Williams Promises Transparency After Meeting with Fed Up Coalition
Williams Promises Transparency After Meeting with Fed Up Coalition
Fed Up Met with President of San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, Made Case...
Williams Promises Transparency After Meeting with Fed Up Coalition
Fed Up Met with President of San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, Made Case for Prioritizing Wages and Transparency
Coalition Deliver New EPI and CPD Report on Fed and Wages – Read Here; /news/mind-gap-how-federal-reserve-can-help-raise-wages-america-s-women-and-men
On Monday, the Fed Up coalition met with John Williams, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, as part of the push for Fed decision-makers to target full employment and higher wages and to make Fed governance more transparent. Following the meeting, Williams committed to more transparency in how the Fed selects its presidents. In addition, Fed Up members made the case for prioritizing wages in the Fed’s interest rate decision and presented Williams with Mind the Gap: How the Federal Reserve Can Help Raise Wages for America’s Women and Men, a report published today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD).
“President Williams deserves credit for agreeing with us and the broad swath of Americans who want a more transparent Federal Reserve,” said Ady Barkan, director of the Fed Up campaign at the Center for Popular Democracy. “A more accessible and accountable Fed is essential, given its enormous impact on everyday Americans’ wages, employment opportunities, and overall wellbeing. Presidents Williams and Kocherlakota should be commended for beginning to open up the Fed’s decision-making process about whether to reappoint regional presidents and, if not, whom to replace them with. We expect all regional Fed banks to do the same this year, as they select presidents for the upcoming five year terms.
“President Williams was also receptive to our perspectives on wages, acknowledging that wage growth is too low and unemployment too high. This week he showed openness to the simple premise we present: The decision about whether to raise interest rates should be guided by the principle that wage growth is good. With inflation still below the Fed’s already low two percent target, the Fed should be in no rush to slow down the economy. The only humane option for a truly inclusive recovery is for Fed officials to prioritize wage growth in their decision-making – they should not raise the rates any time soon.”
For interview opportunities with workers, policy experts, or Fed Up campaign leaders, members of the press should write an email to press@populardemocracy.org.
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The Center for Popular Democracy promotes equity, opportunity, and a dynamic democracy in partnership with innovative base-building organizations, organizing networks and alliances, and progressive unions across the country. CPD builds the strength and capacity of democratic organizations to envision and advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial justice agenda.
Lawsuit: Arizona Minimum-Wage Initiative Stiffed Petition Firm for $65,000
Lawsuit: Arizona Minimum-Wage Initiative Stiffed Petition Firm for $65,000
An Arizona employer is stiffing a small-business owner on a completed job, affecting dozens of low-income employees.
Sounds like the kind of greedhead Arizonans for Fair Wages and Healthy...
An Arizona employer is stiffing a small-business owner on a completed job, affecting dozens of low-income employees.
Sounds like the kind of greedhead Arizonans for Fair Wages and Healthy Families is targeting with its campaign to raise the minimum wage, right?
Wrong — the employer is Arizonans for Fair Wages and Healthy Families. The campaign refuses to pay the last $65,000 of a $965,000 bill to Sign Here Petitions, the company that hired the people who gathered the signatures that put the measure on this November's general-election ballot.
Sign Here owner Bonita Burks sued the campaign on September 21 to recover the balance due. In the meantime, Burks says, she has been unable to distribute final paychecks to the 45 to 50 petition gatherers she hired to get Prop 206 onto the ballot.
It's not as if the minimum-wage campaign can't afford to pay Burks, a Maricopa resident who has owned her own business for 12 years. Though the campaign ran short of money over the summer, its spokesman, Bill Scheel, confirms that Arizonans for Fair Wages expects to receive an influx of $1.5 million in donations any day now.
Scheel says the campaign intentionally shorted Burks' company because it didn't do its job well enough, resulting in tens of thousands in unexpected expenses.
If Arizona voters approve the minimum-wage measure in November, the state's minimum wage would go up to $10 an hour next year and rise to $12 in 2020. Waitresses and others who expect tips would see their wages increase from $5.05 to $7 by 2017, and to $9 by 2020. The ballot initiative also mandates that workers can take between three and five days of earned sick leave annually.
Much of the money for the campaign has come from out-of-state donors as part of a national effort by activists and labor unions. Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA), the largest donor, is itself being funded by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Popular Democracy. The Commercial Workers union Region 8 States Council and California-based Fairness Project are also major contributors.
