.

Why not universal coverage?

The consensus on the blogs is that universal public health care (aka single-payer, Medicare for all, or what have you) is the only solution to the health care crisis. What we have to do, say our friends on the left, is eliminate the connection between health care and employment. Yet here we are at the WFP, proposing a Fair Share plan that reinforces employer responsibility for health care. What gives? Do we think Kevin Drum, Ezra Klein, Matthew Yglesias and the rest of them are all wrong?

Not at all.

There is no question that in the long run, the only way to control healthcare costs and guarantee universal coverage is through a greatly expanded role for the public sector. The WFP has been on record in support of universal public health insurance since our founding, and we still are.

But, we think Fair Share is the right proposal for New York State, for this year. Here’s why:

There is a healthcare crisis now. Progressives – including us! – have been pushing for single-payer for years. Realistically, it will be years more before we win. Meanwhile, 3 million New Yorkers are going without needed healthcare because they lack insurance. We believe that – with a lot of work and a little luck – a broad employer mandate can pass this year. If that extends health benefits to half a million uninsured New Yorkers, that's a big step, even if it doesn't solve the larger healthcare problem.

We need to defend existing coverage, until we win real reform. Over the past 15 years, New York has greatly expanded public health programs, yet the number of uninsured has hardly budged. As fast as we add people to public programs like Medicaid and Child Health Plus, we lose them from employer coverage. Meanwhile, those who do have insurance face skyrocketing contributions and out-of-pocket costs. Fair Share will prevent big businesses from further shifting costs to workers while we move toward real reform.

Fair Share creates a constituency for further reform. Our current crazy-quilt system rewards businesses that are able to shift health costs to their workers, other businesses and the public. As long as these businesses can freeload, they will be implacable opponents of reform. but once they are paying their fair share, they will have the same interest in a rational health care system as the rest of us.

We need to prove that healthcare is a winning political issue. As Mark Schmitt says, "universal health care is universally supported by people who don’t have to win elections and universally feared by people who do." If we can mount a winning campaign on Fair Share, it will make it much easier to convince politicians to take a chance on broader reform.

Fair Share is an idea whose time has come. All across the country, people are excited about the idea of requiring employers to pay more for healthcare. 35 states are considering some form of fair share legislation. Labor wants to make it harder for low-wage businesses to undercut union employers. Living-wage advocates are looking for the next step beyond regulating wages. Anti-Wal-Mart campaigners are looking for a winning issue to challenge the big-box goliaths. The media is waking up to the social costs of the low-road model. Fair Share taps into this energy in a way that, at the moment, single-payer does not.

In the long run, we need to fight for universal healthcare. And the WFP is going to do just that. But we think the immediate crisis is too pressing – and the immediate opportunity too promising – to pass up the chance to pass the Fair Share bill this year. Yes, our employer-based healthcare system is in need of major surgery. But first let’s stop the bleeding.

Fair Share for Health Care launch coverage

Yesterday's launch of the Fair Share for Health Care Act was big news. You can read about it in The New York Times, The New York Sun, the Times-Union, the New York Post, and Crain's Health Pulse [no link].

Here's what Crain's had to say, under the heading "STATE BILL FOR UNINSURED":

"Meanwhile, the Fair Share for Health Care Act was introduced yesterday by the Working Families Party. The bill - which the party says would aid 450,000 full-time workers statewide who don't get insurance from their employers - would require companies with 100 or more workers in the state to spend at least $3 per hour per employee for health benefits. Manufacturing and agricultural businesses are excluded. The bill's prime sponsors are Nicholas Spano in the Senate and Richard Gottfried in the Assembly. The WFP says it has more than 10,000 signatures endorsing the plan, and it intends to collect another 50,000."

