know1 asked who's going to pay for it? . . . If you were to actually interested in intelligent conversation and ideas, you would have answered the question "who's going to pay for it?"
Let's see, who's going to pay for --
1) well-paying jobs -- the employers who do the hiring. Perhaps executives will be willing to take a pay cut and only earn 200 times what average worker makes instead of the current 434 times as much. Utility executives in my state, about to get windfalls of millions of dollars, were complaining that they only make 170 times what an average worker makes. And why are they getting that windfall? Because they're smarter or harder working or they take risks? Nope, they're getting that windfall because they happen to be in charge when the rates go up, thereby earning the utilities a lot of money. (Where can I go to get that job?)
2) affordable housing -- we stop giving huge tax breaks to developers who make miles and miles of those godawful McMansions and we give tax breaks to people who make affordable, multi-use housing for lots of different income levels. You see, we use the money we save by ending corporate welfare for fancy real estate developers.
3) accessible health care -- this one's easy. We toss that dumbass Medicare prescription drug benefit / bailout for the pharmaceutical industry. And we give the working poor access to health insurance by adding them to the insurance rolls of states. And if we get the HMOs to engage in enough preventive care, we'd actually wind up saving some money.
4) better public schools and more investment in public services -- yep, this one is going to come out of taxpayer pockets. But we ought to be happy to do it because a quality public education system is a mark of a great society. And taxes are the price we pay for being privileged to live in that society.
And let me echo something hippiemom said. Many of us enjoy the privileges we do because we got tax breaks for paying a mortgage or we took out low-interest student loans to finance our education, which helped us get a decent job that gives us health insurance. We have this idea that we got here by the sweat of our own brow, but we often fail to recognize that we are standing on someone else's shoulders.
"Things will just get better and better even though it
doesn't feel that way right now. That's the hopeful
idea . . . Hope didn't get much applause . . .
Hope! Hope is the underdog!"
The reason I don't frequent the board much anymore is because people like you don't give anything a chance. Actually reading up on the WFP? Who's going to do that when they can just throw out some crap just for the sake of argument? What happened to intelligent conversation and ideas? What happened to the idea of another political party, that so many want, but instead, it gets nothing but a few harsh remarks? With all due respect there bearcat, you were being a smart-ass. I'm just sick to death of people around here thinking that they know what it's "all about" without reading into anything further.
Screw your 'all due respect'...
My comment was based on the name...'Working Families'...no shit every party out there is composed of working families...I just thought it was a silly name.
hippiemom = goodness
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,361
The middle class are any class in the middle of a social schema. In Weberian socio-economic terms they are the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socioeconomically between the working class and upper class. In Marxist terms, middle class commonly refers to either the bourgeoisie before or during capitalism, or some emergent new class within capitalism. In common parlance middle class refers to a set of culturally distinct contemporary Western cultures that emphasise sedentary consumerism and petty property ownership within capitalism.
don't compete; coexist
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
The middle class are any class in the middle of a social schema. In Weberian socio-economic terms they are the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socioeconomically between the working class and upper class. In Marxist terms, middle class commonly refers to either the bourgeoisie before or during capitalism, or some emergent new class within capitalism. In common parlance middle class refers to a set of culturally distinct contemporary Western cultures that emphasise sedentary consumerism and petty property ownership within capitalism.
...
I think Jeagler was wanting information on the 'Working Families Party'. I got over 50 pages from Google.
...
I don't know, it seems like it would be a lot easier to use Google for information... than a 3 year old post on a Pearl Jam message board. I could be wrong, you know.
Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
Hail, Hail!!!
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,361
And what is this middle class I keep hearing about. Anyone got a definition?
i dont know. i'm trying to find out more info about this party...
...
Have you tried, 'Google'?
what's google? is that even a world?
of course i did a yahoo search for it. then i came here and searched for it and, whammy, this thread appeared. i was excited to see it. so i bumped it up to get some info from people. do you have anything to offer or are you just content with being difficult?....and please don't take that the wrong way.
...
I think Jeagler was wanting information on the 'Working Families Party'. I got over 50 pages from Google.
...
I don't know, it seems like it would be a lot easier to use Google for information... than a 3 year old post on a Pearl Jam message board. I could be wrong, you know.
i guess i misread his post since the last part of know1's post he quoted said 'And what is this middle class I keep hearing about. Anyone got a definition?'
when i googled 'working families party' the very first link was their website and had lots of sub links like 'about us', 'contact us', 'issues and our vision'......seems like the answers could be had there or at least the contact email to ask....i guess that's just me
don't compete; coexist
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,361
anyone care to share their thoughts on this party?
i'd appreciate some more intelligent comments other than just "google it." :roll: nice. real nice.
anyone care to share their thoughts on this party?
i'd appreciate some more intelligent comments other than just "google it." :roll: nice. real nice.