As New Times reported in August, a member of the political-strategy firm hired by the campaign, Javelina, loaned the campaign $100,000 after it ran short of cash while defending itself from a legal challenge that could have kicked the measure off the ballot.
Scheel, a cofounder of Javelina and spokesman for the campaign, said in August that he gave the campaign the loan on August 4 to cover unexpected expenses from a legal challenge by the Arizona Restaurant Association.
The restaurant owners behind the ARA, an influential organization led by Steve Chucri, one of five Maricopa County supervisors, doesn't want to see minimum wage go up and sued the campaign in an attempt to deny voters the right to decide the question. The ARA's lawyers argued that many of the campaign's signature gatherers were felons or had filled out their forms incorrectly, meaning tens of thousands of signatures should have been tossed. The workers are typically paid $3 to $5 for each signature they collect.
The ARA identified up to 85,000 signatures they claimed were no good, and expected to find even more invalid ones. At least 150,642 valid signatures were needed out of the 271,883 turned in by the campaign.
Yet before a deeper probe of the campaign's signature-gathering process occurred, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joshua Rogers dismissed the ARA's complaint because it hadn't been filed on time. The Arizona Supreme Court upheld the ruling on appeal.
The campaign had apparently run out money before the lawsuit was filed, though. On July 19, about two weeks after the July 7 deadline to turn in signatures to the state, Sign Here and the campaign — represented by Scheel — drew up a one-page amendment to their original contract. In the amendment, Burks made clear that the campaign owed $186,884.60 and would assess a late fee of $1,000 per day starting on July 18.
The campaign "understands and agrees that the final invoice amount is requires for [Burks] to pay individuals already-earned monies," the contract states, adding that if Burks is sued by the signature gatherers, the campaign will cover the costs.
Scheel signed the amended contract.
About a month later, Burks says, Scheel promised falsely that the money was on the way.
Burks provided New Times with a screenshot that shows a text exchange with Scheel on Friday, August 19:
"Bill, Please send me a text once the wire has been. Thank you," Burks texted.
"The wire has been initiated," Scheel texted back.
But the following Monday, the money had not materialized in Sign Here's account.
"Sorry," Scheel informed Burks in another text. "We have been on conference calls with the national funders all morning. We've been instructed to hold off any further wires till after the Supreme Court rules on the appeal, which we hope will be Friday."
The state Supreme Court upheld Rogers' ruling on August 30, clearing its final hurdle to make the ballot.
Scheel says Sign Here invoiced the campaign a total of $965,000, of which the campaign paid $900,000.
"We paid 93 percent of everything that was due," he says.
The campaign contracted with Sign Here for more than just making the ballot, he argues: "It was about making sure circulators were qualified. She promised 80 percent validity — it came in at barely 50 percent. That's not acceptable."
The lawsuit cost the campaign $70,000 in legal fees, and Burks' company "nearly put the campaign in jeopardy," he says.
Scheel admits that he doesn't know whether Judge Rogers would have thrown out enough signatures to void the measure, had the ARA's challenge been filed on time.
"No one ever did the math on our side," he says.
But that isn't the issue, Scheel maintains. Burks didn't properly vet the signature gatherers, which cost the campaign $70,000 by leaving a potential vulnerability for the ARA to exploit.
The campaign recouped $33,500 of the legal fees via a settlement with the ARA, Scheel says. Arizonans for Fair Wages could have asked for up to $55,000 in legal fees, but decide to settle rather than prolong the fight, he says.
Scheel also confirms, as he told New Times in August, that the campaign is about to receive $1.5 million in donations from its national backers to pay for marketing and promotion of the measure in the final weeks before the election. Some of that money has already trickled in, he says, and the campaign has used it to pay 15 of the signature gatherers who haven't received checks from Sign Here.
Burks did such a poor job, Scheel says, that according to the campaign's calculations, she owes the campaign $35,000.
Gathering signatures for a ballot initiative can be a good way to make extra money, typically paying between $3 and $5 per signature.
Gathering signatures for a ballot initiative can be a good way to make extra money, typically paying between $3 and $5 per signature.
"She's a small-businessperson who unfortunately and sadly dropped the ball," he says.
Burks says she's upset and frustrated by the situation. Signature gatherers keep contacting her, asking when they'll get their last checks.