We also got an AP story that ran in New York in The Buffalo News, WNBC, WSTM, Newsday, and the Poughkeepsie Journal. The AP story went nationwide, running in the Washington Post, ABC, CBS, the Times Daily in Alabama, the San Jose Mercury News and The Monterey County Herald in California, DC coverage on ABC and WTOP, the Miami Herald and The Ledger and The Herald and Ocala Star-Banner in Florida, Lexington Herald-Leader in Kentucky, mlive.com in Michigan, the Duluth News Tribune and the Mankato Free Press in Minnesota, Sun Herald in Mississippi, WRAL in North Carolina, Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota, Enid News in Oklahoma, Ledger-Enquirer in Ohio, Centre-Daily and Times Leader and phillyBurbs.com in Pennsylvania, The Sun News in South Carolina, Aberdeen News in South Dakota, Star-Telegram in Texas, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Columbian in Washington state, townhall.com, and the Pierceland Herald up in Saskatchewan, Canada.

That's 41 hits, let me know in the comments section if you see any I missed.

Fair Share for Health Care reading: 3/7/06

Joe Rossi in the Post-Standard lays out why we need to pass the Fair Share for Health Care Act in New York this year and, at the national level, Bernie Horn in TomPaine.com lays out how Fair Share for Health Care moves us closer to health care for everyone.

Fair Share for Health Care launches in Albany

We have liftoff! At a press conference today in the State Capitol, the newly-named Fair Share for Health Care Act launched.

Working Families Party state co-chairs Bertha Lewis and Bob Master, SEIU/1199 Executive VP Jennifer Cunningham, and WFP Executive Committee members Peter Colavito, Patrick Gaspard, Pat Purcell, Richard Kirsch, Jane Thompson, Dwight Loines and George Albro joined Assemblymember Richard Gottfried and Senator Nick Spano, who are the bill's prime sponsors, and a number of other legislators to show their support for Fair Share Health Care.

Everyone listened to Mike Kellogg, the CEO of Century Direct, a printing and mail services firm, talk about why his high-road business provides decent health care for his employees and to Sharlett Cummings, who works at a senior living facility, and Joseph Schiraldi, a security guard at the Empire State Building, talk about how they've both had to sign up for Medicaid because their low-road employers refuse to provide decent benefits.

Wal-Mart also sent a lobbyist to speak out against solving the problem represent the company, and they've hired Albany powerbroker Pat Lynch to make sure Wal-Mart keeps an unfair advantage over local businesses protect the company's bottom line.

After the press conference we went to ask legislators to sign up as cosponsors - more on that soon.

Health Care Bill name poll results

The poll results to pick a name for our Health Care Bill are in! In less than a week, 719 people voted, and the winning bill name is the Fair Share for Health Care Act. Here are the vote results:

Fair Share for Health Care Act	240 votes	33.38%
Health Care Security Act	206 votes	28.65%
Employer Health Care Responsibility Act	153 votes	21.28%
Corporate Accountability for Medicaid Spending Act	56 votes	7.79%

We also got 64 write-in votes.

Thanks to everyone who voted! Together, we'll pass the Fair Share for Health Care Act this year.

Will Maltese blink?

There's been more movement in the fight to win full funding for New York schools. Endangered Senate Republicans are indicating they might break ranks with Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno and join with Democrats on the issue. Bruno's been trying to cover for his endangered incumbents, but his caucus is inching closer to splitting.

The Assembly Democrats support fully funding the schools, so Republican Senators like Serphin Maltese are the next hurdle to clear.

And Maltese - Bloomberg's #1 target - is feeling the heat. The Politicker quoted Maltese as saying, "The fact of the matter is we are now attempting to work closely with the Mayor and his people to get as much additional funding for the schools as possible." How truthful Maltese is being when he says that may determine how this all plays out.

One thing's for sure, Bruno doesn't help himself achieve his top goal - holding onto his majority - by first saying there isn't $7.4 billion to fund the schools and then saying there's $8.4 billion available for a tax cut.

Jeanine's pig won't hunt

AG candidate Jeanine Pirro is trying to reinvent herself as a rural candidate by claiming her Vietnamese potbellied pigs "reflect the rural, small-town roots that Pirro says put her in touch with the needs of Upstate New Yorkers."

