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| Democratic Losses Can Be Easily Explained: A Message, They Have Not |
By: Christopher J. Wilmot
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Posted: Sunday, November 8, 2009 8:17 pm
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Morelle: Democratic 'Golden Boy's' Time May Have Come and Gone?
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Monday, November 9, 2009 Rochester, NY - What do the following acronyms mean to you? Ready? CSEA; RTA; AFSCME; NYSUT; BENTE; PEF, and NEA? You'd better learn their meanings, and quick (SEE answers to this quiz, below).
With New York State, now every year, on the verge of bankruptcy (Can a state go bankrupt?), the aforementioned acronyms and their corresponding organizations need to be spelled out, understood, and fought against. Before unparalleled greed and non-existent governmental fiscal oversight finally did-in Wall Street, other acronyms and initials might have seemed more important to NY State and Monroe County taxpayers. Names like AIG (American International Group accepted major taxpayer bail-outs), CitiGroup, JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch (merged with Bank of America), Lehman Brothers (filed for bankruptcy protection in 2008), and Goldman Sachs (record bonuses to higher-ups as taxpayers take it on the chin); these were the titans of not only Wall Street and Manhattan, but New York State, until the worst recession since 1929 hit America one year ago.
Combined, Wall Street used to contribute as much as 30% of the total annual tax haul to state coffers, before November of last year. But no longer. There's a new, potentially more dangerous 'gun fighter' in the Not O.K. Corral: New York State's myriad public employee unions, whose posture, thus far, is to show Governor Paterson open and wanton contempt at the mere suggestion that in the face of looming state and municipal bankruptcy, public employees might have to accept pay-cuts and lay-offs (like nearly every other poor soul in NY State's ever shrinking private sector).
By the way, the answers to our first paragraph's quiz are as follows: CSEA = Civil Service Employees Association; RTA = Rochester Teachers Association; AFSCME = American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees; NYSUT = New York State Untied Teachers; BENTE = Board of Education Non-Teaching Employees; PEF = Public Employees Federation; and, the NEA = National Education Association. More and more, along with numerous law enforcement and fire fighter unions, these public employee unions run your life, and rule your pocket book, especially when the tax man cometh.
New York State & Monroe County Public Employee Unions: They Truly Believe that We Work for Them !
I know this is not out of any predisposed bias or prejudice, or because at this very moment in time, they're an easy target. I know the attitudes of public employee union leaders and their rank & file because I used to accept their PAC (political action committee) money, when I was a politician. Some of the public employee union abuses and muscle flex with their lackey politicians, are as follows:
* According to Michael Goodwin of the Daily News, "Largely because of the (public employee) union lock on politicians, (New York) City Hall and Albany ignored 'Recession Economics 101', and raised taxes a combined $13 billion this year (2009)."
* According to journalist Gail Robinson of Gotham Magazine (10/13/09), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, "NY State is the nation's most unionized state, with just shy of 25% of the workforce belonging to a union, far above the national rate of 12.4%. In NY City, public employee unions have given politicians about $375,000 this (2009) election cycle." (the $375,000 was garnered by politicians from public employee unions like the United Federation of Teachers; the Uniformed Firefighters Association, and AFSCME).
* Gene Russianoff, Senior Attorney for the New York Public Interest Research Group, makes an important distinction between corporate PAC's and public employee union PAC's: "The real strength (public employee) unions have is the ability to mobilize members. Corporations don't have that."
* Wikipedia claims: "NYSUT has 600,000 members statewide (NY), and is affiliated with the NEA, AFL-CIO, and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). NYSUT's political arm, VOTE-COPE raised and donated about $3 million in 2005. And over the years, what did NYSUT get for its large political donations?
1975: Passage of a state law guaranteeing tenure transfer rights, and a maximum (2) year probation for teachers who switched districts.
1976: A legislative over-ride of a veto of a bill requiring a formula for average funding of NY City public schools. At that time, it was the first over-ride of a governor's veto in 104 years (1872).
1981: NYSUT won passage of a law granting collective bargaining rights for substitute teachers.
1985: Albany passed a law providing for full retirement benefits for teachers aged 55, who had taught for at least 30 years."
Conclusion: So How Does One Prove Democrats are 'Bought Off' by Public Employee Union PAC's?
Inferentially. At press time, I did not have exact amounts local Democrats have accepted from public employee union PAC's. However, when I was a legislator (and before that, I used to pick up checks, all over town, from public employee unions and private sector PAC's, for the Monroe County Democratic Committee), I ran for office three times, and won three times. That is so, because I won a 'safe district' seat previously held by Nan Johnson (now held by Carrie Andrews). When I first ran for office in 1995, I hadn't thought a lot about the different sources of funding available for my campaign, mainly because unlike many politicians, I was fortunate enough to be able to 'self-finance' much of my first campaign for public office, but not fully self-fund.