"They're hurting bad," she says. "My phone's blowing up every day."
By her account, adding in the $1,000-a-day late fee, Arizonans for Fair Wages now owes her company $143,000.
"I'm standing firm: You owe the money, you need to pay it," she says.
Burks says she doesn't have the money to pay the petition gatherers the remainder of what they're owed and says she made "no profit" on the project. Campaign officials took advantage of Sign Here to make a strong final push to collect more signatures before the July 7 deadline, even though they were broke at the time, she adds.
"They told me in the last week: Get as many as you can because our volunteer efforts suck," she says. The workers came up with an additional 35,000 signatures.
"My team and I, we worked so hard in the 120-degree heat," she says. "I was paying bonuses. I haven't made one damned dime on it. I really wanted to see it happen, for the people."
At least one signature gatherer is suing Burks in Maricopa County Justice Court.
Donna Fox worked for Sign Here before returning home to Kingsport, Tennessee. She has been staying in Scottsdale for the past couple of weeks, making the nearly 2,000-mile trip to resolve the issue.
Fox says her work for Sign Here was impeccable, and that Burks' company owes her $1,320 for her last week's work. She is suing for three times that amount, as allowed under state law.
She could probably make a deal to get her money from Arizonans for Fair Wages, Fox says. "But I don't trust them."
Even if she wins her suit, Fox says she's not sure whether she'll ever see her money. But she's hoping Burks wins her suit against the campaign, which Fox believes treated Sign Here badly.
"This is like Donald Trump strategy," Fox says of Arizonans for Fair Wages. "You can do the work, but we're not paying you. They don't walk the walk they're talking. This is nothing more than business for them."
As for Burks, with whom Fox says she shares a friendly, albeit contentious, relationship: "I chew her out all the time. I tell her she's a complete shithead because she led people to believe the check was in the mail."
The campaign offered to settle the suit for $32,500, Burks says, but she turned them down because it wouldn't cover the money she owes to the petition gatherers.
"My circulators really need their money to pay rent and put food on the table," Burks says. "I believe Arizona Fair Wages just don't care about the people who worked so hard to get their issue on the ballot."
By BY RAY STERN
Source
Constituents “wake up” GOP Senators at D.C. homes: “Kill the repeal, Don’t kill us”
07.25.17
WASHINGTON D.C. – Dozens of constituents from across the country showed up at GOP senators’...
07.25.17
WASHINGTON D.C. – Dozens of constituents from across the country showed up at GOP senators’ homes on Tuesday morning chanting “kill the repeal, don’t kill us” ahead of a critical Senate vote in the afternoon to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Please see photos and video of the protest.
Doctors, nurses, and people with grave medical conditions arrived around 7 a.m. at the homes of Republican senators John Boozman (AK) and Rob Portman (OH) to ‘wake them up’ and let them know one more time the importance of healthcare for their families. Carrying signs that read “Wake up America. Save the ACA” and “Our Lives Matter,” demonstrators demanded Sen. Portman stand up for the healthcare of his constituents.
People from Arkansas, many of them members of Arkansas Community Organization, drove from the state to Sen. Boozman’s home to tell their stories in front of his DC home and urge him to vote no on ACA repeal or on the Better Care Reconciliation Act. Healthcare activists and professionals highlighted the callousness of lawmakers who plan to strip at least 22 million people of health care.
Risking arrest for civil disobedience, demonstrators plan to visit the Capitol Hill office of Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell later Tuesday in a last-ditch attempt to keep him from holding a vote that would kill Obamacare in order to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.
The demonstrations occurred just hours before the GOP Senate is expected to vote to repeal and dismantle the Affordable Care Act - not even what the bill they will voting on contains.
Last week, 170 people were arrested for visiting the offices of every single GOP senator to let them know how their efforts to kill the ACA would affect their lives. Tuesday’s action was led by the Housing Works, Center for Popular Democracy, and CPD affiliates Arkansas Community Organization and Rights and Democracy Vermont.
Today’s protest marked the fifth time CPD and Housing Works have helped concerned citizens travel from their homes across the country to Washington D.C. to confront their elected officials and demand they speak out against efforts to dismantle Obamacare.
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Report: NYC Can Raise $1 Billion Through Wall St. Market Power
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 3, 2013
Contact: Tony Perlstein,...