It is a minor political party with a "center-left" philosophy which attempts to correct the injustices of capitalism by adding new laws to the existing laws. These laws would pull back privilege and corporate coercion, so conservatives pass more subtle laws recreating privilege and allowing corporate coercion, causing the "center-left" to create new laws to pull back privilege... etc... so that eventually everything is either obligatory or forbidden.
More succinctly, in the endless argument of "more government!" and "less government!" these are the guys yelling "more government!"
Everything not forbidden is compulsory and eveything not compulsory is forbidden. You are free... free to do what the government says you can do.
And what is this middle class I keep hearing about. Anyone got a definition?
i dont know. i'm trying to find out more info about this party...
...
Which prompted my Google response.
Had you originally asked, 'anyone care to share their thoughts on this party?', then, people would probably responded. But, if you choose to go the dickhead route and try to bait people... we've seen this all too often.
Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
Hail, Hail!!!
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,361
anyone care to share their thoughts on this party?
i'd appreciate some more intelligent comments other than just "google it." :roll: nice. real nice.
It is a minor political party with a "center-left" philosophy which attempts to correct the injustices of capitalism by adding new laws to the existing laws. These laws would pull back privilege and corporate coercion, so conservatives pass more subtle laws recreating privilege and allowing corporate coercion, causing the "center-left" to create new laws to pull back privilege... etc... so that eventually everything is either obligatory or forbidden.
More succinctly, in the endless argument of "more government!" and "less government!" these are the guys yelling "more government!"
this country needs more viable choices.
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,361
And what is this middle class I keep hearing about. Anyone got a definition?
i dont know. i'm trying to find out more info about this party...
...
Which prompted my Google response.
Had you originally asked, 'anyone care to share their thoughts on this party?', then, people would probably responded. But, if you choose to go the dickhead route and try to bait people... we've seen this all too often.
:roll:
thanks for your contribution.
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,361
Keep on talking, your ignorance shines through with flying colors. Not to mention that this is also coming from someone who refuses to vote. Your opinion means nothing.
Man, you are on a role with simply insulting people here. Nice work. And you speak of ignorance. Fuck that.
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,361
The Working Families Party announced today the hiring of a prominent law firm to review the party's operations and ties to two organizations in the wake of a lawsuit and concerns raised by the City Campaign Finance Board.
According to an email from party leaders, the WFP hired Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom conduct a "thorough review" of the party's structure and its relationship with Data & Field Services, its for-profit political field operations group, and the Working Families Oraganization, a non profit organization.
The relationship between the groups has drawn concerns from the City Campaign Finance Board, which in the future will consider whether candidates backed by the Working Families Party received steep discounts from Data & Field Services and whether the work violates contribution limits.
A group of five Staten Island voters recently filed suit against the labor-backed party charging the WFP created Data & Field Services as part of an "audacious scheme to violate the law" in order to help get WFP candidates elected.
Judith Kaye, the former New York chief judge, will conduct the review, which will look at "the structure and relationship between the WFP, WFO and DFS, the status of our compliance with all relevant election, tax, and not-for-profit corporation law, including the regulations of the New York City Campaign Finance Board," according to the email.
"Now that Election Day is behind us, the firm will begin that review and recommend any necessary changes, improvements or modifications that Judge Kaye and her colleagues believe necessary to ensure maximum transparency and continued adherence to the highest legal and ethical standards."
The email from WFP co-chairs Bob Master and Sam Williams and executive director Dan Cantor to the party's executive committee states that they do not believe legal problems exist.
"As you know, it is extremely common that different organizations organized pursuant to different sets of laws and to achieve different purposes co-exist - often in the same space with overlapping staff working closely together in advancing their various missions."
The email cites several groups, including NARAL Pro-Choice America, which is a 501 c4, a NARAL PAC, and a group known as NARAL Pro-Choice American Foundation, a 501 c3.
It also cites Sierra Club and the AARP.
"Just like the organizations listed above, we keep careful records to ensure that WFP, WFO and Data & Field Services each pay their own salary, benefit and other costs. WFO and WFP resources are used only to advance purposes that comply with the relevant election, tax and not-for-profit corporation law.
"The Working Families Party is committed to ensuring that our work continues to comply with both the spirit and letter of New York City’s Campaign Finance Law as well as all relevant state and federal election laws, tax and not-for-profit corporation laws. In reviewing our work over the course of the just-completed election cycle and years past, we are confident that we have done so."
SEE FULL EMAIL AFTER THE JUMP
November 6, 2009
To: Executive Committee
Fr: Bob Master and Sam Williams, Co-Chairs
Dan Cantor, Executive Director
Re: Retention of Skadden Arps
The Working Families Party is committed to ensuring that our work continues to comply with both the spirit and letter of New York City’s Campaign Finance Law as well as all relevant state and federal election laws, tax and not-for-profit corporation laws. In reviewing our work over the course of the just-completed election cycle and years past, we are confident that we have done so.