Seriously?

I guess there's nowhere for Pirro to go but up. All the same, I'm not sure trying to redefine barnyard animals to include a family pet that can do tricks and use a litter box is the way to go.

Special election wins send a health care message

In Sylvia Friedman's special election race, over 12% of the votes cast were on the Working Families Party line, up from 3.9% in 2004. And in Linda Rosenthal's special election race, over 6% of the votes were cast on the Working Families Party line, up from 3.56% in 2004.

That increase sends a message to Albany that we want health care reform now.

Next week, we'll take that message to Albany as we launch our health care campaign. Watch the blog for details.

Until then, there's still time to vote for a name for our Health Care Bill. 650 people have cast a vote, and "Fair Share for Health Care Act" is still narrowly leading "Health Care Security Act".

Fair Share: can they afford it?

The five surviving family members of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton are worth $15 and half billion each, holding spots 6 through 10 on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans. Let’s leave aside for now (but only for now!) the questions of whether such concentrations of wealth are compatible with democracy, or what the fact that so many of the country’s largest fortunes are inherited says about our economy. Instead, let’s ask a simpler question: how much would it cost the Waltons to provide health insurance to all Wal-Mart workers?

Wal-Mart’s annual profits are a bit over $10 billion -- $10.3 bill in 2005. The Walton family owns 40 percent of the company, so their share of its profits comes to $4.1 billion.

Meanwhile, 15 percent of Wal-Mart’s 1.3 million workers have no health insurance at all. It costs Wal-Mart $3,500 per worker to provide individual coverage, so to cover all their uninsured workers would cost the company $680 million. That’s about 15 percent of the five Waltons’ share of Wal-Mart’s profits.

So the next time someone says corporations like Wal-Mart can’t afford health benefits, keep these numbers in mind. The cost of covering every one of Wal-Mart’s uninsured workers would come to less than a fifth of what the Walton family collects each year just for being born (or in the case of Helen Walton, marrying) lucky. Healthcare for Wal-mart workers or an extra yacht (island? small nation? what do you buy with $15 billion?) for the Walton family -- that is the choice.

CAFTA's reception in Central America

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?

Name our Health Care Bill update

Over 350 people have voted for a name for our Health Care Bill! "Fair Share for Health Care Act" is in the lead, followed by "Health Care Security Act" and then "Employer Health Care Responsibility Act". "Corporate Accountability for Medicaid Spending Act" is doing a little more respectably than it had been but is still way behind.

The comments section is open for you to make the case for the bill name you like best.

Keep voting!

200 votes and counting!

Over 200 people have cast a vote to name our Health Care Bill! It's still neck and neck, but "Fair Share for Health Care Act" has pulled seven votes ahead of "Health Care Security Act" with "Employer Health Care Responsibility Act" fading but still in striking distance of the two leaders. "Corporate Accountability for Medicaid Spending Act" is way back with only eight votes.

Make your case in the comments section for the bill name that you picked then tell your friends to vote at http://workingfamiliesparty.org/fairshare

Vote today!

First 100 votes are in!

The first 100 votes to name our Health Care Bill are already in! It's neck and neck, with "Health Care Security Act" two votes ahead of "Fair Share for Health Care Act." "Employer Health Care Responsibility Act" is trailing slightly and "Corporate Accountability for Medicaid Spending Act" is way behind with five votes. If you've got a favorite, tell your friends to vote too at http://workingfamiliesparty.org/fairshare

Go vote!

Name our Health Care Bill

Next week we're introducing a Health Care Bill in the State Legislature. Before then, we're giving you a chance to weigh in on the bill.

Our bill levels the playing field for responsible local businesses that struggle to compete against large corporations like Wal-Mart that don't pay their fair share for decent health benefits for their employees. It will ensure secure health coverage for more than 450,000 workers and stop free-loading corporations from putting their workers on Medicaid where taxpayers pay for coverage.

