The .0003% Potemkin WFP Party

There is no doubt that the WFP is the most powerful party in New York politics today, after taking over City Hall making the govern of the empire state gravel on video to gain their support. What is at question is who does the Working Families Party represent and how do they operate. In a city that has 8,337,000 residents, the WFP has 2529 active members that voted in the 2013 election, just .0003% of NYC voting population. Political parties in NYC were designed by district to give a voice to each neighborhood in the city. At the height of the Tammany Hall Democratic Party, there were over 400 clubs representing the neighborhood in the city. Many in the same neighborhood competing against each other. There’s was more to the Tammany Hall story than corruption. Tammany Hall’s leaders delivered social services and took care of the residents of their district problems. They massaged justice at a time when the poor did not have access to public defenders. They gave food and jobs to the poor. In short Tammany Hall power came from delivering services to the voters. Political parties today like the WFP gain their power by controlling ballot access, campaign workers and money. Bloomberg paid millions for the GOP and Independent party line when he was mayor. Malcolm Smith tried to buy the GOP line from two party leaders who are under indictment. Not only are registered voter in the Independence Party not receiving the services that Tammany Hall democratic were provided at the turn of the century, but as the Daily News proves over and over again those IP registered voters have no idea they belong to a real party.

WFP Making the Progressive Movement into A Cult or Fad That Cuts Out Its Traditional Reform Services Roots to A Narrow Union Protection Racket

Yesterday lifelong progressive wrote that the WFP was exploited by the union interests that bankroll it. "With de Blasio and the UFT-financed Working Families Party as allies, the union is hijacking the very language of progressive movement politics, annexing left journalism to defend its narrowest interests and even recruiting progressives to join its war against charter schools that work for kids." Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labour began her reform of America's labor laws working side by side with Tammany Hall to reform the city's building code after the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Perkins came to Roosevelt's cabinet from a career championing workers' rights. An outspoken graduate from Mount Holyoke, she began work as a social reformer in New York well before women won the right to vote. A defining moment was the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911: 146 garment workers, most of them young immigrant women, died as an overcrowded factory burned down in Greenwich Village. Perkins, who had been having tea with friends nearby, witnessed the tragedy from the pavement, watching young women leap to their deaths from the upper floors. She vowed to redouble her efforts and became an adept political operator, working with the famously corrupt Democrats in Tammany Hall.

The WFP Took Over Politics Because the Other Parties in the City Are Not Real Also

The Independence Party has no power to win votes. It candidate the only Latino in the race in the 2013 mayoral campaign got less than 1% of the vote in the general election. The GOP is down to just 6 elected officials in a city with over 130 elected positions. Most importantly the leadership of the city's dominant Democratic Party has lost the ability to work together and elect citywide candidates. Rudy Giuliani, Mike Bloomberg, the loss of the council speaker position by Queens Boss Crowley and the fact that not democratic county leader supported de Blasio for mayor in the primary. Show you just how out of touch the democrats aging party leadership has become.

The WFP took advantage of the weakness of the city's other parties and low voter participation, by putting together a smart and sharp coalition with the unions that knows how to run campaigns and has no fear about breaking election laws to elect their candidates or threatening primaries against candidates that don't follow their orders. The WFP campaigns against the IDC candidates this year show how aggressive and coordinated their quest for power has become. The Data and Field scandal in 2009 and the NYCLASS scandal show how their coalition willingness to violated election laws to gain power. The buzz in political circles has been that anyone of these two scandals could take down the WFP, even the mayor. But the Buzz today is that the Yoda governor can accomplish the begin of the destruction of the WFP with one move.

Competition On the Left is the Way to Stop or Slow Down the WFP Invasion of New York's Government

Listening to an interview on Cassimatis’ round table today with Exec. Dir. of the Liberal Party Martin Hassner, one get the feeling that it would be OK with the party if Cuomo also ran on his its line this year. By agreeing to run on the Liberal line Cuomo not only gives the party back a permanent ballot line, but set up competition to a party and coalition that has pushed him or tried to push him around, on issues like charter schools, the IDC-GOP Senate coalition and increasing taxes. It would also make some of Cuomo's GOP money people very happy. Some say that Zephyr Teachout run as a democrat, with a WFP operative as her campaign manager, is an insurance policy by the WFP leadership to keep Cuomo from taking the Liberal Line. Stay Tuned. What is clear is that when comparing the role of political parties today with the Tammany Hall era, the corruption is the same, but instead of serving the voters like Boss Tweed or Boss de Sapio did, modern day party leaders are all about deceiving the voters.

Power Struggle Inside WFP

Labor leader floats 'union caucus' in WFP(CrainsNY)

Also: Liveries react as Schneiderman wades into taxi fight; NYC vs. London: airport edition. Michael McGuire, director of the Mason Tenders' District Council PAC, has been exploring the idea of creating a “labor caucus” within the Working Families Party. The idea would be for deep-pocketed unions that fund much of the WFP's operations to have a more unified voice in party endorsement decisions and other matters.

True News Wags the NYP On WFP's 50,000 Vote Problem

True News Wrote Yesterday That WFP Might Have Jumped the Shark By Backing Cuomo, Today the NYP Copied the 50,000 Vote Problem

Cuomo’s creation of the Women’s Equality Party could potentially put at risk the Working Families Party’s 50,000 votes needed to stay on the ballot another four years despite the fact that they endorsed Cuomo, which only highlights the corruption of cross-endorsement ballot systems, the Post writes:

Did WFP Jump the Shark By Backing Cuomo?

“Women are actually the vast majority of voters in New York state, and I don’t think we should be pigeonholed in a separate party,” Scharff said on “Capitol Tonight,” an upstate cable-TV news show. “Women should be voting on the WFP line.” Said another WFP insider: “The Women’s Equality Party is Cuomo’s F U to the WFP.” The WFP awarded Cuomo its line after much wrangling, hoping to run up its vote totals Nov. 4 — an election that determines ballot position over the next four years. With disaffected leftists upset at Cuomo, WFP officials are conceding privately that the Green Party will likely surpass the WFP’s vote totals with little-known UPS worker Howie Hawkins as its gubernatorial candidate. Hawkins received about 60,000 votes — or 1 percent — as the Green candidate in 2010. Cuomo received 155,000 votes on the WFP line and 146,000 on the Independence Party line four years ago. Most of his 2.9 million votes, of course, came on the Democratic line.

Bertha Lewis A Founder of WFP In the Battle to Save It

Hawkins is now getting between 7 percent and 9 percent in polls. “We will become the alternative voice to the establishment. We’ll have two parties on the left — the Green Party and the Democratic Party,” he said. * Working Families Party co-founder and activist Bertha Lewis is sending an email to WFP members urging them to vote on the party’s line to ensure its survival, the Daily News reports: * Working Families Party members told to vote for party, notcandidate, in governor's race (NYDN) Activist Bertha Lewis is sending an email to WFP members urging them to vote on the party’s line to ensure its survival. 'Other people may vote personalities, but I believe it's also important to vote for the party — it's only through organized people that we will transform our state,' Lewis wrote.* Working Families Party founding co-chair Bertha Lewis on whyshe is joining progressives to #VoteWFP on Election Day:

More on Bertha Lewis

The Real WFP Starts to Be Exposed

Cuomo Used WFP Willingness to Make Deals With Power Players Who Do Not Agree With Them To Out and Destroy Them

Cuomo Accepts WFP Endorsement

(You didn’t think it was an accident that the Cuomo-created Women’s Equality Party [WEP] might be mistaken for the WFP on Tuesday, now did you?) Which is not setting well with true-believing, leftward-tilting Democrats like Teachout and activist Bill Samuels, who flirted with a primary run of his own last spring. Teachout, still an enrolled Democrat, is refusing to endorse the party ticket while Samuels complains bitterly about the governor to anybody who’ll listen: “[Cuomo’s] politically reckless behavior is endangering Senate Democrats” — which, in the end, seems rather to be the point.