In recent months, concerns have been raised about the relationship between the Working Families Party (WFP), the Working Families Organization (WFO) and Data & Field Services (DFS) as well as our compliance with the regulations of the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB).
As you know, it is extremely common that different organizations organized pursuant to different sets of laws and to achieve different purposes co-exist - often in the same space with overlapping staff working closely together in advancing their various missions. For example:
NARAL Pro-Choice America 501 c4, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC, and NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation 501 c3
Center for American Progress Action Fund c(4), The Center for American Progress (c3);
Americans for the Arts Action Fund c(4), Americans for the Arts Action Fund PAC, Americans for the Arts c(3)
In the case of the Sierra Club and the AARP, their organizational partners include corporations that are not set up as not-for-profits - for example: Sierra Club Green Home and AARP Services Inc.
Just like the organizations listed above, we keep careful records to ensure that WFP, WFO and Data & Field Services each pay their own salary, benefit and other costs. WFO and WFP resources are used only to advance purposes that comply with the relevant election, tax and not-for-profit corporation law.
Questions have also been asked about Data & Field Service’s compliance with the rules of the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Media reports and one lawsuit have charged us with the seemingly mutually exclusive offenses of, on the one hand, improperly subsidizing candidates with below market services while on the other hand gouging them in exchange for our endorsement. (See “POLITICAL PAY 'DIRT'” New York Post Aug. 19 and “Working Families 'scam' to boost pals” New York Post October 27).
Data & Field Services charges market rates to candidates who engage its services. All candidates participating in the New York City Campaign Finance Board system have provided their contracts to the CFB according to its rules and in all instances the CFB released all eligible matching funds to candidates who contracted with DFS.
It has always been our intent to engage in a thorough post-election analysis of our structure. In an effort to ensure maximum transparency and ongoing adherence to the highest legal and ethical standards, we approached the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom in September to conduct a thorough review of the structure and relationship between the WFP, WFO and DFS, the status of our compliance with all relevant election, tax, and not-for-profit corporation law, including the regulations of the New York City Campaign Finance Board. We agreed Skadden would get started once the election season had passed. This review will be led by the Honorable Judith Kaye, former Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals.
Now that Election Day is behind us, the firm will begin that review and recommend any necessary changes, improvements or modifications that Judge Kaye and her colleagues believe necessary to ensure maximum transparency and continued adherence to the highest legal and ethical standards.
By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: November 16, 2009
MONTPELIER — A different kind of political party, which has been successful in gaining traction in New York state, may soon be coming to Vermont as well.
The Working Families Party typically does not field its own candidates, as the Republican Party or Democratic Party does. Instead it endorses candidates of any party whose platform lines up with its own — mostly economic — goals.
"We want to get other regular families to understand our issues," said Dan Brush of Woodbury, a labor organizer who is one of those trying to establish a Working Families Party in Vermont. "We are dealing with economic issues. That is all we are interested in."
He added that all of the political parties in the state now address the issues that face working families, even if they don't always agree on the solutions.
In New York state the minor party has been successful, in part, because the state has true fusion voting, in which the same candidate can appear under different party ballot lines and have their votes aggregated. Vermont has a different system, under which candidates can have more than one party after their names, but only one line on the ballot.
Still, the Working Families Party can be a force for advocating for issues on worker pay and paid sick time, health care and other matters, its Vermont organizers said.
"We are going to interview candidates, look at their voting records," said Brush, former president of the AFL-CIO in Vermont. Candidates who agree with the party members on those economic issues will get the party's endorsement in the 2010 election and beyond, Brush said.
"It doesn't matter if you are a Republican, a Democrat or a Progressive," he said
To become a minor party in Vermont a group must have 10 or more town caucuses of at least three people each.
The party will have 14 or more town caucuses over the next week or so, Brush said.
One of those will be at Rick Russell's place in Fletcher. The organic beef farmer and wood shop owner said he is fairly conservative on fiscal issues and he doesn't believe that farmers, at least, have much interest in other social political issues.
"I do think it would help to have people looking at clear-cut economic issues with an eye towards sorting through the various candidates' positions," Russell said. "I think we have just barely touched the tip of the iceberg. This health care issue is not going to go away."
"I grew up a Yankee Republican," added Russell, who has been an independent for the last several decades. "I kind of lost track of them when Nixon wanted to send me to Vietnam."
"I am watching all of my dairy farming neighbors really struggling. We are too," Russell said. "These things are just not being addressed."
How successful the Working Families Party will be in Vermont without true fusion voting remains to be seen. Nationally the party, which has close ties to labor organizations and often endorses Democratic candidates, has chapters in several states including Connecticut, Oregon and South Carolina.
