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PEP April 2006
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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” conference’s 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 York’s 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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