After de Blasio Got Cuomo His WFP Endorsement the Gov Went to War Against A Democratic Take Over the Senate

Mayor de Blasio was key in scoring WFP nomination for Gov.Cuomo (NYDN) The mayor brokered a deal with the Working Families Party in which Cuomo got the nomination after publicly committing to push for Democratic control of the state Senate and a host of liberal goals. Meanwhile, Senate insiders say Cuomo will have a rough time pushing anything through the Senate this year after he called for a takeover by Dems. A self-described progressive and the first Democrat to run New York City in 20years, de Blasio persuaded the union-backed Working Families Party to support Cuomo, a centrist governor running for re-election.

The move allows Cuomo to run on both the Democratic and WFP lines on Nov. 4, preventing a liberal third-party candidate from draining votes in his race against Republican Rob Astorino. If WFP goes down it will be the second party Cuomo blows up Liberal Party 2002* EXCLUSIVE: Mayor de Blasio privately asks Working FamiliesParty to back Gov. Cuomo for reelection(HYDN) The governor was present for the high-stakes sitdown, held in Midtown, sources said.

Glowing endorsement from Zuckerman (just 6 words onMoreland) MT @melissadderosa: "@NYDailyNews endorses Cuomo..." (NYDN Ed) * Marist Poll shows Gov. Cuomo maintaining wide lead overRepublican Rob Astorino(NYDN) * Cuomo: Women's Equality line isn't about punishing Working Families Party * An NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll findsCuomo leading Republican challenger Rob Astorino by almost two to one among likely voters, despite a lukewarm 44 percent job approval rating: * Cuomo dismissed as a “really tortured analysis” criticism that he is urging people to vote for him on his Women’s Equality Party ballot line in order to destroy the Working Families Party, the Daily News reports * State Sen. Liz Krueger stepped up her criticism of Cuomo’s Women’s Equality Party push, calling an email from the governor urging voters to support him on the new party’s ballot line “disturbing,” State of Politicsreports: * The Working Families Party got a boost from Whoopi Goldberg, who in a video touted the “progressive party” that’s helped elect officials who passed measures like paid sick leave and living wages, State of Politics reports: * Cuomo pointed to a poll showing broad popular support for his controversial decision to quarantine health workers returning from Ebola-ravaged African nations as justification for the policy, the Observerreports: * Cuomo’s teacher fight linked to non-help for Senate Dems (Capital) Dovetails with legislative alliances * Weingarten: Gov’s ‘monopoly’ comments campaign rhetoric (Capital)* Whoopi Goldberg cut a video for the Working Families Party,which is struggling to survive Cuomo * The hometown newspaper of both Gov. Cuomo and his GOPopponent Rob Astorino has endorsed...Cuomo. * "Anything can happen, but I believe the Democrats are going to win the State Senate," Cuomo tells reporters after a rally in Rockland County* Cuomo's minor-party setup: Heads he wins, tails WFP loses (Newsday)* Randy Credico ‏@Credico2016 The @WorkingFamilies party's pimp Cuomo snubs them for WEP, another virtual party * A new set of polls indicate Republicans are likely to winthe Senate majority on Tuesday.(NYDN)

Is the NYT Trying to Mislead New Yorkers on the WFP?

Does the Staten Island WFP Investigation Have Anything to Do With Wolfe Taking Time Off From City Hall?

Top @BilldeBlasio aide @emmawolfe will take time off fromCity Hall to help key state Senate Dem candidates.(NYT)

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . .
Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

Investigator wants to speak with Mayor de Blasio aide Emma Wolfe in Working Families Party probe(NYDN) Roger Bennett Adler sent a letter in September to Emma Wolfe, de Blasio’s director of intergovernmental affairs, asking for a sitdown, according to sources. The investigation is examining whether the party’s now-dismantled for-profit arm, Data & Field Services, gave cut-rate prices to Working Families candidates, giving them an unfair advantage in elections. The investigation is examining whether the party’s now-dismantled for-profit arm, Data & Field Services, gave cut-rate prices to Working Families candidates, giving them an unfair advantage in elections.

Prosecutor investigating Working Families Party sought interview with de Blasio aide Emma Wolfe

A special prosecutor investigating the Working Families Party’s relationship with get-out-the-vote corporation Data & Field Services wants to interview Emma Wolfe, an aide to Mayor Bill de Blasio, The Wall Street Journal reports: Since 2012, the prosecutor, Roger Bennett Adler, has been investigating the Working Families Party's relationship with Data & Field Services, a corporation formed by the left-leaning party to provide its candidates with get-out-the-vote staffing and expertise. Investigators are looking at whether the for-profit firm charged significantly lower fees than is typical for such service, potentially providing an unfair advantage to favored candidates.

WFP Lawyering Up To Stop An Investigation

According to people familiar with the matter, Mr. Adler last fall sought an interview with Ms. Wolfe, who was then deputy manager and political director of Mr. de Blasio's mayoral campaign and is now his director of intergovernmental affairs. There were discussions with an attorney representing Ms. Wolfe to arrange the interview, but the interview has yet to take place, these people said. Ms. Wolfe was a key player in Mr. de Blasio's 2009 campaign for public advocate and served as his chief of staff when he was in that position. She previously worked as an organizing and field director for the Working Families Party. The party has said its support for candidates in 2009 was legal and is seeking to have Mr. Adler removed from the investigation, arguing in court papers that the process used to select him was unlawful. The Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, is slated to hear arguments in the case on Tuesday. The Manhattan U.S. attorney's office probed the party's ties to Data & Field Services in 2010, but that probe has ended. Dan Donovan, the district attorney in Staten Island, also began investigating and later recused himself from the probe. Mr. Donovan's request for a special prosecutor, which was granted, is under seal. Joe Dinkin, a spokesman for the party, said the legal requirements for appointing the special prosecutor weren't followed."The appointment should be voided and the matter returned to the DA," he said.

More On the WFP the New Progressive Machine

The Privatization of the Tammany Hall Machine

The Old Tammany Hall Machine was corrupt as corrupt as the lobbyists who have run today's New York's political system. But the machine of the Boss Tweed era was far more responsive to voters and the communities that it served. Terry Golway recent book explained how Tammany Hall depended on voter turnout for power. To get votes the old machine offered services, provided jobs and protected the neighborhood where their votes came from. Tammany Hall governing style was responsible for creating New York's strong Neighborhoods of old. Tammany leader George Washington Plunkitt — the man who coined the phrase “honest graft” — met with constituents and lesser Tammany officials in his district several times a week to find out who was happy with Tammany’s services and who required some special attention. Today's lobbyist's controlled private machine gain power by getting electing candidates and feeding them with campaign contributions from their clients who are looking for city contracts or zoning changes, they never meet the voters.