"I don't think their model will translate so well into Vermont" because of a lack of true fusion voting, said Morgan Daybell of the Vermont Progressive Party. He also wonders why the party is needed, when the Progressives agree with Working Families Party on so many issues, he added.
"We are very closely aligned," he said. "I am not sure their issues will be advanced any better if the state was to pass fusion voting and they were to set up shop here as well."
Robert Dempsey of the Vermont Democratic Party said he welcomes more attention to those issues like the laying off of state workers.
"This is a crucial time to talk about these issues," he said. "Any additional voice that can lend a little more clarity to working families is positive."
The Working Families Party's state committee meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14, at the Unitarian Church in Montpelier
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,361
Working Families Party mulls asking '30 Rock' star Alec Baldwin to be candidate for governor
Elizabeth Benjamin
Related NewsArticlesShelly who? Cuomo snubs powerful Dem SilverAnalysis: Immovable Silver likely to Cuomo's biggest nemesis2 pols wanna put gov on spotThe Working Families Party is so panicked a federal probe might keep Andrew Cuomo from accepting its ballot line in November, leaders are quietly mulling replacement candidates - even floating "30 Rock" star Alec Baldwin.
The labor-backed party will seek a "superstar" liberal to head its ticket if Cuomo declines its support, according to sources with knowledge of its plans.
The stakes are high: The party, which was flush with success only last year, needs to get 50,000 votes or else it loses its place on the ballot in the future.
Baldwin would fit the bill. He's not only a celebrity with a lefty ideology, he has also has been politically active as a founder of the Creative Coalition, a social and political advocacy organization for the Hollywood set. He grew up on Long Island and even has upstate cred - his mother and sister live in the Syracuse area.
Baldwin has expressed an interest in running for office and was mentioned as a potential primary challenger to Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman in 2009.
In 2006, the Manhattan resident told The New York Times: "If I ever run for anything, the thing I would like to be is governor of New York."
But Baldwin spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said yesterday a statewide run isn't in Baldwin's script - at least not this year.
"It's flattering that people recognize Alec's strong sense of the issues, political perspectives, popularity and passion for New York," Hiltzik said. "But no, he has no current plans to run for office. But who knows what may happen in the future?"
The Working Families Party has been under investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney since last winter for work done by its for-profit arm, Data and Field Services, in the 2009 elections.
Cuomo, all but guaranteed to get the Democratic line at the state party's convention this week, has yet to decide whether he will accept the Working Families line. Yesterday, Cuomo said it's too "premature" to say if he would accept the support of the Working Families Party. "We'll address that situation down the road," he said.
It would be difficult for Cuomo to run on his reform and ethics platform and also accept the Working Families line if the investigation is ongoing this fall.
He has been under pressure from the right - namely the conservative New Yorkers for Growth PAC - and several newspaper editorial boards (including the Daily News') to take a pass on the party's line.
The state Independence Party faces a similar problem.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. has empaneled a grand jury to determine what GOP operative John Haggerty did with $750,000 worth of Mayor Bloomberg's money that was funneled to him through the minor party during the mayoral campaign last year.
Nevertheless, Cuomo appears to be leaning toward accepting the Independence line. A source close to the AG insisted the Independence and Working Families probes can't be compared because "the Independence Party investigation isn't about the party; it's about Haggerty."
With Cuomo still up in the air, the Working Families Party may nominate a placeholder candidate when party members gather for their convention in Buffalo on June 5.
The awkward situation is a far cry from the party's heady days of last year, when it won a number of New York City Council primaries and saw its marquee candidate, Bill de Blasio, sweep into the public advocate's office.
There are some within the party who want Working Families to "go it alone" and endorse a candidate who could run to Cuomo's left - particularly after he unveiled a number of fiscally conservative proposals like a property tax cap during his announcement Saturday.
"They're certainly not going to lie down and die" if Cuomo doesn't take the Working Families line, a source close to the party said. "In fact, some feel it would be pretty liberating. Wouldn't it be nice to have one progressive campaign out there?"
Working Families Party Endorses Lemar, Dillon, Holder-Winfield
by Thomas MacMillan | Jul 30, 2010 7:30 am
The Connecticut branch of the Working Families Party (WFP) has endorsed New Haven state representative candidates Roland Lemar, Pat Dillon, and Gary Holder-Winfield.
That announcement went out in a Thursday afternoon release from the WFP. Connecticut WFP Director Jon Green said the choices were made based on the candidates’ records on issues that are important to middle- and working-class voters, like universal health care and paid sick days.
All three candidates are running in Aug. 10 Democratic Party primary. The WFP is a left-leaning group that operates in several states. It often cross-endorses candidates in general elections, usually Democrats. They occasionally endorse Republicans or independents or run their own candidates in races they think they have a chance of winning.
Lemar, an East Rock alderman, is running to become state representative of the 96th General Assembly District, which covers parts of Hamden and New Haven. State Rep. Cam Staples is retiring from the seat at the end of this year.
