Public Employee Press

2012 ELECTION
Members speak out about the election

Public Employee Press wanted to find out the DC 37 family's thoughts about the 2012 presidential election. Our reporters interviewed activists and PEP also solicited short essays from members enrolled in courses offered by the DC 37 Education Fund and the College of New Rochelle.

The attack on labor What's motivating me to vote for Obama is seeing the union movement so close to being crushed by these folks like the Koch brothers and the Heritage Foundation. They started their work in the 1970s and the job is really being done. The Republican agenda is to destroy any opposition, and unions are an opposition. The Republicans want to remove collective bargaining. They want right-to-work states. They want us to be unable to collect dues. They're out to privatize the public sector. Obama is the clear alternative. But we have to think differently and not have a blind allegiance with the Democrats The question is whether we remain with them or develop a labor party. —Lou Albano Retiree, Local 375

Homeownership I can personally say I am better off. I was able to keep my home due to President Obama's mortgage initiatives. To me, that is worth re-electing President Obama. My home and my family are still intact and for that I am grateful. Go Obama! —Denise Horsford Parent Coordinator, Local 372

Birth control and the Right to Choose As a mom of a 20-year-old daughter, I am very concerned with her health care. I believe that our medical coverage should cover birth control and women should continue to have the right to choose. This is one important reason that I believe that we should vote for Obama and give him another term to try and make our country a better place. — Nancy Leonardo School Aide, Local 372

Gay Marriage I choose to vote for President Obama because his views are open-minded, he supports the working class, women's rights and Americans who are openly gay. Obama supports gay marriage, which I believe is a wonderful thing. Every American has a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. President Obama also passed a law so that every woman is paid equally to men. He fights for equal rights and is willing to change with society and at the same time help develop society. —Darling Guido Clerical Associate, Local 1549

Romney only Supports the Rich Romney only cares for the upper class/rich class. He wants to take away seniors' benefits and most importantly school loans. I am a single mother of two children and at times I have to work two jobs to get by. I want to be able to go to school and get a degree and have my children do the same. Obama has done a lot for us already. Obama wants to help people survive. —Josephine Diaz School Aide, Local 372

Why am I supporting President Obama? You can't fix everything the first time. In four short years, nobody could undo the mess that was made before President Obama took office. And he's for the people - for health care and for taxing the rich fairly, and he knows that education and the economy are the most important things for this country. —Pat Walsh College Assistant, Local 2054

Angry and Undecided I am still undecided and distrustful of the political process. I am angry at the logjam in Congress and how people are fighting amongst themselves about all of the issues facing the country, such as jobs and health care.I can't choose one candidate over the other. I'm not a fan of Governor Romney, but to get the vote of people like me, politicians need to keep their promises. —Felix Peralta College Assistant, Local 2054

Voting rights, Jobs and Health Care I urge my fellow citizens to vote November 6. It's your right. Remember the days when our forefathers weren't allowed to vote? Now that we have the opportunity, don't forget those days. I look at the Bush administration and think about the wars we inherited, the housing crisis and the leaders blaming union members for the financial crisis and trying to pit them against those who were losing their jobs. But then President Obama took office, and he took action. President Obama saved the auto industry and saved a million jobs. Seven presidents before him, Democrats and Republicans, tried to expand health care to all Americans. President Obama got it done. —Emily Jordan Police Administrative Aide, Local 1549

Obama's failure Barack Obama has failed in both his foreign and domestic jobs. He killed Bin Laden, and is making political points of it with bumper stickers that say, "Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive." But we have a very urgent threat in Iran. Iran is developing nuclear weapons and Obama has failed to stop them. They are building a bomb. The International Atomic Energy Agency says Obama could stop Iran. This just hasn't happened. Iran hosted the non-aligned nations conference, and the Islamists are on the move in Egypt and throughout North Africa. On the domestic front, Obama has left us with a $16 trillion deficit - with China holding our debt. His $825 billion stimulus plan was a failure - as Obama admitted. We still have unemployment over 8 percent. Romney, on the other hand, was governor of Massachusetts. He ran a company. He saved the 2002 Olympics. When he was Governor of Massachusetts, he cut their deficit down. He left office in 2007 with unemployment at 4 percent. —Mark Goret Claims specialist, Local 154

Equal Pay President Obama's views on women's health care and women's rights to equal pay for equal work appeal to me as a woman. Mitt Romney and his camp clearly stand for the wealthy. He cannot relate to the plight of the everyday person. —Shamira Gill Police Administrative Aide, Local 1549

Immigration and Education President Obama has stemmed job loss and reduced unemployment. He sees that immigration and education tie into this issue, so he seeks to strengthen education at all levels and give students who were brought here illegally as children the opportunity to gain citizenship. President Obama wants all individuals to have affordable health coverage. Mitt Romney wants to repeal parts of Obamacare. With four more years, President Obama can continue to reverse the economic decline of the middle class and the economy. Romney would take us back to what happened under George W. Bush. —Jennifer Hylton Family Para-Professional, Local 372

Republican Obstructionism I believe that the Republican backers of Romney, who are in positions to create jobs, are holding back because they don't want to let the economy grow under our current president. Those in power will not hire until Obama is out of office. I believe we are headed in a positive direction under President Barack Obama, and I hear people say that it's been four years and he hasn't fixed the mess he was handed. But the Republican Party is blocking his efforts. I also believe the Republican Party doesn't have a better plan, but they are afraid to admit that in public. If they had a better plan, we would have heard it by now. —Leroy West-Spicer Case Manager, Local 1070

War and Social Policies Barack Hussein Obama is one of those rare politicians who did what he said he would. He called Iraq a war of choice and he stood our troops down. He identifi ed Afghanistan as a war of necessity and with great force of command, he did what was necessary to take out the criminal bin Laden. He passed a health bill that will bring us up with other nations. Replacing Obama with Romney would quickly reverse the gains we voted for and return us to policies that favor the wealthy over the workers - more wars for oil, more grand larceny through unregulated banking, and more abandonment of the middle class for profi ts abroad. I hope in Obama's next term we see some more realistic tax policies, a subject Mr. Romney is a bit too cagey about. Romney is neither concerned about the poor nor supportive of Planned Parenthood programs. We voted for change, and change has begun. —Ian Jack Forester, Local 375

The Haves vs. the Have-Nots I see in our society that we have the 99 percent who are preyed upon by the 1 percent. The rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer. The middle class is squeezed and disappearing. The 1 percent make the rules. These are the politicians, the judges, the business elite and, yes, even some Democrats. They govern for themselves. They've created a system of servitude and indebtedness. Romney believes you should work to be a successful entrepreneur and create your own Bain Capital. If you can't do that, Romney is ready for you to starve - and even die. The Republicans say capitalism with its free markets eventually evens out things. This doesn't work anymore. The system is based on greed. The markets, like lions, eat the sheep. Without a change, we're headed into a situation like the French Revolution, where people can't even afford to eat. President Obama wants to get money back into people's pockets by getting them to work building bridges and repairing roads. But the Republicans blocked what President Obama wanted to do. Obama needs to be re-elected to get his American Jobs Act through. —Michael Lanni Local 2627, Vice President

PEP photos by Clarence Elie-Rivera, Alfredo Alvarado, Gregory N. Heires, Jane LaTour and Diane S. Williams

DISCLAIMER: This portion of the website was paid for by AFSCME’s Political Action Committee, PEOPLE, with voluntary contributions from AFSCME members and their families, and is not authorized by any candidate of candidate’s committee.