Lobbyists Political Consultants Have At First Worked Side by Side With Party Bosses to Cut Themselves Into Election System . . . They Are Now in the Process of Cutting Out Those Party Machines Who Brought Them In

Today's Lobbyist Private Political Machine did not replace the old Tammany Hall. It replaced political parties machine running on fumes, using the election low and decreasing voter's turnout to stay in power. The dumbing down of the press and the voting public and the end of organized political competition after the Eleanor Roosevelt who pushed out Tammany's de Sapio and the anti-Viet Nam reform movement, have left party bosses in power unchallenged.

More on the Privatization of the New Tammany Hall Machine

WFP Tries to Duck Subpoenas to Delay Case Which is Close to Statue of Limitations

Are WFP Case Subpoenas Legal?(YNN) A key union affiliate of the Working Families Party is questioning the legality of the latest round of subpoenas issued by a special prosecutor investigating the labor-backed organization’s 2009 campaign activities. In an Aug. 5 letter to the special prosecutor, Roger Adler, the attorney for political action committee of the Communications Workers of America noted that by sending a July 1 subpoena to the union’s political arm, Adler was “proceeding as if that were a valid grand jury subpoena.” But in an Aug. 4 interview with Capital New York, Adler said “Grand Jury Number Two” in this long-standing case would not be impaneled until Friday, Sept. 5. That was consistent with a claim made in an email to the CWA PAC attorney, James Reif, of Gladstein Reif and Meginniss, in which, Reif wrote to Adler, “you stated that the Richmond County Grand Jury will begin taking testimony on September 5, 2014.” An attorney for Staten Island Councilwoman Debi Rose confirmed to The Staten Island Advance Aug. 5 that Rose had also received a subpoena, is not a target of Adler’s investigation and would also be “cooperating fully” with the special prosecutor.According to the Advance, Adler had also issued subpoenas to the WFP itself, the NYC Campaign Finance Board, 32 BJ SEIU, and District Council 37.

How the WFP is Trying to Stop the Special Prosecutor

The Working Families Party is trying to stop an investigation of a city council election launched by Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, the prosecutor's ex parte application to be relieved of the case, and a judge's decision to grant the motion and appoint a special prosecutor without revealing why. Working Families Party v. Fisher, 59, centers on a probe Donovan launched into a 2009 City Council campaign and apparently involves the party's use of a not-for-profit arm to promote liberal Democrats. The WFP has challenged Donovan's authority to recuse himself and Fisher's authority to relieve the district attorney without "a showing of actual prejudice based on a demonstrated conflict of interest," as mandated by County Law §701. The Appellate Division, Second Department, last August rejected the party's petition and affirmed the appointment of Adler. It held that a writ of prohibition is suitable to challenge the appointment of a special district attorney only if the special D.A. is performing a quasi-judicial function, as opposed to conducting an investigation. In another case in the past WFP lawyer Avi Schick has been trying to quash subpoenas from a special prosecutor that involve a 2009 council race on Staten Island. * Boot special prosecutor in S.I. election probe, Working Families Party tells court(SI Advance)

The New Powerful WFP Machine and the Data and Field Cover-Up

Winds of A Major WFP Investigation

New York City’s Campaign Finance Board is employing high-powered law firm Debevoise and Plimpton in connection with a special prosecutor's probe into the labor-backed Working Families Party, Crain’s reports Special prosecutor, Roger Adler, was set to empanel a grand jury Sept. 5 and had issued subpoenas. Campaign Finance Board officials may be called to testify. The criminal probe centers on whether a consulting firm set up by the Working Families Party, Data & Field Services, undercharged favored candidates for campaign services in 2009. The Campaign Finance Board has recently been using the law firm, Debevoise and Plimpton, in dealing with Mr. Adler’s probe, sources said.New York City’s Campaign Finance Board is employing high-powered law firm Debevoise and Plimpton in connection with a special prosecutor's probe into the labor-backed Working Families Party

Will de Blasio be Subpoenaed?

The Campaign Finance Board audits all campaigns for City Council, borough president and citywide offices, and is known for scrupulously going through candidates' expenditure reports. Staten Island Councilwoman Deborah Rose, one of the WFP-backed candidates in 2009, won a Democratic primary for her seat nearly five years ago—but the Campaign Finance Board still hasn’t released an audit of the campaign, which attracted special scrutiny because of a related lawsuit filed against it.he hiring of outside counsel also demonstrates the potential conflicts within city government that could arise out of the investigation. Mayor Bill de Blasio helped found the Working Families Party back in 1998, and one of his top aides Emma Wolfe has reportedly been sought for questioning by Mr. Adler. Mr. de Blasio was also a client of Data & Field Services during his successful 2009 run for public advocate. Those potentials conflicts would make it more difficult for the CFB to use the city’s corporation counsel, Zachary Carter, who was appointed by Mr. de Blasio. The chairwoman of the Campaign Finance Board, Rose Gill Hearn, was appointed by former Mayor Michael Bloomberg on his second to last day in office last year. She had been running the Department of Investigation.

Will the WFP's Data and Field Cover Up Be Exposed By These Two Men?

Subpoenas issued in alleged WFP campaign finance abuse probe(NYP)

A 5-year-old investigation of the Working Families Party is back on track with a special prosecutor issuing subpoenas in his probe for alleged campaign abuses. “This is not meant to be a fishing expedition,” said Roger Adler, who was appointed when Staten Island DA Dan Donovan recused himself from the case. “It’s meant to be targeted to people who have relevant information.” Adler is looking into allegations that City Council member Debi Rose, who was backed by the WFP, received improper support from the party’s for-profit campaign arm, Data and Field Services, during the 2009 election that made her the council’s first black lawmaker from Staten Island. According to a lawsuit filed by voters against the party, the WFP’s campaign arm provided discounted consulting and get-out-the-vote services to Rose’s campaign that were never disclosed, a violation of campaign-finance laws. Adler said he has issued subpoenas to the WFP, the Campaign Finance Board, SEIU Local 1199 and the Communications Workers of America.* Albany County DA David Soares says he’s cooperating fully with the federal probe into the Moreland Commission’s demise.

Rose Campaign Paid $100,000 + to Berlin Rosen the Spokesman for de Blasio One NY Fund

Here Comes the WFP Investigation Melt Down

A special prosecutor has begun issuing subpoenas in the long-stalled investigation into the 2009 campaign activities of the Working Families Party, with a grand jury scheduled to be impaneled next month. (Capital)

WFP, Acorn 2.0 and the New Progressive Machine

The NYT Reports on the Ending of the WFP Investigation in 2010 But Not the Opening of It Again in 2014

No Charges Against Working Families Party - NYTimes.com(2010)

Ruling: Special Prosecutor Can Probe Working Families Party(WSJ)

Court rules prosecutor can investigate Working Families Party New York Post

State's Court of Appeals upheld appointment of special New York Daily News‎

Court of Appeals: DA Donovan correct in recusing himself from ... SILive.com
Appeals court allows special prosecutor in WFP probe Capital New York

Bharara Talks Corruption

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said that the culture of corruption in Albany will only change when the public says enough is enough, Gannett Albany reports:

WFP's Lawyers and Political Operatives Have Worked Hard to Stop the Data and Field Investigation