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 3, 2013
Contact: Tony Perlstein, Center for Popular Democracy (917) 647-7751, TPerlstein@populardemocracy.org
REPORT: NYC GOVERNMENT CAN RAISE $1B ANNUALLY FOR BUDGET AND CREATE $1 BILLION IN MAIN STREET STIMULUS BY USING $350B WALL STREET MARKET POWER
New York does enough business with Wall Street to renegotiate bad deals
On the heels of a mayoral victory won on the issue of inequality, a new report released today by the Center for Popular Democracy shows that New York City could generate an additional billion dollars annually for the city budget and generate a billion dollars in economic stimulus by effectively using its $350 billion per year in financial market power. The report, “One New York for All of Us: Leveraging New York’s Financial Power to Combat Inequity” shows the city could save as much as $1 billion annually and stimulate the economy by about $1 billion more.
The city’s financial market power comes from the $200.4 billion that the city’s pension funds have invested in Wall Street institutions combined with an additional $150 billion in debt issuance and payments made and received.
“New York City is uniquely positioned to lead the way in holding Wall Street to an appropriate high standard,” said Connie Razza, lead author of the report and Director of Strategic Research Initiatives at the Center for Popular Democracy. “We spend a ton of money with them, and we should use that clout. The city and its related authorities have powerful financial leverage and economic power to demand short, medium and long-term changes from Wall Street that will save money for taxpayers, bring in more revenue for essential city services, and move new investments and new jobs into our neighborhoods and small businesses.”
The report kicks off a week of action to draw attention to the ways Wall Street and big corporations continue to siphon resources away from average New Yorkers and point toward solutions that would help reduce inequality and build economic fairness.
“In 2013, New Yorkers voted for a Mayor committed to addressing the vast inequality in our city, and for a strong plurality of progressive City Council members committed to broader prosperity,” said Michael Kink, Executive Director of the Strong Economy for All Coalition. “In 2014, we’ll start to build a New York that works for all of us. This report maps the way – and tells us to begin by changing the way the city does business with Wall Street.”
“This is our moment,” said Camille Rivera, Executive Director of United NY. “We have the opportunity to make real change in the city and the state, but only if our elected officials know we have their back.”
“One New York for All of Us” highlights concrete solutions to address the imbalance in the city’s relationship with Wall Street. The report details how reforming the city’s relationship with banks could save a minimum of $725 million each year for the city budget, withhold another $300 million in current bank subsidies banks until job-creation commitments are fulfilled, and stimulate the local economy by another $1 billion per year, creating nearly 17,000 jobs.
Key recommendations:
Renegotiate toxic financial deals to save up to $725 million each year. -Use the city’s economic and financial leverage to lower fees and interest rates for new and existing financial services; -Investigate unethical behavior by Wall Street and prosecute fraud to the fullest extent of the law to recover losses; -If Wall Street won’t negotiate in good faith, bring the functions into the city by creating an in-house financial management team and/or a publicly owned city bank. Save money and create jobs by holding banks to firm commitments to the community in return for $300 million each year in city subsidies for banks. Write down underwater mortgages to keep 86,000 families in their homes and stimulate the local economy by as much as $1 billion, creating nearly 17,000 jobs.Key factual findings:
The city and associated entities pay $160 million a year for bad deals with banks. The city, its pension funds, and the MTA pay $563 million in base Wall Street fees each year. New York City and State give banks subsidies worth about $300 million a year, without ensuring that New York City communities will benefit. Because their wages are so low, 39% of bank tellers and their family members rely on at least one public assistance program, at a total government cost of $112 million. During the past 5 years, foreclosures have cost New York City $1.9 billion in expenses and lost revenue.“Due to the bank-induced mortgage craze and crisis, 20% of New York homeowners owe more on their homes than the homes are worth,” explains New York Communities for Change Executive Director Jonathan Westin. “By adjusting bank-inflated mortgages down to fair market value, we could stimulate the local economy by as much as $1 billion and create 17,000 new jobs. It’s good for homeowners, good for communities, good for the city, and even good for banks – whose risk of defaults would drop dramatically.”
