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Fusion Voting Comes to Oregon

Kulongoski will sign fusion voting bill

Posted by Jeff Mapes, The Oregonian July 08, 2009 20:07PM Categories: Gov. Ted Kulongoski, Oregon politics, Voters Gov. Ted Kulongoski has decided to sign an election-related bill that gives new powers to minor parties while also repealing a law that had made it harder for independents to run for office in Oregon. The governor has decided to sign the bill despite the opposition of officials from his own Democratic Party, who think it gives minor parties too much sway. Anna Richter Taylor, the governor's spokeswoman, said Kulongoski was primarily interested in repealing the 2005 law, which he had signed with reservations at the time because he was concerned it was too onerous on non-affiliated candidates. One could argue that Kulongoski benefitted politically from the 2005 law. Ben Westlund, then a state senator from Bend, ran in 2006 as an independent candidate for governor and it appeared that he was taking more votes from Kulongoski than the Republicans. However, Westlund, who is now a Democrat and the state treasurer, dropped his candidacy in late summer, in part because he had spent so much of his time and resources collecting signatures. The measure now on the governor's desk, Senate Bill 326, also allows candidates to list the nomination of more than one political party on their ballot line. The process is known as fusion voting, and it gives minor parties a new tool to use to gain political power. Instead of just running their own candidates, minor parties can now offer what amounts to an endorsement that will be the last thing voters will see before casting their vote. The law that SB 326 repeals said that only voters who had not participated in the Democratic or Republcian primaries - or the nomination process of a minor party - can sign a petition to put an independent on the ballot. While Democratic Party officials had encouraged Kulongoski not to sign the bill because of the fusion voting provision, the governor's deputy chief of staff - Tim Nesbitt, the former Oregon AFL-CIO president - had been a strong supporter of fusion voting. Nesbitt had helped form the Working Families Party, which was created largely with fusion voting in mind. Founders said they hoped the new party would help push Democratic voters toward more liberal stands on issues such as health care and the minimum wage.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney On the Pope's Encyclical

Pope Benedict XVI's commitment to the cause of working people worldwide shines today. In the new encyclical, Caritas in Veritate or Charity in Truth, Pope Benedict XVI offers an ethical critique of the global economic crisis and proposes concrete elements for policies anchored in moral values that enhance the dignity of all, especially the poor and working people.  The encyclical levels a strong critique at the forces of unfettered free-market capitalism and globalized greed.

Particularly, the new encyclical offers a much-needed reminder that to create an economy that works for everyone it is critical to protect workers' fundamental right to join together as a union and bargain for a better future. As the Pope makes clear, it is not only working people, but also entire communities - -  nations even - -  that stand to benefit when workers exercise this right.  In the document, the Pope reaffirms the Church's longstanding position that labor unions play a vital role in efforts to build a more just economy—one in which even the most marginalized workers are guaranteed basic dignity and respect.

As the gap between the wealthy and the poor continues to widen, and workers around the world are denied the dignity and freedom they deserve, the union movement stands with the Catholic Church in its call for a global economy that works for working people.  Now, more than ever, we must rally to protect the rights of workers—at home and worldwide—to come together in unions and build a better future for us all.    

Quote of the Day -- Febryary 20, 2009

"I have been living in my home for 38 years. I am staying here, and I am not leaving my home."

-Myrna Millington, 73, who will refuse to vacate her foreclosed home, as part of ACORN's "Home Defender" program, in today's Daily News.

 

New Yorkers to Albany: Raise Taxes on Rich to Balance Budget

"Poll: New Yorkers want income tax hike for rich" - Daily News

"NY SUPPORT HIGH FOR 'MILLIONAIRE'S TAX'" - AP

"'Millionaire's tax' gains in survey" - Albany Times Union

Headlines across the state shout what we already knew: New Yorkers think asking the rich to pay their fair share in taxes is a better choice than the devastating budget cuts Governor Paterson has proposed.

It's no surprise. New Yorkers understand-even if some politicians won't admit it-that when the rich don't carry their weight, everyone else has to shoulder the load. 

Today's stories show how the Governor's budget plays out that grim formula through billions in devastating cuts to classrooms, patients, and hundreds of programs and services working families rely on:

-"1, 2, 3, 4 - We won't pay you any more!" That, the Dunkirk Observer reports, was the chant of SUNY Fredonia students enraged by the Governor's plan to raise tuition and use the revenue not for higher education, but to reduce the state's general fund budget gap. 

More rallies are expected across the SUNY system. Fredonia President Dennis Hefner said: "The gloves are off at this point."

-Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, Education Committee Chair, called Governor Paterson's billions in cuts to classrooms across the state "grossly unfair," the Journal News reports.

-The Daily News reports the state's grim fiscal situation is one roadblock to the sensible restoration of college courses for prison inmates. Advocates say inmates receiving a college education in prison have recidivism rates half those of prisoners who don't.