Only Staten Island Prosecutors Are Willing to Cross the WFP

Since 2009 Lawyer for WFP Have Been Trying With Much Success Stopping Investigations into Data and Field

Pol stonewalls suit on WFP campaign(NYP)A City Council hopeful won’t cough up documents related to whether the Working Families Party is scamming the campaign finance system — because the case could involve “criminal liability,” according to documents released yesterday. The bombshell development was revealed at a court hearing where lawyers for the WFP and the campaign of Staten Island candidate Debi Rose tried to get a suit against them tossed.* No Charges Against Working Families Party - NYTimes.com * Who'll dare to probe the WFP? | New York(NYP)

Like its ACORN partner, the WFP has responded to allegations by announcing an investigation of itself. With all respect to former Chief Judge Judith Kaye, whom the WFP tapped to lead the internal review, no one but an outside prosecutor will be able to hold the party accountable. On the local level, the best hope rests with Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, a Republican. Spurred by an election lawsuit filed by Randy Mastro, a top aide in the Giuliani administration, Donovan’s office has “begun a preliminary review” of Debi Rose’s WFP-boosted campaign for City Council, say sources.Rose’s lawyer refused to provide documents requested by the Mastro suit, citing his client’s Fifth Amendment right to not implicate herself in a crime. The councilwoman-elect later insisted that the Fifth wasn’t her actual grounds for refusing to cooperate with the demand for records — but failed to give another reason.Among the local prosecutors, incoming Manhattan DA Cy Vance has the most resources and largest staff. But is he willing to provoke the outrage of organized labor? A case emerging with the other Democratic DAs isn’t promising. “I need a complaint,” says Brooklyn DA Joe Hynes, who was endorsed by the WFP. State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who has been silent on the WFP matter, could open a civil case against the party’s shell corporation. And, under a statute that has been used in rare circumstances, the attorney general may ask the governor for the power to criminally prosecute abuses of election law. Aspiring to be a more radical version of Boss Tweed, the WFP is an election or two away from becoming too powerful to stop. The choice facing Democrats and prosecutors is reminiscent of that line from “The Untouchables”: “Mr. Ness, everybody knows where the booze is. The problem isn’t finding it; the problem is who wants to cross Capone.”

2009 : Bill de Blasio's campaign used political consulting firm Data & Field Services, which operated out of the same office of the labor-backed Working Families Party. (City & State) * 2011 : Scott Levenson has close ties to the Working Families Party (City & State) * No firewalls: Working Families Party straddles thin line between party, nonprofit (NYDN 2009) * ACORN sowed seeds for de Blasio - The Advance Group* Data and Field Services - New York Daily News * The NYC Working Families Party Scam UPDATED(Daily Kos, 2009)

More About WFP Data and Field

WFP, Acorn 2.0 and the New Progressive Machine

WFP Caused the Walmartization of NY's Politics . . . Using the Wal-Mart Business Model to Win Campaigns and Drive Out the Competition

NYC does not have a single Walmart because of the WFP and their friends in the progressive movement protesting the company unfair business practices. The protesters accuse Wal-mart of bulk purchasing and corporate financing to sell merchandise at low costs in order to drive competitors out of the market. WFP says the Wal-Mart's business model pushes mom and pop business out of the market creating an economic monopoly. It is now clear that the WFP has use the Wal-Mart unfair business model to take over NY's politics by using unfair economic advantages. In 2009 the WFP created Data and Field as a for profit company to give them competitive advantages in campaigns.

Centralization of Money And Campaign Consultants Taking the Power Out of the Local Communities to Choose Who Represent Them

WFP, Unions and Developers Sucking the Life Out of NYC Neighborhoods
Date and Field was a complicated web of coordinated campaign services at reduced prices, shared resources and staff, and quiet money transfers between six 2009 Council campaigns, as well as Bill de Blasio’s campaign for public advocate. Upwards of a million dollars, and possibly more, was involved, with over $1.7 million in matching funds comprised of taxpayer dollars already disbursed and more are potentially was at stake. Data and Field was forced to shut down as part of a lawsuit settlement against Councilwoman Debi Rose, filed by five Staten Island voters. The voters alleged that Rose was under billed for a services provided by Data and Field Services (DFS), a political company created by the WFP. Rose should have paid DFS $100,000, but the lawsuit alleged that her campaign was under billed because she was endorsed by the Working Families Party, which violates election laws. After years fighting in court the Staten Island DA has just won the right to use a special prosecutor to investigate Data and Field. Special prosecutor Roger Adler will be looking at all the campaigns run by Berlin Rosen, which is now the house lobbyists for City Hall that received funding and services from Data and Field, including Bill de Blasio, Brad Lander, Debi Rose, Daniel Dromm, Jumaane Williams and Melissa Mark-Viverito.

NYCLASS, United for the Future PACs in 2013, Like Data and Field in 2009 Also Gave Unfair Advantage to WFP Candidates

It is clear that the WFP completed the Wal-Martization of NYC politics in the 2013 municipal election. Data and Field was not longer available to the WFP so they developed a close working relationship with two PACs, NYCLASS and United for the Future. A PAC funded by the UFT. We know that the Advance Group is under FBI and CFB investigation for their role in running NYCLASS. We also know that two council members have been fined for their campaigns being run by Advance and receiving mailings by the Advance run PAC NYCLASS. The CFB said the campaigns of Laurie Cumbo and Mark Levine (both WFP endorsed) were illegally coordinated and received unfair economic advantage. Melissa Mark-Viverito another WFP candidate also was funded by NYCLASS. What is unclear is if the CFB or the FBI is looking at the unfair advantage other WFP endorsed candidates received by PACs connected to their campaign consultants. The same political consultant that benefited from Data and Field Berlin Rosen were side by side with Advance in the 2013 WFP campaigns of fine candidates Mark Levine, Laurie Cumbo. Berlin Rosen also worked in the campaigns of WFP candidates funded by the UFT Advance run United for the Future PAC: Corey Johnson, Kirsten J Foy, Rory Lancman and Ydanis A Rodriguez. The Advance Group involvement in the UFT PAC United for the Future was covered up by the UFT who paid the consultant though a fake company. The following additional WFP candidate received funding by the United for the Future PAC: Rosie Mendez, Vanessa L Gibson and Alan Maisel. Red Horse another consultant that worked for United for the Future PAC also got funding for two of their WFP back candidates Ritchie Torres, Paul Vallone.r
A special prosecutor has begun issuing subpoenas in the long-stalled investigation into the 2009 campaign activities of the Working Families Party, with a grand jury scheduled to be impaneled next month. “Having met with the people who operate—or should I say conduct—grand jury operations in Staten Island, what will now be called Grand Jury Number Two will be impaneled on Friday, September 5,” said Roger Adler, the special prosecutor, during a phone interview. Adler declined to provide specifics on who was being subpoenaed, but did mention the political action committees of the member unions that make up the Working Families Party, as well as officials with the city’s Campaign Finance Board. At least one of those unions, 1199 SEIU, acknowledged through its political director, Kevin Finnegan, that it is cooperating with subpoenas and has retained counsel.
Other W.F.P.-affiliated unions thought to be of interest, such as the Hotel Trades Council and 32BJ, declined to comment on whether they too had received subpoenas.Adler had previously served subpoenas to party officials in 2013, and previously this year requested a meeting with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s director of intergovernmental affairs Emma Wolfe, who served as a W.F.P. operative in 2009.The new round of activity from Adler’s office comes nearly two months after the state Court of Appeals denied the W.F.P.’s request to invalidate Adler’s appointment as special prosecutor. Adler was appointed by chief administrative judge Fern Fisher in 2012, after Staten Island district attorney Dan Donovan, a Republican, recused himself from the investigation into the labor-backed party.
The W.F.P. reshuffled its legal counsel after losing its case in the state’s highest court. Gone is Avi Schick, who served as counsel in Eliot Spitzer’s attorney general office. The party has now retained Jonathan Bach of Cooley LLP to represent it in its latest dealings with the special prosecutor.
Adler’s investigation focuses on the 2009 City Council campaign activities of the Working Families Party, and whether the party provided discounted services to Staten Island-based city councilwoman Debi Rose’s campaign. The party settled a civil lawsuit in 2010 brought by former Rudy Giuliani aide Randy Mastro, who alleged that the party violated campaign finance laws. The agreement led to the separation of Data and Field Services from the W.F.P.