You have the chance to vote to decide what the bill will be named. Take a second to vote, and then come back to the blog to see how the voting is going and share your thoughts and what you voted for.

Rosenthal and Friedman win

Linda Rosenthal and Sylvia Friedman - both endorsed by the Working Families Party - won their Assembly races yesterday. Congratulations to both of you, we've got high hopes for what you'll get done in Albany.

Thanks also to everyone who cast a health care vote for them on Row E - you sent Albany a message that we want health care reform now.

A Get Well Card for Gov. Pataki

Dear Governor Pataki,

I’m glad to hear that you’ve started to recover. You must really be getting tired of being in the hospital; after all, it’s been nearly two weeks since Feb. 16th, when you first went in for your appendectomy at the Hudson Valley Hospital in Westchester. When you were transferred to New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical School on the 21st, that was probably been the only time you’ve gotten out since your operation.

But now, the doctors say things are starting to look up, and you should be released pretty soon. I bet you’re excited to get back to work, up in Albany. After all, I’m sure all that time lying in hospital beds has given you time to think.

You’ve probably spent a lot of time thinking just how lucky you are to have such comprehensive health coverage, to allow you a two-week hospital stay when you need it – and in two of the finest hospitals in the state. After all, nearly 3 million New Yorkers have no health insurance coverage at all. Most of those nearly 3 million (2.1 million, or 72%) are employed, full-time.

We have a safety net for the elderly, the unemployed and the very poor; but more and more working families in New York are being left uninsured or underinsured by big employers looking to cut corners. Sometime, the uninsured fall into the over-burdened public health care system, (and we tax-payers have to pick up the slack). Sometimes, they simply go without, paying out of pocket for medical expenses. That’s why medical emergencies are the single largest cause of bankruptcy in the country.

So you must be excited to get back to work and begin to address the state’s health care crisis, aided by your new perspective on just how crucial health coverage is. That’s why I know you’ll decide to support Fair Share for Health Care, and force large employers to pay a minimum amount of their employees’ health coverage, and cover 450,000 working people in New York. While you’re at it, I’m sure you’ll also support the Prescription Drug Purchasing Pool—this will allow us to negotiate collectively with pharmaceutical companies, saving money for working people across the state, as well as all the state’s taxpayers.

I’m as excited for you to get better, get out of the hospital and back to Albany as you are. Please, Governor, help show that health care policy can be humane, fiscally sensible and, at the same time, level the playing field for responsible local businesses struggling to compete against large profitable corporations like Wal-Mart. And show us all that when you’ve gotten out of the hospital, you really have gotten better.

Sincerely,
Joe Dinkin
WFP College Club Coordinator

Pirro picks Bloomberg over Pataki

AG candidate Jeanine Pirro has done little to impress anyone this year, but she is playing Bloomberg's gambit and has come out in favor of fully funding New York City schools. It's the position you'd expect her to take - after all, she's basically saying she's going to follow the law - except it puts her on record as joining Mayor Bloomberg in critizing Governor Pataki and the Republican Senate for opposing full funding for New York City schools.

Given Pirro's spotty track record in the run-up to this year's election, this probably isn't an encouraging sign for Bloomberg. I guess Pirro had to do something to get in the news that wasn't forgetting her speech or switching races, but it's hard to see Jeanine Pirro leading her party to do the right thing and it's easier to see Joe Bruno blowing her off or seeking retribution.

Don't forget to cast a health care vote tomorrow

Tomorrow's the day of the special election and coverage of the race is sparse: a smattering of blog posts and this article from WNYC on Rosenthal's race.

Linda Rosenthal in Assembly District 67 (Upper West Side of Manhattan) and Sylvia Friedman in Assembly District 74 (Lower part of the East Side of Manhattan) have both been endorsed by the Working Families Party. A vote on the Working Families Party line - Row E - sends the message that you want better health care in New York.

You can see if you're in one of those two districts here and find your polling place here. It's worth a five minute break in the day to cast a vote on Row E that tells Albany we need health care reform now, so take the time to vote!