-And, over the weekend, dozens of activists and concerned citizens in White Plains delivered Valentines to the Governor, demanding he ask the richest New Yorkers to pay their fair share before gutting critical state-funded programs.

Dennis Hanratty of Mount Vernon United Tenants, which works to hold landlord's accountable to housing codes and runs a homelessness prevention program threatened by the Governor's budget said:  

"We prevented over 165 evictions last year not only protecting residents from dire straights, but also saving the county thousands of dollars in shelter costs. In these economic times it is absolutely crucial that we keep people in their homes and avoid increasing the financial burden on localities."

EJ McMahon's Prescription: Economic Death

EJ McMahon just can't help himself. The Manhattan Institute's "Director of the Empire Center for New York Policy" proves in a series of op-eds that he's more far-right ideologue than economist and more worried about pushing his agenda than the facts. Last week it was the Daily News, today it was the New York Post, but the message was still the same: taxes and spending=bad, cutting services=good.  

So while President Obama is fighting to save our economy through a massive stimulus package, McMahon is intent on pulling New York in the opposite direction, and straight off an economic cliff.  And he isn't going to let any "facts" get in the way. 

Let's take it from the top. Like McMahon said last week, 41% of New York's income tax revenue comes from the richest 1% of taxpayers. Seems like a lot, until you consider just how rich they are.  That same 1% earns more than two and a half times the total income of the bottom 50% of New Yorkers. (1) In fact, New York has the widest income gap between the rich and the middle class of any state in the nation (2). 

Turns out, New York's wealthy pay less of their income in state taxes than the rest of us - the top 1% of New Yorkers pay 6.5% of their income in state taxes, while the middle class pays a whopping 11.6% of theirs. (3) How's that possible?  New York State's income tax hits its top rate at just $40,000 of family income - which means Donald Trump pays the same tax rate as his doormen and limo drivers. Combine that near-flat tax with regressive sales and property taxes, and being a wealthy New Yorker turns out to be a pretty sweet deal. 

McMahon is right about one thing, spending in New York has gone up. But he doesn't say why. We made a conscious - and millions of New Yorkers would say wise - choice to provide millions of uninsured children with healthcare coverage, invest in our future by instituting universal Pre-K, and finally begin to fully fund underprivileged school districts that have historically been denied their fair share.

Eviscerating the budget as McMahon proposes would undo those efforts, and set New York back a decade. 

Finally, McMahon's favorite myth is that raising taxes on the wealthy would cause them to leave the state, and damage our long-term economic prospects.  But he seems to have forgotten what happened the last time the state raised income taxes on the rich in 2003.  The economy recovered, the rich got richer and more numerous (there were more high-end taxpayers when New York phased out the tax increase in 2006 than when it began), and we were able to prevent billions in devastating cuts to healthcare, education, and hundreds of crucial public investments. (4)

In fact, hundreds of economists led by Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz warned in a letter to the Governor this fall that reducing critical spending would only deepen New York's recession.  What's more, as the New York Times columnist Paul Krugman points out, slashing our way out of the fiscal crisis would have the effect of weakening the economic stimulus President Obama and Congress are poised to put in motion.

There is a way out of the fiscal crisis. But it will mean asking everyone to pay their fair share, including the wealthy New Yorkers who could most afford to do so. 

Quote of the Day -- January 14, 2009

"Women deserve equal pay for equal work, yet 40 years after the Equal Pay Act, women are still paid only 78 cents for every dollar paid to a man for the same work." 

-Rep. John Hall (D-Dover Plains), celebrating passage of the Paycheck Fairness Act and The Lilly Ledbetter Act in the House. Both bills would help workers fight discrimination on the job. In today's Journal News.

Union Leaders Pursue Unity Strategy

Union presidents from a dozen major unions, plus leaders from the AFL-CIO and Change to Win, met Jan. 7 to discuss ways to create a united labor movement to effectively take on the challenges facing working Americans. The meeting was facilitated by David Bonior of American Rights at Work.

CWA President Larry Cohen said the meeting was "an important first step towards a unified labor movement at a critical time. We all realize that labor unity nationally strengthens us at the local and state level."

Participating were Larry Cohen, CWA; Leo Gerard, United Steel Workers; Ron Gettelfinger, Auto Workers; Joe Hansen, United Food and Commercial Workers; James Hoffa, Teamsters; Gerald McEntee, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; Terry O'Sullivan, Laborers; Bruce Raynor, UNITE HERE; Andy Stern, Service Employees International Union; Dennis Van Roekel, National Education Association; Randi Weingarten, American Federation of Teachers; and Ed Hill, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Also participating were AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and Anna Burger, Chairperson of Change to Win.

Following the meeting, the group issued this statement:

"The goal of this meeting is to create a unified labor movement that can speak and act nationally on the critical issues facing working Americans. While we represent the largest labor unions, we recognize that unity requires broad participation. We also recognize our members are active and work through our institutions where they live and work. We will be reaching out to them."