The .0003% Potemkin WFP Party

There is no doubt that the WFP is the most powerful party in New York politics today, after taking over City Hall and making the govern of the empire state gravel on video to gain their support. What is at question is who does the Working Families Party represent and how do they operate. In a city that has 8,337,000 residents, the WFP has 2529 active members that voted in the 2013 election, just .0003% of NYC voting population. Political parties in NYC were designed by district to give a voice to each neighborhood in the city. At the height of the Tammany Hall Democratic Party, there were over 400 clubs representing the neighborhood in the city. Many in the same neighborhood competing against each other. There’s was more to the Tammany Hall story than corruption. Tammany Hall’s leaders delivered social services and took care of the residents of their district problems. They massaged justice at a time when the poor did not have access to public defenders. They gave food and jobs to those who need them. In short Tammany Hall power came from delivering services to the voters. Political parties today like the WFP gain their power by controlling ballot access, campaign consultants, lobbyist and money. Bloomberg paid millions for the GOP and Independent party line when he was mayor. Malcolm Smith tried to buy the GOP line from two party leaders who are under indictment. Not only are registered voter in the Independence Party not receiving the services that Tammany Hall democratic were provided at the turn of the century, but as the Daily News proves over and over again those IP registered voters have no idea they belong to a real party, they think they are just independent.

WFP Making the Progressive Movement into A Cult That Cuts Out Its Traditional Reform Services Roots to A Narrow Union Protection Racket

Yesterday lifelong progressive wrote that the WFP was exploited by the union interests that bankroll it. "With de Blasio and the UFT-financed Working Families Party as allies, the union is hijacking the very language of progressive movement politics, annexing left journalism to defend its narrowest interests and even recruiting progressives to join its war against charter schools that work for kids." Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labour began her reform of America's labor laws working side by side with Tammany Hall to reform the city's building code after the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire. Perkins came to Roosevelt's cabinet from a career championing workers' rights. An outspoken graduate from Mount Holyoke, she began work as a social reformer as part of Tammany Hall well before women won the right to vote. A defining moment for her was the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911: 146 garment workers, most of them young immigrant women, died as an overcrowded factory burned down in Greenwich Village. Perkins, who had been having tea with friends nearby, witnessed the tragedy from the pavement, watching young women leap to their deaths from the upper floors. She vowed to redouble her efforts and became an adept political operator, working with the famously corrupt Democrats in Tammany Hall.

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The WFP Took Over Politics Because the Other Parties in the City Are Not Real Also

All the parties have let the voters of NYC down. The middle class who they were supposed to serve are fleeing the city fueled by political leaders who fund tax breaks for real estate developers that gentrify (increase rents) in neighborhoods they live in . The poor who the parties were designed to help in exchange for their vote have increased in numbers. It is no surprise that the WFP was able to march in with a slick PR campaign and take over. The Independence Party has no power to win votes. It candidate the only Latino in the race in the 2013 mayoral campaign got less than 1% of the vote in the general election. The GOP is down to just 6 elected officials in a city with over 130 elected positions. Most importantly the leadership of the city's dominant Democratic Party has lost the ability to work together and elect citywide candidates. Rudy Giuliani, Mike Bloomberg, the loss of the council speaker position by Queens Boss Crowley and the fact that not one democratic county leader supported de Blasio for mayor in the primary, show you just how out of touch the democrats aging party leadership has become.

At the Least the WFP Has Played Fast and Lose With the Election Laws

The WFP took advantage of the weakness of the city's other parties and low voter participation, by putting together a smart and sharp coalition with the unions that knows how to run campaigns and has no fear about breaking election laws to elect their candidates or threatening primaries against candidates that don't follow their orders. The WFP campaigns against the IDC candidates this year show how aggressive and coordinated their quest for power has become. Many of today's elected officials come from the political class (working for other elected officials) and have no strong political support from the district they were elected from. In other words they do not have the power to stand up to the special interests. The Data and Field scandal in 2009 and the NYCLASS scandal shows their coalition willingness to violated election laws to gain power. The buzz in political circles has been that anyone of these two scandals could take down the WFP, even the mayor. But the Buzz today is that the Yoda governor can accomplish the begin of the destruction of the WFP with one move.

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Competition On the Left is the Way to Stop or Slow Down the WFP Invasion of New York's Government

Listening to an interview on Cassimatis’ round table today with Exec. Dir. of the Liberal Party Martin Hassner, one get the feeling that it would be OK with the party if Cuomo also ran on his its line this year. By agreeing to run on the Liberal line Cuomo not only gives the party back a permanent ballot line, but set up competition on the progressive side for a party and coalition that has pushed him or tried to push him around, on issues like charter schools, the IDC-GOP Senate coalition and increasing taxes. It would also make some of Cuomo's GOP money people very happy. Some say that Zephyr Teachout run as a democrat, with a WFP operative as her campaign manager, is an insurance policy by the WFP leadership to keep Cuomo from taking the Liberal Line. Stay Tuned. What is clear is that when comparing the role of political parties today with the Tammany Hall era, the corruption is the same, but instead of serving the voters like Boss Tweed or Boss de Sapio did, modern day party leaders are all about deceiving the voters and only helping their friends.The campaign year's third petition period looms on L.I.(Newsday)
More About WFP, Acorn 2.0 and the New Progressive Machine
WFP, Cuomo, IDC and Koppell Klien Race

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . .
Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

Prosecutor investigating Working Families Party sought interview with de Blasio aide Emma Wolfe

WFP Lawyering Up To Stop An Investigation

More About WFP Data and Field

WFP, Acorn 2.0 and the New Progressive Machine

oblem is A Secret

WFP Winning in the Street, Blocking In Court

The Statan Island special prosecutor is looking into if the WFP skirted campaign finance rules by providing services to endorsed candidates at discounted rates, thus defrauded the city's public financing program. Special prosecutor Adler said the underlying campaign finance issues transcend the Working Families Party matter. "The public needs to know that people gaming the system will be held accountable," he said. "Accountability is important to ensure that … people will not be able to game the system and take unfair advantage and unlawfully affect elections. The investigation deals with the fairness of the council campaign and whether or not the campaign finance system was gamed during the 2009 election. That is what the grand jury needs to resolve."