Green said the WFP interviewed both Lemar and his opponent, East Rock psychologist Debra Hauser, before deciding on its endorsement. Lemar’s political “instincts” really stood out, Green said. He mentioned Lemar’s working to revive and improve New Haven’s living wage law. Lemar brings “a lot of energy,” Green said.
Dillon and Holder-Winfield, incumbents in the 92nd and 94th Districts respectively, have clear records of supporting health care reform, paid sick days, and fairer taxes, Green said.
Green said the WFP will be lending some ground troops to the campaigns of candidates it endorses. “We definitely are going to have some phone banking and some door to door work being done in at least some of those districts.”
The WFP has previously endorsed Denise Merrill for Secretary of the State and Kevin Lembo for Comptroller.
And what is this middle class I keep hearing about. Anyone got a definition?
i dont know. i'm trying to find out more info about this party...
Just think Unions (SEIU), THUGS, Mobster mentality...disguised as those that Care about Working Families
“We the people are the rightful masters of bothCongress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln
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The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,361
“We the people are the rightful masters of bothCongress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln
Comments
1) well-paying jobs -- the employers who do the hiring. Perhaps executives will be willing to take a pay cut and only earn 200 times what average worker makes instead of the current 434 times as much. Utility executives in my state, about to get windfalls of millions of dollars, were complaining that they only make 170 times what an average worker makes. And why are they getting that windfall? Because they're smarter or harder working or they take risks? Nope, they're getting that windfall because they happen to be in charge when the rates go up, thereby earning the utilities a lot of money. (Where can I go to get that job?)
2) affordable housing -- we stop giving huge tax breaks to developers who make miles and miles of those godawful McMansions and we give tax breaks to people who make affordable, multi-use housing for lots of different income levels. You see, we use the money we save by ending corporate welfare for fancy real estate developers.
3) accessible health care -- this one's easy. We toss that dumbass Medicare prescription drug benefit / bailout for the pharmaceutical industry. And we give the working poor access to health insurance by adding them to the insurance rolls of states. And if we get the HMOs to engage in enough preventive care, we'd actually wind up saving some money.
4) better public schools and more investment in public services -- yep, this one is going to come out of taxpayer pockets. But we ought to be happy to do it because a quality public education system is a mark of a great society. And taxes are the price we pay for being privileged to live in that society.
And let me echo something hippiemom said. Many of us enjoy the privileges we do because we got tax breaks for paying a mortgage or we took out low-interest student loans to finance our education, which helped us get a decent job that gives us health insurance. We have this idea that we got here by the sweat of our own brow, but we often fail to recognize that we are standing on someone else's shoulders.
doesn't feel that way right now. That's the hopeful
idea . . . Hope didn't get much applause . . .
Hope! Hope is the underdog!"
-- EV, Live at the Showbox
Screw your 'all due respect'...
My comment was based on the name...'Working Families'...no shit every party out there is composed of working families...I just thought it was a silly name.
that's what i do. i see they endorsed obama last year?
And what is this middle class I keep hearing about. Anyone got a definition?
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
i dont know. i'm trying to find out more info about this party...
Have you tried, 'Google'?
Hail, Hail!!!
the very first result for 'middle class'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_class
The middle class are any class in the middle of a social schema. In Weberian socio-economic terms they are the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socioeconomically between the working class and upper class. In Marxist terms, middle class commonly refers to either the bourgeoisie before or during capitalism, or some emergent new class within capitalism. In common parlance middle class refers to a set of culturally distinct contemporary Western cultures that emphasise sedentary consumerism and petty property ownership within capitalism.
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
I think Jeagler was wanting information on the 'Working Families Party'. I got over 50 pages from Google.
...
I don't know, it seems like it would be a lot easier to use Google for information... than a 3 year old post on a Pearl Jam message board. I could be wrong, you know.
Hail, Hail!!!
what's google? is that even a world?
of course i did a yahoo search for it. then i came here and searched for it and, whammy, this thread appeared. i was excited to see it. so i bumped it up to get some info from people. do you have anything to offer or are you just content with being difficult?....and please don't take that the wrong way.
i guess i misread his post since the last part of know1's post he quoted said 'And what is this middle class I keep hearing about. Anyone got a definition?'
when i googled 'working families party' the very first link was their website and had lots of sub links like 'about us', 'contact us', 'issues and our vision'......seems like the answers could be had there or at least the contact email to ask....i guess that's just me
what are you but my reflection? who am i to judge or strike you down?
"I will promise you this, that if we have not gotten our troops out by the time I am president, it is the first thing I will do. I will get our troops home. We will bring an end to this war. You can take that to the bank." - Barack Obama
when you told me 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em'
i was thinkin 'death before dishonor'
i'd appreciate some more intelligent comments other than just "google it." :roll: nice. real nice.