Fair Share activists gear up

Working Families Party members across the state began meeting this week to gear up for the Fair Share for Health Care campaign and talk about reforming health care to make sure working families keep their health care if they have it and get it if they don't.

In the photo to the right, WFP member Danny Calabro and Jobs With Justice organizer Jim McAsey reviewed campaign literature at a meeting in Massapequa on Tuesday.

Consider this your online meeting spot - the comments are open for your thoughts and questions.

Bloomberg "lobbies" Albany

One of the most interesting stories (to me) coming out of New York City is Mayor Bloomberg's effort to hold legislators accountable for the money New York City schools are supposed to be getting.

Bloomberg's latest move is to cancel plans to build schools in districts of state legislators who don't support the required funding for New York City schools.

The New York Times has more:

When Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced this week that he was killing plans for dozens of buildings that were to be built under New York City's school construction plan, he blamed leaders in Albany for not sending enough money to the city.

But the schools that the mayor singled out were apparently chosen for a reason: They were in the districts of powerful lawmakers in Albany, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and several Republican state senators, signaling that the mayor is prepared to use his muscle to penalize lawmakers if they do not support his effort to get more school aid from Albany.

Of 21 schools that were to begin construction this year and are now being scrapped, four are in the district of State Senator Serphin R. Maltese, a Republican. Earlier this month, mayoral aides said that Mr. Bloomberg was so frustrated with Albany that he was considering supporting a Democratic challenger to Mr. Maltese in the November elections, even though the mayor is a Republican.

It's risky gambit with a high chance of backfiring. Bloomberg's trying to seem bipartisan by targeting Senate Republicans and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat, even though Silver and the Assembly Democrats have been on the right side of the CFE fight, only to see the Republican Senate refuse to do the same. I don't think anyone's fooled by that - this is all about Bloomberg fighting the Republican Senate for school funding.

So what do you think, smart politics or dumb idea?

Vote Row E on February 28th

If we're going to fix our health care system, we need legislators to know that's what we're electing them to do. That's why the Working Families Party is endorsing Linda Rosenthal in Assembly District 67 (Upper West Side of Manhattan) and Sylvia Friedman in Assembly District 74 (Lower part of the East Side of Manhattan) and urging everyone to vote for them on the Working Families Party ballot line, Row E.

The special election is this coming Tuesday, February 28th, and the polls are open from 6am to 9pm. Take a second to find out which legislative district you're in and to find your polling place.

Both candidates are running on both the Working Families Party line (Row E) and the Democratic Party line. Voting for Rosenthal and Friedman on either line gets them elected, but voting for them on the Working Families Party line sends the message that you want the Assembly to make sure people who work for a living have health care. We've got more here.

Maryland or Washington?

A growing number of states are starting to tackle head-on the problem of big corporations dumping their employees onto public assistance. That pushes health care costs onto taxpayers and is unfair to business competitors that do the right thing and provide health care for their employees.

Maryland has already passed a Fair Share Health Care bill, which would require large employers to make sure their employees have health care by either spending a minimum percentage of their payroll on health care costs or paying a certain amount into a state Medicaid fund. Michigan is among the many states considering a similar solution.

In Washington state a similar bill was defeated last week, but Washington's Governor is already making plans to bring it back.

We'll be taking this on in New York soon - keep an eye on the blog for your chance to weigh in.

NYU's Disgrace: The First 100 Days

The Graduate Student Organizing Committee strike at NYU passed the 100 days mark last week. The GSOC strike began on Wednesday, November 9, 2005. Despite widespread support from NYU faculty, staff and undergrads, as well as the broader community and the national labor movement, the NYU administration continues to refuse to come to the bargaining table.

Washington Square News, the NYU student paper, reports today that the American Association of University Professors marked the 100th day of the strike by sending a solidarity letter to the uversity administration:

The American Association of University Professors rang in the 101st day of the graduate assistant strike on Friday by sending the NYU administration and Board of Trustees a letter criticizing the university’s dealings with its graduate students.