“This report highlights the power that our city has to take a stand to improve income inequality. The Great Recession has not eased for most New Yorkers. We have lost good jobs, and the remaining jobs have actually deteriorated. In banking itself, this is shockingly true,” said Deborah Axt, Make the Road New York’s Co-Executive Director. “Frontline bank workers report less pay, inadequate healthcare, and more work with less staff. A full 32% of surveyed bank workers even report working overtime without pay. It is a tragic moment in New York City history when we learn that the wealthiest and most powerful corporations in our nation, perhaps the world, seem to be committing wage theft.”
ABOUT NEW DAY NEW YORK COALITION
The New Day New York Coalition is a new coalition made up of community groups, faith organizations, labor unions, and veterans of Occupy Wall Street working for years on issues of economic fairness – united to organize a week of actions demonstrating that the vision and policy principles New Yorkers voted for in the past election have popular support and practical pathways forward.
The coalition includes Center for Popular Democracy; United NY; Strong Economy for All Coalition; ALIGN NY; New York Communities for Change; Make the Road NY; Alliance for Quality Education; Coalition for Educational Justice; Walmart Free New York; Coalition for the Homeless; Food and Water Watch; NY Citizen Action; Met Council on Housing; Community Voices Heard; United Federation of Teachers; Professional Staff Congress; Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (UFCW); Communication Workers of America Transport Workers Union Local 100; New York State Nurses Association; Service Employees International Union 1199 – United Healthcare Workers East; Service Employees International Union 32BJ; Alternative Banking; Not An Alternative; Beautiful Trouble; 99 Pickets; MoveOn NY; and others.
Report: Charter Schools Pose $54M Fraud Risk
Utica Observer-Dispatch - December 13, 2014, by Alissa Scott - Charter schools have been accused of posing a $54 million fraud risk to taxpayers, according to a new report.
The Alliance for...
Utica Observer-Dispatch - December 13, 2014, by Alissa Scott - Charter schools have been accused of posing a $54 million fraud risk to taxpayers, according to a new report.
The Alliance for Quality Education said vulnerabilities in the state’s charter system potentially could cause millions of dollars in fraud this year alone.
“There’s two parts of operating a charter,” said Kyle Serrette, director of the Education Center for Popular Democracy. “You need good educators — you have to provide academics — and you also need to know how to run a business. … What we’re seeing is folks that don’t know how to do either.”
Jessica Mokhiber, communications director of the Northeast Charter Schools Network, doesn’t agree with the report.
“Charter schools in New York are the most accountable public schools there are,” she said. “If they don’t perform, they close. Each year they are subject to outside audits. If they mismanage their finances, they close.”
The Utica Academy of Science, the city’s sole charter school, declined to comment on the report. Kelly Gaggin, chief communications officer of Science Academies of New York Charter Schools, said the school wants to wait until the comptroller report — the first audit it’s had since its founding two years ago — is released.
She said this will allow the school to “provide current examples and direct correlations that illustrate the checks and balances that are implemented to eliminate opportunities for malfeasance and provide exceptional stewardship of funds.”
They expect the report to be released early next year.
The AQE report found that 24 percent of charter schools in New York have been audited. The Comptroller’s Office audits about 2 percent every year, it said.
Part of what the agency is recommending is to have schools audited regularly with an external system to catch any internal flaws.
“A school could have not committed fraud in 2010, but they did in 2014,” Serrette said. “We’re spending $1.5 billion on charter schools. We need a system in place that makes sure those dollars are reported in some correct way.”
The most alarming part, Serrette said, is that 95 percent of the time the comptroller checked into a charter school’s finances, he found issues — some really bad, some just sloppiness.
Mokhiber said to “consider the source of the report.”
“These are groups who are trying every trick in the book to deny school choice to parents who have no other option,” Mohkiber said.
“The Utica Academy of Science charter school was started by the founders of the Syracuse Academy of Science charter school, which is a highly successful school with a track record of academic achievement,” Mohkiber said. “The Utica school is providing families with another public school option. The school emphasizes a science and technology education in a college prep setting, which sets students up for success in college or career.”
Either way, Serrette said this is something taxpayers should be paying attention to. And while it would cost them more money to hire extra auditors to check on all of the state’s charter schools, it will save money in the long run.
“You could hire more auditors to look at charter schools for $5 million, but if you end up catching $10 million of mismanagement, you’re $5 million ahead,” Serrette said.
Source
Sanders Delegates Push DNC To Create Commission to Reform Anti-Democratic Superdelegates and Caucus Process
Sanders Delegates Push DNC To Create Commission to Reform Anti-Democratic Superdelegates and Caucus Process
After a contentious afternoon in which the Democratic National Convention's Rules Committee voted down a series of proposals from the Sanders delegation to reform the most glaring anti-democratic...