How the WFP is Trying to Stop the Special Prosecutor

Last Tuesday, WFP's lawyer Avi Schick, counsel for the WFP, stressed that the party is not questioning Adler's investigation. Rather, he said it is challenging Fisher's authority to replace the district attorney. During oral arguments, Judge Victoria Graffeo questioned why the WFP cares if Donovan or Adler investigates. Judge Eugene Pigott seemed troubled by the secrecy of the matter. Judge Robert Smith hinted more than once that Schick might want to move to unseal the record to find out just why Donovan recused himself. Judges also questioned whether the target of an investigation should be permitted to choose its own prosecutor, and whether the WFP, if it gets Donovan restored and then finds he had a legitimate reason for stepping aside, could then seek to have him removed. The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York appeared amicus curiae in support of Donovan. In its brief, the group said that "justice is not served when a district attorney is put in a position where he or she believes there is a conflict of interest but recusal is not permitted." Interestingly, none of the issues before the Court of Appeals would stop the investigation from going forward. Rather, the most the Working Families Party can hope for is an order shifting the case back to Donovan. A six-judge panel will hear arguments late Tuesday afternoon. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman has recused himself for unstated reasons.* Judge Fern A. Fisher appointed Roger Bennet Adler special prosecutor in January 2012. * A decision in the appeal is not expected for weeks.

The Media Ignores Efforts to Block An Investigation Into the Most Powerful and Successful Party in New York

The News Blog City and State under their former name City Hall did a 5 part investigation of Data and Field. That investigation for unknown reasons have been taken off the internet. But the following are some of what was in the City and State investigation: The NYC Working Families Party Scam UPDATED - Daily Kos * The incestuous relationship between Working Families Party & Data & Field Services * ACORN, the Working Families Party and Political Corruption, Part I (Brightbart) * The Working Families Party Scam - Huffington Post * Breaking: WFP/ACORN Takes The Fifth On Corruption Suit. * Alleged Corruption In Obama's Working Families Party: 'Inside The DFS Experience' * Meet Avi Schick, New York’s New Steamroller (NYO) * Manhattan federal prosecutors previously launched a criminal probe into the matter but closed the case in 2010 with no charges being filed, according to published reports.

What the WFP's Data and Field Case is About

WFP, Acorn 2.0 and the New Progressive Machine

Team WFP Pressure On Cuomo Worked
Samuels Back Down Will Not Run for Lt. Gov

Bill Samuels, who threatened to run against former US Rep. Kathy Hochul, Cuomo’s choice for lieutenant governor, said Sunday he won’t enter the race because of the WFP’s decision to back the Cuomo/Hochul ticket.* U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Patrick Gaspard has been cleared of allegations that he violated a federal law banning certain partisan political activity by government workers when he helped the de Blasio campaign last year, the Daily News writes: * Mayor Bill de Blasio played a key role in a deal brokered to get Gov. Andrew Cuomo the Working Families Party’s nomination for governor, which, among other things, includes publicly committing to push for a Democratic takeover of the state Senate, the Daily News’ Ken Lovett reports: * Cuomo sidestepped questions about why he didn’t attend the Working Families Party convention, instead insisting that the important outcome was the nomination he secured, Newsday writes: * Bill Samuels Says The WFP Stood Up To Cuomo(TNN) * Liz Benjamin in Capital New York notes that although Cuomo pledged to the Working Families Party to help flip the Senate to Democratic control in exchange for the party’s endorsement, he began backpedaling once the party’s convention was over: * Cuomo’s WFP Filing Yet To Make It To The WFP * State Sen. Diane Savino and Assemblyman Michael Cusick, both of Staten Island, have chosen not to seek the Working Families Party endorsement this year, with Savino, a former executive committee member of the party, saying there are issues they don’t see eye-to-eye on, the Staten Island Advance reports:

* For the first time in more than a decade, the State Senate Republicans won’t be getting any money from 1199 SEIU—the state’s powerful healthcare workers union—at election time, Capital New York reports: http://goo.gl/VpXYGU
* State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a mainline Democrat, said it is unlikely that measures like the public financing of political campaigns and the 10-point women’s agenda will be approved in her chamber this session, State of Politics reports: http://goo.gl/MuWzCM

Teachout to Decide In the Next Week On A WFP Primary Against Cuomo
Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham University law professor who lost to Cuomo for the Working Families Party endorsement, said she’ll decide in the next week whether to challenge him in the Democratic primary, Gannett Albany reports:

Zephyr Teachout, Cuomo irritant, vows to press on(Capital) Teachout, an enrolled Democrat, says she is weighing a primary challenge to Cuomo. She would not win. But she could succeed by making a point, calling attention to the ideals she believes in and believes have been ignored by Cuomo, and maybe even creating a lingering infrastructure when the dust settles. “I plan to be a watchdog on that deal and hold him accountable,” Teachout said. “I hope to be around not just this year for the deal, but for the future, because we've had a problem with promises before from Cuomo. I hope this promise sticks. I want it to stick.”“I'd love to run against Cuomo,” Teachout continued. “I care so much about the Working Families Party and it was so important to bring people together tonight. But if I were free to really talk about, tell the truth about Cuomo's record in a Democratic primary, I think some pretty exciting things could happen.”*After losing the WFP endorsement to Cuomo, Fordham Law Prof. Zephyr Teachout is still holding out the possibility that she might challenge him in the Democratic primary. * Zephyr's Teach-able moment? "I still don't trust Gov. Cuomo"(NYDN) * Cuomo spent much of the legislative session complicating life for NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, but now owes the mayor for brokering a peace deal between himself and the WFP.* WFP state committee member Susan Weber summed up the WFP’s dilemma thusly: “If we endorse him, we run the risk of losing our base. If we don’t support him, he will do his best to kill us.” * The regular Democrats are actively seeking candidates to primary IDC members who so far don’t have challengers: Sens. Diane Savino, David Valesky and David Carlucci, who doesn’t have the support of his home county Democratic committee.* AG Eric Schneiderman called the messy WFP convention and its outcome an example of the “gut check” for Democrats that’s taking place all across the nation.* Cuomo Promises Progressive Agenda To Secure Working Families ...
Gothamist * Cuomo's Volatile Alliance With the Working Families Party New York Magazine* Teachout Vows, Albeit Vaguely, To Move Forward(YNN) * Mayor says Gov has lost patience w/ sen coalition * Teachout threatens Democratic primary challenge against Cuomo(NYP) * Anti-Cuomo activists fight for Working Families Party to nominate Zephyr Teachout(NYDN) * The WFP state committee also backed challengers to Tony Avella, Malcolm Smith, and Martin Dilan * Astorino: ‘Bipartisanship Died’ With WFP Endorsement(YNN) * Senate Democrats Confident Cuomo Will Campaign For Them(YNN) * Source: De Blasio plans outreach to I.D.C. challengers* Capital New York explores the background of Zephyr Teachout—Cuomo’s possible primary challenger—including her time as a top aide to Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign and her academic work on political corruption:* Diane Ravitch, who was floated as a potential WFP gubernatorial alternative, is confused as to why the party went with Cuomo. (She’s promoting the Green Party sla * NY1 Online: Zephyr Teachout Discusses Failed Working Families Gubernatorial Bid * On Day One back in Albany for the state Senate since Gov. Andrew Cuomo took the Working Families Party line, Democrats were publicly supportive of the deal brokered for the endorsement, while Republicans were publicly dismissive, The Buffalo News reports: *Teachout: Cuomo Won’t Be President(YNN) * Richard Kirsch of the progressive Roosevelt Institute writes that it is a mistake to think the Working Families Party's endorsement of Cuomo is a defeat for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party:

Cuomo and WFP Sell Out Dance

WFP Bosses Hold All the Cards Over the Party's Activists
Who’s selling out? Cuomo, the WFP — maybe both(NYP) The WFP the decision on who to back for governor will strip away the camouflage that has cloaked the party since its inception in 1998 — ostensibly to advance progressive policies but in fact as cover for the transactional politics of the public-employee unions comprising its core. Sanctimony and subterfuge are hardly unique to the Working Families Party, of course, but it has prospered because nobody has been paying close attention — and because its leaders haven’t been faced with hard ideological choices. Now the party’s true bosses — the folks who run the health-care workers and teachers unions in particular — are pushing hard for a Cuomo endorsement. Heaven only knows what practical understandings they’ve reached with the governor, but for sure the decision wasn’t a product of his sunny disposition. Yet the true believers are pushing back.

New York's Smoke and Mirrors Politics Old Guard Gets Exposed

A Party With .03% of the States Registered Voters Has Taken Over its Politics

The result is a “striking spectacle,” as Alec MacGillis writes in an essay in the New Republic, as “a governor with a famous name and $33 million in the bank is scrambling to meet the demands of a third party led by a little-known former community organizer, Dan Cantor, with a mere 40 people on his staff.” The latest push came Tuesday evening, when New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joined Cuomo in talking to labor leaders.

NY's Political Parties Are So Corrupt They Not Keep Out the Public, They Also Cut Out Their Own Members

“The people I’ve spoken with, there isn’t anybody supporting Cuomo,” WFP state treasurer Dorothy Siegel tells Capital New York. Cuomo’s support for charter schools — as selectively applied as it has been — and his refusal to nick millionaires a second time to support de Blasio’s pre-kindergarten program earlier this year, are like a bone in the throat to the true lefties. A WFP endorsement of Cuomo means that the party has surrendered its soul to the unionists — who then could quit pretending to progressive values and get down to the business of molding state government to fit the best interests of their members. For make no mistake: Cuomo won’t win the WFP endorsement without having conducted some business of his own — some of which will quickly be apparent, but most of which will probably never become obvious. Put more starkly, the governor will have sold his own soul — or a very large chunk of it — to the WFP. Immediate evidence of this would be strong gubernatorial support for campaign-finance legislation that passes WFP muster — that is, which includes piles of tax dollars for candidates plus sharp restrictions on business and personal political contributions, all along with carve-outs effectively exempting unions from spending limits of any sort.

‘We Don’t Have to Agree With Everything’: de BlasioReveals His Cuomo WFP Pitch(NYO)* Cuomo: Without Public Financing, Senate Coalition A Failure (Updated)(YNN)

Negotiations between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Working Families Party for its ballot line are intense ahead of the party’s convention this weekend with some in the party uneasy about making a private deal with Cuomo, the New York Times writes: * The Times Union writes that the need for campaign finance reform on the state level is more necessary than ever now that the state Board of Elections said they can’t enforce the $150,000 limit for individual contributions in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision:* Seventy-three percent of activists surveyed by MoveOn.org said they wanted to see a “progressive challenger” run against Cuomo this fall, while only 27 percent said they would prefer not to see a challenger and that they support the incumbent.* Republicans Plan ‘Issue-Themed’ Line(NYO) * Has Cuomo Inoculated Democrats On Taxes?(NYO) * Cuomo and de Blasio Are Now a Political Tag Team (NY Mag) * Cuomo warned Senate Republicans and the Independent Democratic Conference that if public financing fails the coalition would be a “failure,” although he is “pessimistic” it will pass, State of Politics reports: * Cuomo and the five-member IDC met this week to discuss the effort to pass public campaign financing, and the idea of reuniting with the mainline Senate Democrats was also raised, State of Politics reports: * The Public Campaign Action Fund, a national group, will soon launch a $1 million television ad campaign promoting Cuomo’s public campaign financing proposal, Gannett Albany reports: * Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will fundraise for Republican gubernatorial hopeful Rob Astorino next month at Manhattan’s Union League Club, where tickets will cost between $500 and $2,500, State of Politics writes: *Seventy-three percent of NY MoveOn members say they want to see a “progressive challenger” run against Gov. Andrew Cuomo.* How interested are rank-and-file WFP members in pragmatism? We’ll find out this weekend. * Now Third-Place Bidder May Nab Long Island College Hospital Curbed NY

Diane Ravitch, citing knee surgery, says she's not running for office(NYDN)

de Blasio Lets It Be Known That He is Pushing WFP Activists to Back Cuomo

Andrew Cuomo has spent at least $755,000 so far to air his post-convention ad in NYC, @JessicaAlaimo reports * New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is asking the Working Families Party to back Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s reelection bid after the two held a high-stakes meeting with WFP leaders in Manhattan, the Daily News writes Working Families Party State Director Bill Lipton and Executive Director Dan Cantor - both of whom are believed to be unenthusiastic about Cuomo - took part. A who's who of labor titans also attended, including the leader of the health care workers union, 1199 SEIU President George Gresham; Hotel Trades Council President Peter Ward; building services workers union 32BJ President Hector Figueroa; and Communication Workers of America District 1 Vice President Chris Shelton. They are believed to be supportive of Cuomo’s candidacy.* WFP Convention Keynote To Focus On Income Inequality(Capital) * Working Families Party reaches out to Diane Ravitch for governor run(NYP) * Astorino Expects Senate GOP To Not Back Broader Public Financing Deal(YNN)

* Astorino: ‘We All Know The Rent Is Too Damn High’(YNN) * Astorino: California Rampage Shows ‘Government Failed’(YNN) * Cuomo airs ad touting bipartisanship(Capital) Governor Andrew Cuomo spent $755,100 on four New York City buys * Less than 1% of the $33 million Andrew Cuomo has raised has come from donations of $250 or less. * Cuomo’s rose-colored glasses(NYDN) The governor keeps on the sunny side* * Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino wants to debate Cuomo one-on-one, saying that including third party candidates would allow the governor to avoid answering questions, State of Politics reports: * Astorino renewed his push for term limits, saying it would be the first bill he pushes upon taking office and that eight years is enough for anyone to serve in state government, State of Politics reports: *Hawkins: Ravitch Would Be A ‘Wonderful Addition’ To Race(YNN)

WFP squeezing Cuomo from the left, with cameo from @BilldeBlasio

Andrew Cuomo Has A Real Problem On His Left Flank. Good(New Republic) The drama is in New York, where Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing a serious insurrection on his left flank as he heads into what was supposed to be a blissfully uneventful reelection campaign. An increasingly influential third-party in the state is threatening to withhold its support from the governor this fall, which has set off a remarkable flurry of negotiations this week as Cuomo scrambles to keep the group in the fold.

Is the WFP Now Running the State Also?