Referencing the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which promotes unionization, the letter is the second to come from the group in as many weeks.

“Everyone has the right to form and to join trade union for the protection of his interests,” article 23 of the declaration says.

The association’s committee on graduate and professional students also sent a letter to the NYU administration on Feb. 6 in support of the Graduate Student Organizing Committee, the bargaining unit for the students’ union, United Auto Workers Local 2110.

“Graduate student assistants, like other campus employees, should have the right to organize to bargain collectively,” said Erika Gubrium, a member of the graduate and professional students committee. “Where state legislation permits, administrations should honor a majority request for union representation.”

The AAUP’s letter recommends that the NYU administration immediately revoke punishments for striking GAs, hold hearings for teaching assistants who have been denied appointments, promise to follow AAUP procedures for the future and negotiate a legal contract with GSOC.

Click here to see how you can show solidarity with NYU's striking grad students.

Fair Share: Common Decency

WFP Executive Director Dan Cantor spoke with the Politicker blog on Friday in an "IM Interview."

Dan highlighted the WFP's Fair Share for Health Care campaign as a top party priority in 2006:

benobserver: First of all, where is the WFP going to be putting its resources this year?
...
Cantor: We want to make sure that they provide decent health benefits for their employees. Nothing fancy, just common decency.

We all know that soaring health care costs are driving many otherwise responsible employers to push more of those costs onto the shoulders of working families. And low-road employers increase the pressure by tilting the playing field.

But it was still appalling to read about Macy's big Sunday ad this past weekend. For their President's Day sale? No. For "replacement workers."

Macy's workers are resisting an effort by the retail giant to make employees pay a majority of their health care premiums (which, incidentally would have the primary effect of driving more workers into public insurance programs).

And in exchange, Macy's advertises for scabs.

Dan's right. It's time to restore a little common decency.

Help us keep track of employers putting pressure on your family's health and welfare by posting below or sending email to wfp@workingfamiliesparty.org with your story.

Politicker interviews Dan Cantor

If you haven't read it yet, head on over to The Politicker to read their interview with Working Families Party Executive Director Dan Cantor.

AG candidates want to crack down on health care fraud

I think it's good that both Andrew Cuomo and Mark Green are talking about cutting health care costs by cracking down on fraud as they run for Attorney General. And I think more races - including the upcoming special elections on February 28th - will feature health care as a major issue. But it's hard to see how you solve our larger health care problems if corporations like Wal-Mart that are big enough and profitable enough to provide health care are allowed to dump their employees on to public assistance instead.

Special Opportunities

Upcoming special elections offer the first opportunity to send a message to Albany that New Yorkers want HEALTH CARE REFORM NOW.

Voting for Assembly candidates Sylvia Friedman (Lower part of the East Side of Manhattan) and Linda Rosenthal (Upper West Side of Manhattan) on ROW E, the Working Families Party line, is way of saying it's time to hold large corporations accountable for providing health care for their employees.

Read more about Sylvia Friedman in this week's Downtown Express.

And check out Linda Rosenthal's web site.

Both Linda and Sylvia are great candidates -- and voting for them on Row E on Tuesday, February 28, is a way to make your vote count twice: once for the candidate and once for HEALTH CARE REFORM NOW.

More on Long Island candidates next week.

Bush and Pataki announce health care cuts

The Bush and Pataki administrations are both cutting money for health care at the same time big corporations like Wal-Mart are dumping their employees on to public assistance instead of giving them health care.

So can someone explain how exactly that will turn out well for working families?

Defending Rent Control

The triennial fight to preserve rent control in New York CIty is gearing up, the NY Sun reported today (subscription required):

Citing an ongoing "housing emergency," the City Council intends to renew for another three years the city's soon-to-expire rent control and rent stabilization laws.