It is a minor political party with a "center-left" philosophy which attempts to correct the injustices of capitalism by adding new laws to the existing laws. These laws would pull back privilege and corporate coercion, so conservatives pass more subtle laws recreating privilege and allowing corporate coercion, causing the "center-left" to create new laws to pull back privilege... etc... so that eventually everything is either obligatory or forbidden.
More succinctly, in the endless argument of "more government!" and "less government!" these are the guys yelling "more government!"
Here... let me enlighten you...
...
Which prompted my Google response.
Had you originally asked, 'anyone care to share their thoughts on this party?', then, people would probably responded. But, if you choose to go the dickhead route and try to bait people... we've seen this all too often.
Hail, Hail!!!
this country needs more viable choices.
thanks for your contribution.
Working Families Party Hires Kaye's Firm To Conduct Review »
By Ken Lovett
The Working Families Party announced today the hiring of a prominent law firm to review the party's operations and ties to two organizations in the wake of a lawsuit and concerns raised by the City Campaign Finance Board.
According to an email from party leaders, the WFP hired Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom conduct a "thorough review" of the party's structure and its relationship with Data & Field Services, its for-profit political field operations group, and the Working Families Oraganization, a non profit organization.
The relationship between the groups has drawn concerns from the City Campaign Finance Board, which in the future will consider whether candidates backed by the Working Families Party received steep discounts from Data & Field Services and whether the work violates contribution limits.
A group of five Staten Island voters recently filed suit against the labor-backed party charging the WFP created Data & Field Services as part of an "audacious scheme to violate the law" in order to help get WFP candidates elected.
Judith Kaye, the former New York chief judge, will conduct the review, which will look at "the structure and relationship between the WFP, WFO and DFS, the status of our compliance with all relevant election, tax, and not-for-profit corporation law, including the regulations of the New York City Campaign Finance Board," according to the email.
"Now that Election Day is behind us, the firm will begin that review and recommend any necessary changes, improvements or modifications that Judge Kaye and her colleagues believe necessary to ensure maximum transparency and continued adherence to the highest legal and ethical standards."
The email from WFP co-chairs Bob Master and Sam Williams and executive director Dan Cantor to the party's executive committee states that they do not believe legal problems exist.
"As you know, it is extremely common that different organizations organized pursuant to different sets of laws and to achieve different purposes co-exist - often in the same space with overlapping staff working closely together in advancing their various missions."
The email cites several groups, including NARAL Pro-Choice America, which is a 501 c4, a NARAL PAC, and a group known as NARAL Pro-Choice American Foundation, a 501 c3.
It also cites Sierra Club and the AARP.
"Just like the organizations listed above, we keep careful records to ensure that WFP, WFO and Data & Field Services each pay their own salary, benefit and other costs. WFO and WFP resources are used only to advance purposes that comply with the relevant election, tax and not-for-profit corporation law.
"The Working Families Party is committed to ensuring that our work continues to comply with both the spirit and letter of New York City’s Campaign Finance Law as well as all relevant state and federal election laws, tax and not-for-profit corporation laws. In reviewing our work over the course of the just-completed election cycle and years past, we are confident that we have done so."
SEE FULL EMAIL AFTER THE JUMP
November 6, 2009
To: Executive Committee
Fr: Bob Master and Sam Williams, Co-Chairs
Dan Cantor, Executive Director
Re: Retention of Skadden Arps
The Working Families Party is committed to ensuring that our work continues to comply with both the spirit and letter of New York City’s Campaign Finance Law as well as all relevant state and federal election laws, tax and not-for-profit corporation laws. In reviewing our work over the course of the just-completed election cycle and years past, we are confident that we have done so.
In recent months, concerns have been raised about the relationship between the Working Families Party (WFP), the Working Families Organization (WFO) and Data & Field Services (DFS) as well as our compliance with the regulations of the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB).
As you know, it is extremely common that different organizations organized pursuant to different sets of laws and to achieve different purposes co-exist - often in the same space with overlapping staff working closely together in advancing their various missions. For example:
NARAL Pro-Choice America 501 c4, NARAL Pro-Choice America PAC, and NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation 501 c3
Center for American Progress Action Fund c(4), The Center for American Progress (c3);
Americans for the Arts Action Fund c(4), Americans for the Arts Action Fund PAC, Americans for the Arts c(3)
In the case of the Sierra Club and the AARP, their organizational partners include corporations that are not set up as not-for-profits - for example: Sierra Club Green Home and AARP Services Inc.
Just like the organizations listed above, we keep careful records to ensure that WFP, WFO and Data & Field Services each pay their own salary, benefit and other costs. WFO and WFP resources are used only to advance purposes that comply with the relevant election, tax and not-for-profit corporation law.