After a contentious afternoon in which the Democratic National Convention's Rules Committee voted down a series of proposals from the Sanders delegation to reform the most glaring anti-democratic features of the party's primary and caucus process, negotiators met in secret for several hours and forged an agreement to create a reform commission to change those rules for future elections.
"Let me call us America's party," said Texas Congresswomen Sheila Jackson, who rose to support the proposal after opposing the Sanders camp's amendments only hours before. "And America's party, the Democratic Party, links arms with our brothers and sisters from Senator Sanders, and the journey that they made and their supporters, and the journey that was made by Hillary Rodham Clinton's supporters.
"But most of all what I want to say is that divide is no more," she continued. "That we will climb this journey of victory together. That our arms will be linked and we will go to the floor of this great convention. And I am here to say thank you for being who you are. For I see that mountain that we have been challenged to cover, and I am going to say, we shall overcome and elect the next president of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton, together... together... together."
The reform commission, which was then approved with 158 yeses, 6 nos and 1 abstention, will look at the main grievances raised by Sanders during the 2016 nominating season: that state party-run caucuses were non-democratic in their counting and allocation of delegates to the next stages in the process, and will, according to Sanders delegates who negotiated, shrink by two-thirds the number of so-called superdelegates, or the party insiders who comprise one-sixth of the 2016 national convention delegates.
"I rise in support of this measure because this is the result of reasoned discussions by many leaders within both campaigns, but it is truly driven by an activism, an activism within the Democratic Party that has been embraced, that has been engaged, and that we should continue to promote," said Paul Feeney, a Sanders delegate who headed his campaign in Massachusetts and Connecticut. "It's no coincidence that so many amendments have been filed today about superdelegates. The supporters of Bernie Sanders have risen up across this country. Acted up. Not to demand a new party, but to make the Democratic Party even better. That's what we're doing with this amendment. That's what we are doing with this revolution that is also an evolution."
The turnaround came after a frustrating afternoon for Sanders delegates, when it seemed the convention's rules committee was parting ways from the party's platform committee by thwarting their call for democratic reforms. The Sanders campaign won 13 million votes, 1,900 delegates and broke the party's fundraising records for the number of small donors, the delegates told the room, in part to push for concessions on the reforms they sought.
But before panel chair Barney Frank called a recess after 4pm, the convention Rules Committee repeatedly rejected a series of reforms to their “superdelegate” system, despite the pleas of Sanders delegates who urged the 165-member body to accommodate millions of voters who want a more open and less rigged presidential nominating process.
Superdelegates are top elected federal and state officials, state party leaders and key allies like labor union executives who can cast a vote for the presidential nominee and also sit on a range of convention committees, from drafting the platform to rules. For months, Sanders and his supporters have complained that the system gave Clinton an unfair lead as hundreds of party officials sided with her before states even started voting, which tilted the media coverage despite Sanders rallies drawing many thousands.
His delegates were hoping to convince the party to change that system, as well as reform the caucus process and adopt more open primaries, in which any voter, not just registered Democrats could participate. But several hours into hearings on Saturday seemed to signal that a majority of the rules panel were not willing to shake up the party’s status quo.
Before they broke to negotiate and propose the commission, the panel heard short debate and then voted down a handful of reforms, from eliminating the system of superdelegates in its entirety to reducing their numbers and limiting their voting.
“I am asking those of you from the Clinton camp to take heed,” said Julie Hurwitz, a Sanders delegate from Detroit, speaking in favor of a compromise that would have let superdelegates vote if there was no clear nominee on the first convention ballot. “I would ask you to not just blindly vote no, no, no… The stakes are so high that I plead for you to take this issue seriously.”
“We have had these rules in place for 30 or 40 years,” said George Albro, a Sanders delegate from New York, responding to those who said now was not the time to act. “We’ve had a lot of time to study it. We don’t have a lot of time to change it. If we walk out of this room with our heads hanging low… The only standard that we are holding the DNC to is the standard of democracy.”
But a series of amendments were repeatedly rejected by two-to-one margins, especially after longtime officeholders said the superdelegate system never swayed a presidential nomination by ignoring the popular vote.