A bill extending the laws until 2009 was introduced by several sponsors yesterday and is likely to win approval before the existing statutes expire on April 1. In passing the measure, the council would be exerting its limited power over the city's rent laws. The limitations are a source of increasing frustration for many members, including the new speaker, Christine Quinn.

"We do not have full power over our housing laws, but we do play a very important and central role as it relates to renewing rent protection laws," Ms. Quinn said yesterday on the steps of City Hall. Surrounding the speaker were several council colleagues and hundreds of tenants pushing for continued rent control.

The introduction of the bill comes less than a week after an official survey found that the city's rental housing stock was crowded enough to qualify as a "housing emergency," allowing the city to extend rent laws determined by the state. Ms. Quinn said that despite the council's limited authority, she wanted to "send a clear message" that rent laws would not be weakened under her watch.

Earlier this month, Ms. Quinn signaled that the council would try to step up pressure on Albany to give the city "home rule" by repealing the 1971 law handing the state jurisdiction over the city's rent laws. The council will likely send an official legislative request to Albany after passing resolutions on the issue in recent years. A bill repealing the "home rule" law has passed the state Assembly, where Democrats have the majority, each year since 1997 before stalling in the GOP-controlled Senate.

"It's a scandal, and it's high time it changed," the treasurer of the Tenants Political Action Committee, Michael McKee, said.

Michael McKee is absolutely right. And it's time for a plan to win Urstadt repeal once and for all.

Do folks have thoughts on a real game plan?

Wal-Mart in Staten Island?

The Neighborhood Retail Alliance blog noticed an article in Sunday's Staten Island Advance that those dimwits at Bacon and Eggs carelessly missed. While the NRAB often voices views that the WFP strongly disagrees with, their post was insightful:

The [Advance] article actually focuses on the potential building of a Stop & Shop supermarket at a location on a Page Avenue next door to the Wal-Mart site. What is clear, however, is that the Tottenville community is extremely concerned with the overdevelopment and concomitant traffic in their neighborhood.

In fact, even the pro-development Staten Island Borough President, James Molinaro, has predicted a "traffic nightmare" if $100 million of road improvements are not forthcoming in the impacted area. The supermarket is seen as part of the overall development challenge and, even though community people have told us that they would welcome an upscale market, there are major concerns about traffic.

This concern is best expressed by Tottenville president June Delaney who has not committed to support of the supermarket until "the city comes up with a plan-one addressing both traffic aesthetic concerns-for future development along Page Avenue." As she cogently remarks, "You can't just keep putting things there and say, 'OK, we will figure it out later."

All of which puts the plans for Wal-Mart on extremely tenuous footing. If a welcome addition like Stop & Shop is viewed with some skepticism you can imagine how the Tottenville folks feel about a regional market that will draw its customers from all over the Island.

This trepidation, however, isn't deterring the Wal-Mart people. We've just been informed that the Walmonster has hired respected NYC lobbyist Claudia Wagner to represent them before the City Council. In addition, as the Advance is reporting, the clean-up of the Lucent site on Richmond Valley Road is continuing.

The Lucent $10 million remediation is expected to last nine months and Cedarwood Development, which has the lease on the property and hopes to bring in Wal-Mart, "is expected to follow this spring with its own request for a zone change for the property." If true, than it will take a few months to review the application before it is certified for ULURP. We'd anticipate a fall certification at the earliest.

What's missing is the various requests for traffic studies and road improvements before any zoning review is conducted. The Alliance will be arguing for an independent analysis to precede any city certification of Wal-Mart.

Having lost their bid to open a store in Rego Park, Wal-Mart has made very clear that they want to open one or more stores in Staten Island.

If Wal-Mart does dare to open to actually try to open a store in NYC, working families will join arms with the good people of Tottenville in their fight.

Whither the Conservative Party?

The fracture among State Republicans may result in New York's Conservative Party losing its place on the ballot, suggests its former chair, George Marlin in an op-ed in today's Post:

This past weekend, New York Conservative Party activists from around the state gathered in Albany to meet and question Republicans seeking the gubernatorial nomination. When making their choice, the party faithful need to ask themselves: Quo Vadis? Where are you going?