Questions have also been asked about Data & Field Service’s compliance with the rules of the New York City Campaign Finance Board. Media reports and one lawsuit have charged us with the seemingly mutually exclusive offenses of, on the one hand, improperly subsidizing candidates with below market services while on the other hand gouging them in exchange for our endorsement. (See “POLITICAL PAY 'DIRT'” New York Post Aug. 19 and “Working Families 'scam' to boost pals” New York Post October 27).
Data & Field Services charges market rates to candidates who engage its services. All candidates participating in the New York City Campaign Finance Board system have provided their contracts to the CFB according to its rules and in all instances the CFB released all eligible matching funds to candidates who contracted with DFS.
It has always been our intent to engage in a thorough post-election analysis of our structure. In an effort to ensure maximum transparency and ongoing adherence to the highest legal and ethical standards, we approached the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom in September to conduct a thorough review of the structure and relationship between the WFP, WFO and DFS, the status of our compliance with all relevant election, tax, and not-for-profit corporation law, including the regulations of the New York City Campaign Finance Board. We agreed Skadden would get started once the election season had passed. This review will be led by the Honorable Judith Kaye, former Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals.
Now that Election Day is behind us, the firm will begin that review and recommend any necessary changes, improvements or modifications that Judge Kaye and her colleagues believe necessary to ensure maximum transparency and continued adherence to the highest legal and ethical standards.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailyp ... z0WH8GjBGe
http://www.oregonwfp.org/
http://www.timesargus.com/article/RH/20 ... 004/SPORTS
New 'party' targets work issues
By Louis Porter Vermont Press Bureau - Published: November 16, 2009
MONTPELIER — A different kind of political party, which has been successful in gaining traction in New York state, may soon be coming to Vermont as well.
The Working Families Party typically does not field its own candidates, as the Republican Party or Democratic Party does. Instead it endorses candidates of any party whose platform lines up with its own — mostly economic — goals.
"We want to get other regular families to understand our issues," said Dan Brush of Woodbury, a labor organizer who is one of those trying to establish a Working Families Party in Vermont. "We are dealing with economic issues. That is all we are interested in."
He added that all of the political parties in the state now address the issues that face working families, even if they don't always agree on the solutions.
In New York state the minor party has been successful, in part, because the state has true fusion voting, in which the same candidate can appear under different party ballot lines and have their votes aggregated. Vermont has a different system, under which candidates can have more than one party after their names, but only one line on the ballot.
Still, the Working Families Party can be a force for advocating for issues on worker pay and paid sick time, health care and other matters, its Vermont organizers said.
"We are going to interview candidates, look at their voting records," said Brush, former president of the AFL-CIO in Vermont. Candidates who agree with the party members on those economic issues will get the party's endorsement in the 2010 election and beyond, Brush said.
"It doesn't matter if you are a Republican, a Democrat or a Progressive," he said
To become a minor party in Vermont a group must have 10 or more town caucuses of at least three people each.
The party will have 14 or more town caucuses over the next week or so, Brush said.
One of those will be at Rick Russell's place in Fletcher. The organic beef farmer and wood shop owner said he is fairly conservative on fiscal issues and he doesn't believe that farmers, at least, have much interest in other social political issues.
"I do think it would help to have people looking at clear-cut economic issues with an eye towards sorting through the various candidates' positions," Russell said. "I think we have just barely touched the tip of the iceberg. This health care issue is not going to go away."
"I grew up a Yankee Republican," added Russell, who has been an independent for the last several decades. "I kind of lost track of them when Nixon wanted to send me to Vietnam."
"I am watching all of my dairy farming neighbors really struggling. We are too," Russell said. "These things are just not being addressed."
How successful the Working Families Party will be in Vermont without true fusion voting remains to be seen. Nationally the party, which has close ties to labor organizations and often endorses Democratic candidates, has chapters in several states including Connecticut, Oregon and South Carolina.
"I don't think their model will translate so well into Vermont" because of a lack of true fusion voting, said Morgan Daybell of the Vermont Progressive Party. He also wonders why the party is needed, when the Progressives agree with Working Families Party on so many issues, he added.
"We are very closely aligned," he said. "I am not sure their issues will be advanced any better if the state was to pass fusion voting and they were to set up shop here as well."
Robert Dempsey of the Vermont Democratic Party said he welcomes more attention to those issues like the laying off of state workers.
"This is a crucial time to talk about these issues," he said. "Any additional voice that can lend a little more clarity to working families is positive."
The Working Families Party's state committee meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 14, at the Unitarian Church in Montpelier
Working Families Party mulls asking '30 Rock' star Alec Baldwin to be candidate for governor
Elizabeth Benjamin
Related NewsArticlesShelly who? Cuomo snubs powerful Dem SilverAnalysis: Immovable Silver likely to Cuomo's biggest nemesis2 pols wanna put gov on spotThe Working Families Party is so panicked a federal probe might keep Andrew Cuomo from accepting its ballot line in November, leaders are quietly mulling replacement candidates - even floating "30 Rock" star Alec Baldwin.