So, like many (most) Democrats, I accepted PAC money from many of the public employee PAC's previously mentioned in this article. I recall receiving money from the United Auto Workers, also. Private concerns certainly donated too (real estate developers; engineering firms; architectural firms; attorneys; etc.). Possessing a rather rogue, independent personality, I didn't worry too much about accepting any PAC money, because I always was able to convince myself that I could never be 'bought off.' And I couldn't, really, because as I said, I mostly could self-finance. This is partly why I was driven out of the Democratic Party, because I could not be controlled; by Gantt, Morelle, or the public employee unions. But that's another story (both past and present).
But don't trust me: March on down to the Monroe County Board of Elections, and take a close look at Democratic candidates and elected officials (and Republican candidates),and their periodic campaign filings to observe and record how many dollars each candidate received in the two most recent campaign cycles, and from whom and what organizations these dollars were donated. I believe my central premise will hold up nicely.
Finally, and full circle, the main reason local Democrats did not do well last week, nor did local Democrats across NY State fare better, is because when the Democratic Party owes its existence to public employees and their union PAC's, there can be no broad, appealing message of reform. If Democrats advocated for real reform that would lower the highest (or second highest) taxes in the nation, Democrats would piss off their principle donors, because remember one thing if you take away anything from this article: Public Employee Unions are interested in one thing, and one thing only: Preserving their jobs, and retirement packages! So, lowering the taxes of private sector individuals and businesses flies in the face of pleasing public employees. Case closed.
Christopher J. Wilmot served as a legislator in the Monroe County Legislature from 1996-2005. He currently is a film maker, and also the owner of several small businesses, headquartered in Downtown Rochester.
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Member Opinions:
By: vote4harry on 11/8/09
By closing out the process in the committees the way it did, Morelle insured a low turn-out in the City, which hurt the County-wide races. Once candidates are under the wing of MCDC, original ideas are replaced by generic blandness. .......................................... In April, just before I decided to run for Rochester City Council, I was told by a Democratic leader that this would be a futile task for me, as all of the decisions had already been made. I was then, and am now, attempting to get a job with the Obama administration in the Health and Human Services Department in Washington to help get stem cell & regenerative medicine resources out to where they are needed. This leader told me to stay focused on the DC possibility and forget playing local politics, because I had no chance with it, i.e. the fix was in. Obviously, I did not follow this man's advice! I am happy that when I began this course in April that I was one of 20 candidates for City Council. In the end, I was one of 6 candidates for city council thanks to my nomination and endorsement by the Working Families Party. And I thank very much the 1,694 of you who voted for me! I still want to bring CHANGE to Rochester. I want a downtown that is civilized, where one can live; not the wasteland it is today. The way this will happen is when we have a true democracy in Rochester. Less than 10% of the voters actually chose our leaders this election, in the sense that very few people were involved in the Democratic Party endorsement and nomination process. This process was a travesty as we know from Tom Brennan's experience running for Commissioner of Schools, where in three of the City’s LD committees, he came in third place. But like all the other candidates who did not get 50% of the committee vote; Tom had to enter a run-off at Party convention with the convoluted rule that committee votes for the run-off candidates were entirely up to the LD leader, all of which gave all their votes to David Gantt’s darling Cynthia Elliott, in spite of the fact that she received no more than a few votes from the original committee caucuses while Tom received the third highest in each. Word on the street has it that this was the result of a deal struck with Gantt to endorse her (almost assuring the nomination as well); and in return he would not run another City Council candidate to oppose the others. Joe Morelle, who presided over this process fixing, either needs to resign immediately or allow the fresh candidates who want to run for office to actually speak for themselves. Once candidates are under the wing of MCDC, original ideas are replaced by generic blandness. Candidates should be about ideas and plans. If they aren't, they shouldn't be running. An example of this was evident when I and the other City Council candidates presented ourselves in caucus to the committee that David Gantt controls. We all made speeches presenting our case in hopes of a real vote. Mr. Gantt did not even bother to stay in the room to listen to what I had to say, about Renaissance Square, about high tech possibilities with stem cell research for jobs in our area, and for high speed rail. Mr. Gantt was not even in the room when all of us spoke to his committee! Mr. Gannt was outside, seen through the glass window, smoking a cigarette during the entire process! And, when the votes were tallied for David's committee, it was unanimous. EVERYBODY David chose had EXACTLY the same amount of votes!! And who was the leader of the MCDC when this happened? Joe Morelle, that's who. By closing out the process in the committees the way it did, Morelle insured a low turn-out in the City, which hurt the County-wide races. I will be holding an event in a couple of months to have a better look at where we are all going politically. I will invite Green Party members, Working Family Party members, and all of you who have no political affiliation. If the Democratic Party in Monroe County wants to succeed, I think it is time we all looked at where it's leadership has taken it and decide if we want to continue in the same direction. Harry Davis November 7, 2009 266 Hamilton Street Rochester, New York 14620 585-355-4259
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