Their reply will determine if the party drops to Row E on the voting ballot (it's now on Row D, having lost its 32-year hold on Row C to the Independence Party in 1998) or worse — fails to receive 50,000 gubernatorial votes and be swept away into the dustbin of history, like the New York Liberal Party four years ago.

Not much for WFP members and supporters to do but watch this potential train wreck in slow motion. But a train wreck for the Conservatives, combined with the WFP push for 250,000 votes for Eliot Spitzer means Row D (or C?) for the WFP.

Right?

More Cheney Jokes

Letterman's top ten is here.

And, this nice round-up is from the AP:

"Late Show with David Letterman," CBS:

"Good news, ladies and gentlemen, we have finally located weapons of mass destruction: It's Dick Cheney."

"But here is the sad part -- before the trip Donald Rumsfeld had denied the guy's request for body armor."

"We can't get Bin Laden, but we nailed a 78-year-old attorney."

"The guy who got gunned down, he is a Republican lawyer and a big Republican donor and fortunately the buck shot was deflected by wads of laundered cash. So he's fine. He took a little in the wallet."

"The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," NBC:

"Although it is beautiful here in California, the weather back East has been atrocious. There was so much snow in Washington, D.C., Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fat guy thinking it was a polar bear."

"That's the big story over the weekend. ... Dick Cheney accidentally shot a fellow hunter, a 78-year-old lawyer. In fact, when people found out he shot a lawyer, his popularity is now at 92 percent."

"I think Cheney is starting to lose it. After he shot the guy he screamed, 'Anyone else want to call domestic wire tapping illegal?"'

"Dick Cheney is capitalizing on this for Valentine's Day. It's the new Dick Cheney cologne. It's called Duck!"

"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," Comedy Central:

"Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot a man during a quail hunt ... making 78-year-old Harry Whittington the first person shot by a sitting veep since Alexander Hamilton. Hamilton, of course, (was) shot in a duel with Aaron Burr over issues of honor, integrity and political maneuvering. Whittington? Mistaken for a bird."

"Now, this story certainly has its humorous aspects. ... But it also raises a serious issue, one which I feel very strongly about. ... moms, dads, if you're watching right now, I can't emphasize this enough: Do not let your kids go on hunting trips with the vice president. I don't care what kind of lucrative contracts they're trying to land, or energy regulations they're trying to get lifted -- it's just not worth it."

"Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," CBS:

"He is a lawyer and he got shot in the face. But he's a lawyer, he can use his other face. He'll be all right."

"You can understand why this lawyer fellow let his guard down, because if you're out hunting with a politician, you think, 'If I'm going to get it, it's going to be in the back.'"

"The big scandal apparently is that they didn't release the news for 18 hours. I don't think that's a scandal at all. I'm quite pleased about that. Finally there's a secret the vice president's office can keep."

"Apparently the reason they didn't release the information right away is they said we had to get the facts right. That's never stopped them in the past."

Dick Cheney’s Top 10 Excuses For Shooting Fellow Hunter

10. Sick and tired of Whittington’s “Hey, I’m having a heart attack” jokes
9. Pushed over edge by Dixie Chicks and Streisand blasting on pick-up truck stereo
8. Ongoing dispute over whether it’s acceptable to torture quail before shooting them
7. Thought he saw Michael Moore on other side of tree line
6. Bombed out of his gourd on Wild Turkey and Lone Star Beer
5. Companion’s ill-advised decision to wear Moveon.org sweatshirt
4. Was trying to impress Jodie Foster
3. Whittington’s repeated ribbing that Bush is actually the “real president”
2. Targeting scope on rifle made by Halliburton

And the number one excuse given by Dick Cheney for almost blowing away hunting companion Harry Whittington . . .

1. Because he’s a wartime vice president, damn it

Kudos to BobGeiger.com

Get the rest of Monday's news.