The labor-backed party will seek a "superstar" liberal to head its ticket if Cuomo declines its support, according to sources with knowledge of its plans.
The stakes are high: The party, which was flush with success only last year, needs to get 50,000 votes or else it loses its place on the ballot in the future.
Baldwin would fit the bill. He's not only a celebrity with a lefty ideology, he has also has been politically active as a founder of the Creative Coalition, a social and political advocacy organization for the Hollywood set. He grew up on Long Island and even has upstate cred - his mother and sister live in the Syracuse area.
Baldwin has expressed an interest in running for office and was mentioned as a potential primary challenger to Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman in 2009.
In 2006, the Manhattan resident told The New York Times: "If I ever run for anything, the thing I would like to be is governor of New York."
But Baldwin spokesman Matthew Hiltzik said yesterday a statewide run isn't in Baldwin's script - at least not this year.
"It's flattering that people recognize Alec's strong sense of the issues, political perspectives, popularity and passion for New York," Hiltzik said. "But no, he has no current plans to run for office. But who knows what may happen in the future?"
The Working Families Party has been under investigation by the Manhattan U.S. attorney since last winter for work done by its for-profit arm, Data and Field Services, in the 2009 elections.
Cuomo, all but guaranteed to get the Democratic line at the state party's convention this week, has yet to decide whether he will accept the Working Families line. Yesterday, Cuomo said it's too "premature" to say if he would accept the support of the Working Families Party. "We'll address that situation down the road," he said.
It would be difficult for Cuomo to run on his reform and ethics platform and also accept the Working Families line if the investigation is ongoing this fall.
He has been under pressure from the right - namely the conservative New Yorkers for Growth PAC - and several newspaper editorial boards (including the Daily News') to take a pass on the party's line.
The state Independence Party faces a similar problem.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. has empaneled a grand jury to determine what GOP operative John Haggerty did with $750,000 worth of Mayor Bloomberg's money that was funneled to him through the minor party during the mayoral campaign last year.
Nevertheless, Cuomo appears to be leaning toward accepting the Independence line. A source close to the AG insisted the Independence and Working Families probes can't be compared because "the Independence Party investigation isn't about the party; it's about Haggerty."
With Cuomo still up in the air, the Working Families Party may nominate a placeholder candidate when party members gather for their convention in Buffalo on June 5.
The awkward situation is a far cry from the party's heady days of last year, when it won a number of New York City Council primaries and saw its marquee candidate, Bill de Blasio, sweep into the public advocate's office.
There are some within the party who want Working Families to "go it alone" and endorse a candidate who could run to Cuomo's left - particularly after he unveiled a number of fiscally conservative proposals like a property tax cap during his announcement Saturday.
"They're certainly not going to lie down and die" if Cuomo doesn't take the Working Families line, a source close to the party said. "In fact, some feel it would be pretty liberating. Wouldn't it be nice to have one progressive campaign out there?"
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2010/05 ... z0ouROOkUF
http://newhavenindependent.org/index.ph ... s/id_28077
Working Families Party Endorses Lemar, Dillon, Holder-Winfield
by Thomas MacMillan | Jul 30, 2010 7:30 am
The Connecticut branch of the Working Families Party (WFP) has endorsed New Haven state representative candidates Roland Lemar, Pat Dillon, and Gary Holder-Winfield.
That announcement went out in a Thursday afternoon release from the WFP. Connecticut WFP Director Jon Green said the choices were made based on the candidates’ records on issues that are important to middle- and working-class voters, like universal health care and paid sick days.
All three candidates are running in Aug. 10 Democratic Party primary. The WFP is a left-leaning group that operates in several states. It often cross-endorses candidates in general elections, usually Democrats. They occasionally endorse Republicans or independents or run their own candidates in races they think they have a chance of winning.
Lemar, an East Rock alderman, is running to become state representative of the 96th General Assembly District, which covers parts of Hamden and New Haven. State Rep. Cam Staples is retiring from the seat at the end of this year.
Green said the WFP interviewed both Lemar and his opponent, East Rock psychologist Debra Hauser, before deciding on its endorsement. Lemar’s political “instincts” really stood out, Green said. He mentioned Lemar’s working to revive and improve New Haven’s living wage law. Lemar brings “a lot of energy,” Green said.
Dillon and Holder-Winfield, incumbents in the 92nd and 94th Districts respectively, have clear records of supporting health care reform, paid sick days, and fairer taxes, Green said.
Green said the WFP will be lending some ground troops to the campaigns of candidates it endorses. “We definitely are going to have some phone banking and some door to door work being done in at least some of those districts.”
The WFP has previously endorsed Denise Merrill for Secretary of the State and Kevin Lembo for Comptroller.
do you care about working families?
i don't need to join a party. the party joins me baby.