“This is more non-democratic,” said Jackson Lee in response to a proposal cutting the number of superdelegates. “The [origin of] superdelegates was a healing process, when the party was fractured… It was not to divide us, it was not to be an elite process.”
She argued that superdelegates allowed the party to elevate many people of color and those from rural areas. However, that explanation, while swaying a majority of Rules Committee members, was not persuasive to Sanders delegates. They told the room the party must send a signal to the millions drawn to their campaign that their call for a more open process was heard.
“This is the correct forum to have this discussion,” said North Carolina’s Chris O’Hara. “With all due respect… if superdelegates were put in place to heal a divided party, we are a divided party… I beseech you to actually listen.”
“The Republicans have basically nominated a fascist. It’s close. Please take a critical look at this,” said Delaware’s Rebecca Powers.
“I think this is the time for this,” said Miami’s Bruce Jacobs. “You are sending a message to all the people coming into the party.” The Rules Committee compromise came after heavy pressure from Democratic-leaning organizations, which gathered more than 750,000 signatures calling for change, flew a plane over Philadelphia Friday calling for an end to superdelegates, and sent thousands of tweets to rules committee members. There was high interest in the votes, and shouts of “shame, shame, shame” from outside the committee room could be heard on a live Youtube stream of the meeting.
The groups that urged the DNC to end superdelegates include Courage Campaign, Credo, Daily Kos, Demand Progress/Rootstrikers, Democracy for America, Center for Popular, Democracy, MoveOn, National Nurses United, New Democrat Network, the Other 98%, Presente, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Progressive Democrats of America, Progressive Kick, Reform the DNC, and Social Security Works.
Editor's note: Another reform proposal, to push the party to open its primaries to all registered voters, not just Democrats, was rejected on Saturday evening. Today Open Primaries, a non-profit electoral reform organization, brought 40,000 signed petitions to the meeting, a release noted. “It was an honor to stand up for the 26.3 million registered voters who couldn’t vote in this presidential election," Maggie Wunderly, a Rules Committee member from Illinois said in the release.
By STEVEN ROSENFELD
Source
Pennsylvania Groups Press For Quicker Action on Immigration Reform
CBS – September 5, 2013, by Cherri Gregg -
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — As Congress gets ready to head back to Washington, a coalition of Pennsylvania advocates for immigration reform is holding a...
CBS – September 5, 2013, by Cherri Gregg -
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — As Congress gets ready to head back to Washington, a coalition of Pennsylvania advocates for immigration reform is holding a series of events to send a clear message to area elected officials.
The events include town hall meetings, business roundtables, prayer vigils, and rallies in Philadelphia, Bucks, Chester, Montgomery and other counties.
“This last week of events is just to send them back to Washington with a big push,” says Sundrop Carter, the lead organizer for Pennsylvania United for Immigration Reform. “Now is Congress’ opportunity to do the right thing — to pass comprehensive immigration reforms that provide a pathway to citizenship, workers’ rights, and reunification of families.”
Bucks County resident Celia Sharp came to the United States 40 years ago from Colombia because of civil unrest in her home country. Now a US citizen, she says reforms are necessary — especially in Pennsylvania, where immigrant populations are growing.
“This is a critical human rights matter, a national security issue,” she says.
Some of the upcoming regional events include the following:
Business Roundtable by Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, Partnership for a New American Economy, Center for Popular Democracy, Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians:”Immigration Reform: Growing Pennsylvania’s Economy.” Thursday, Sept. 5, 12 noon, 200 S. Broad St., G. Fred DiBona Jr. Room, Philadelphia, PA Vigil for Immigration Reform and End Deportations Now by Pennsylvania United for Immigration Reform, JUNTOS. Monday, Sept. 9, 6:30pm, at 354 W Elm St, Norristown, PA March and Rally for Comprehensive Immigration Reform by Organizing for Action, Keystone Progress. Thursday, Sept. 12, 1pm, at Delaware Canal State Park, New Hope, PA Community Forum on Comprehensive Immigration Reform by Center for Popular Democracy, Grupo de Apoyo e Integración Hispanoamericano, Muhlenburg College. Thursday, Sept. 12, 7pm, at Muhlenberg College, 2400 W. Chew St, Seegers Union, Allentown PA.Source
Chicago teachers go on first-ever charter school strike, demanding more pay, educational resources
Chicago teachers go on first-ever charter school strike, demanding more pay, educational resources
“But even with such support, many charter schools are struggling due to little public oversight. In Illinois, the Education Department found in 2010 that the state “has no system in place for [...
