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Public Employee Press
Political Action 2006
Statewide caucus builds for the future
By DIANE S. WILLIAMS
A rainbow of people from across New York State converged on Albany Feb.
17 through 19, to attend the 35th annual Black and Puerto Rican legislative
conference.
The annual event sponsored by The New York State Association of Black
and Puerto Rican Legislators Inc. drew thousands of Blacks, Latinos, Asians,
and whites and included a large delegation of DC 37 members for a weekend
of workshops, networking and community building. Our job is to keep
politicians honest and to protect our jobs and our communities,
said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.
DC 37 took the lead asking the tough questions and bringing insight to
hot issues at the Building the Future conferences 31
workshops. Panelists included Local 420 President Carmen Charles, Local
436 President Gloria Acevedo, Local 1549 2nd Vice President Ralph Palladino
and DC 37 Political Action and Legislation Director Wanda Williams.
DC 37 members, who are on the front lines providing vital services to
New Yorkers, asked legislators what will become of the poor, the uninsured,
undocumented, uneducated and the growing number of senior citizens if
the draconian cuts outlined in the proposed federal and state budgets
wereeffected.
DC 37 members attending the executive budget workshop demanded justice
and pressed state representatives, City Council members and policymakers
to enforce two landmark court decisions: the two-year-old New York Police
Dept. decision to require more civilian personnel and the outstanding
$11 billion dollar Campaign for Fiscal Equity debt, affecting 1.1 million
city school children, which Governor George E. Pataki refuses to fund.
Additionally, Williams in her role as an executive budget panelist, called
for better funding for public education, accountability for charter schools
and a cap on the soaring cost of prescription drugs.
DC 37 is the powerhouse of the labor movement,
said DC 37 Treasurer Maf Misbah Uddin, who is also president of Local
1407. The union flexed its political muscle lobbying legislators at the
weekend caucus and followed that up with a strong presence at AFSMCE Lobby
Day March 6 (see
'AFSCME activists fight Pataki's cuts'). It is also preparing
for the upcoming DC 37 Lobby Day Tuesday, May 9.
We have our work cut out for us. We need to convince legislators
to act in our best interests and in the interest of New Yorks working
families, Roberts said.
U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Hillary Clinton, and keynote speaker Kwesi
Mfume, former president and chief executive officer of the National Association
for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), joined gubernatorial candidate
state Attorney General Elliot Spitzer and his running mate Senate Minority
Leader David Paterson in addressing the crowds of New Yorkers who came
from Brooklyn to Buffalo. All politicians at the event agreed that racial
disparities could be repaired through better economic and educational
opportunities.
There is a problem, Mfume said, when the haves have
more, and the have-nots have nothing at all. Mfume is a 2006 candidate
for U.S. Senate representing Maryland.
America will be better off when it lives up to its promises of justice
for all people, Mfume said. We have a great moral challenge
to separate truth from trick
to balance the scales of justice,
to open the doors of opportunity and to break the chains of mental bondage.
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