“But even with such support, many charter schools are struggling due to little public oversight. In Illinois, the Education Department found in 2010 that the state “has no system in place for [monitoring charter schools].” According to research by the Center for Popular Democracy and Action Now, by early 2015, Illinois had seen $13.1 million in fraud by charter school officials, with total fraud estimated at more than $27 million in 2014 alone.
Read the full article here.
Death and democracy: How a dying activist is spending his final days
Death and democracy: How a dying activist is spending his final days
Diagnosed with ALS in 2016, activist Ady Barkan is living on borrowed time. As his body deteriorates rapidly, he’s spending his last moments fighting for the causes he believes in, hoping to leave...
Diagnosed with ALS in 2016, activist Ady Barkan is living on borrowed time. As his body deteriorates rapidly, he’s spending his last moments fighting for the causes he believes in, hoping to leave the world a better place for his young son.
Watch the video here.
Federal Reserve is too ‘white and male’, say Democrats
Federal Reserve is too ‘white and male’, say Democrats
More than a hundred Democratic party lawmakers have written to Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen complaining of a lack of diversity within the central bank system and a leadership that is “...
More than a hundred Democratic party lawmakers have written to Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen complaining of a lack of diversity within the central bank system and a leadership that is “overwhelmingly and disproportionately white and male”.
The letter, signed by 11 senators and 116 representatives, calls on the Fed to do more to ensure its senior ranks reflect the country’s make-up in terms of gender, race and ethnicity, economic background and occupation. It also demands that the Fed place greater priority on securing full employment for minorities as it pursues its economic goals.
“When the voices of women, African-Americans, Latinos, and representatives of consumers and labour are excluded from key discussions, their interests are too often neglected,” the letter says. “By fostering genuine full employment, the Federal Reserve can help combat discrimination and dramatically reduce the disproportionate unemployment faced by minority populations.”
The signatories include senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Bernie Sanders from Vermont and Kirsten Gillibrand from New York; and representatives including Maxine Waters, the ranking member of the Financial Services Committee and John Conyers from Michigan. All Democratic members of the Congressional Black Caucus put their names to the letter. It was not signed by Republican lawmakers.
The letter is the latest sign of political pressure on the Fed from both sides of the party divide. Republicans have been calling for greater Congressional scrutiny over the Fed amid persistent concerns about the ultra-loose monetary policy stance it has pursued since the financial crisis. Democrats, on the other hand, have urged Ms Yellen to maintain low interest rates in pursuit of higher employment, and in her most recent hearings before Congress Ms Yellen faced a barrage of complaints about the uneven economic progress seen between different races and ethnicities.
Eleven of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents are white and 10 of the 12 are men. All of the 10 current voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets monetary policy, are white, while four of them are women. Members of the Fed’s Board of Governors, who rank among the top rate-setters, are selected by the president and confirmed by the Senate, but the Board of Governors has a key role in selecting the Fed’s regional bank presidents.
A spokesperson for the Federal Reserve Board said: “The Federal Reserve is committed to fostering diversity — by race, ethnicity, gender, and professional background — within its leadership ranks. To bring a variety of perspectives to Federal Reserve Bank and Branch boards, we have focused considerable attention in recent years on recruiting directors with diverse backgrounds and experiences.”
The Fed said that minority representation on its reserve bank and branch boards had increased from 16 per cent in 2010 to 24 per cent in 2016, while the proportion of women directors has risen from 23 per cent to 30 per cent over the same period. Some 46 per cent of all directors are “diverse in terms of race and/or gender”, the Fed added.
The Fed in December lifted interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. It has since kept them on hold as it weighs up conflicting evidence about the strength of the recovery. Referring to monetary policy, the letter from the lawmakers urges Ms Yellen to “give due consideration to the interests and priorities of the millions of people around the country who still have not benefited from this recovery”.
Jesse Ferguson, a Clinton campaign spokesman, said: “The American people should have no doubt that the Fed is serving the public interest. That’s why Secretary Clinton believes that the Fed needs to be more representative of America as a whole as well as that commonsense reforms — like getting bankers off the boards of regional Federal Reserve banks — are long overdue.”
By Sam Fleming
Source
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