CUOMO’S NEXT MOVES: The governor suddenly has several urgent political reasons to address public financing of elections. It’s a potentially useful change of topic, after the Times reported that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara issued a subpoena to a top aide to the governor’s Moreland Commission—evidence, it said, that the federal prosecutor “may be examining allegations of interference with the commission. And as Blake Zeff writes for Capital, there’s the matter of the Working Families Party and its upcoming endorsement. The state committee, made up largely of activist types who back public campaign financing, is set to meet on May 31 to determine the party’s gubernatorial nomination—essentially deciding whether to go to war with Cuomo by backing a margin-damaging challenge from the left

--ON CUE Pandering to the WFP: Cuomo vowed in a late Tuesday essay to keep fighting for a broader system of public campaign finance —this year. Writing in The Huffington Post, the governor tried to walk the line between defending deal he struck with lawmakers to disband the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption and vowing to press on. * Source: Cuomo Backs Phase-In Of Public Financing Starting Next Year(YNN) * Gov. Andrew Cuomo supports a plan to phase in public campaign financing starting in the 2015 election cycle, initially only for open seats or elections where no incumbent is running, State of Politics reports:

The WFP Endorsement May Hinge On Who Has the Power to Fill Vacant State Committee Seats

Jimmy Vielkind ‏@JimmyVielkind 2h

Cobble Hill has the most votes and lawyers can be placeholders: the mechanics of tomorrow's @WorkingFamilies confab
Jerry Skurnik ‏@PrimeNewYork

@JimmyVielkind @WorkingFamilies I believe that WFP leadership have power to fill the vacant State Committee seats you refer to before meet
Jimmy Vielkind ‏@JimmyVielkind

@PrimeNewYork @WorkingFamilies No. Article IX, Sec. 1 of the WFP rules say it's State Committee who fills vacancies.

Daily News Tells Cuomo to Just Say Not to WFP and IP

The Daily News writes that with both the Working Families and Independence parties courting Cuomo to be on their ballot lines, Cuomo should just say no to both parties

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . .
Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

Prosecutor investigating Working Families Party sought interview with de Blasio aide Emma Wolfe

WFP Lawyering Up To Stop An Investigation

More About WFP Data and Field

WFP, Acorn 2.0 and the New Progressive Machine

The NYT Looks Only At the WFP Estrangement From Cuomo
Public financing emerging as the price of a Cuomo-WFP bid
"I obviously will be supporting Cuomo for re-election,"deBlasio says when asked about WFP considering another candidate

De Blasio Mum on Whether WFP Should Endorse Cuomo(NYO)
Worried that a liberal challenger could take votes away from him, Cuomo is working to repair his relationship with the Working Families Party, which needs a candidate who can garner 50,000 votes in order to keep the party on the ballot.
Cuomo Works to Mend Fences With Liberals(NYT) @WorkingFamilies leader Dan Cantor says party leaders honestly don't know how rift with @nygovcuomo will work out. Leaders of the Working Families Party say Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has drifted too far to the right, and are privately talking about nominating their own candidate to run for governor this year. Cuomo has won significant support from traditionally Republican constituencies, including business executives who like his tax cuts and Wall Street financiers delighted with his support of charter schools. But this courtship has come at a price: As he begins his bid for a second term, he is struggling to hold on to support from the left wing of his own party. According to the paper, Mr. Cuomo “has expressed resentment at being issued an ultimatum over public financing by party leaders.” But he has nonetheless been working behind-the-scenes “to convince the party’s leaders and other activists that he shares their goal. In a private meeting with advocates of campaign finance reform, Mr. Cuomo said that when he is eulogized, he wants to be remembered for three accomplishments: legalizing same-sex marriage, tightening gun laws and passing a public-financing system, according to people with firsthand knowledge of the meeting.” * "If it's close, everything matters -- including running mates." Cuomo and Astorino LG Picks. (Newsday) * Westchester County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino plans to invite President Barack Obama and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to take time Wednesday to visit Westchester communities “in search of any evidence of racial discrimination,” the Post’s Fred Dicker writes:

*Your Not Talking to Me Cuomo has shown that his campaign strategy is to refuse to engage Astorino while Democratic operatives engage him instead, the Wall Street Journal writes *Cuomo lets a running-mate question linger(Capital) What LG pick will do the governor the least harm?* The Wall Street Journal chronicled Mr. Cuomo’s refusal to says the name of his Republican challenger, Rob Astorino. “In public, Mr. Cuomo avoids even oblique references to Mr. Astorino; the governor has never said his challenger’s name in public, an aide confirmed. And he declines to answer reporters’ questions on the subject. Asked in early April to respond to Mr. Astorino’s criticism of the state budget deal, Mr. Cuomo listened—stone-faced—to the question while squeezing a baseball (a news conference prop) between his hands. His curt response: ‘Yeah, that’s nice.’”* In the Wall Street Journal, Jessica Proud, a spokeswoman for Mr. Astorino, “questioned why a government official intervened on Ms. Lee’s behalf.” “If the average person has to go through this then the governor should as well,” she said. Mr. Cuomo’s campaign in response: “This is just Rob Astorino playing his little Westchester political games about a gazebo when he should be doing his job.”* "lieutenant governor is arguably the least important of all of NY's many elected posts, until the moment it’s not" (Capital) * .@JeffKleinNY likes working with Republicans, but he won't take their ballot line. via @ChrisBragg1 * Republicans pounce on @SandraLee renovation http://capi.tl/1jSCXlh *DiNapoli On The ‘Ironies’ Of Public Financing (Updated)(YNN) * Assemblyman Keith Wright, the co-chair of the state Democratic Party, filed a complaint accusing state GOP Chairman Ed Cox of fraud for living in Manhattan and voting on Long Island, the Daily News reports:* GOP gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino blasted Cuomo for not seeking a permit to renovate the home owned by his partner, Sandra Lee, although a local official dismissed concerns about it, Gannett Albany writes:

‏@nickconfessore

Absent a major win like pub financing, how does WFP back Cuomo in conscience? On fiscal policy he is what party claims to exist to oppose.

Daily News Tells Cuomo to Just Say Not to WFP and IP

The Daily News writes that with both the Working Families and Independence parties courting Cuomo to be on their ballot lines, Cuomo should just say no to both parties

Corrupt Lobbyist Sheinkopf Says the WFP is Corrupt . . . Rebuild the Liberal Party

Dems adviser urging Cuomo to forget Working Families Party(NYP) A long time Democratic political strategist and current member of the state party is urging Gov. Cuomo to forget about the Working Families Party and focus on creating his own liberal third party. Hank Sheinkopf told The Post it would look bad if Cuomo sought and accepted the line given the party’s current state. “The guy who put Hevesi in jail could be part of a party under investigation,” Sheinkopf said speaking about a 2009 federal probe into the party regarding campaign related services. Sheinkopf, a well know Democratic strategist, said he was speaking not on behalf of the state party–where he was hired to do consulting work—but rather on his own. Accepting the WFP line, in its current state, would give Cuomo’s challenger, republican Rob Astorino, real ammo in the campaign, Sheinkopf said. Instead Sheinkopf believes Cuomo should form his own liberal party minority line “a party that doesn’t put pressure on the middle class”. “He has the popularity and resources,” Sheinkopf said of Cuomo’s potential to garner the necessary 50,000 votes to keep a smaller liberal party line in future elections.

Team Cuomo Believes Teachout Was Put Into the Primary to Weaken the Governor By the WFP

Zephyr Teachout andthe Working Families Party reunite to attack Gov. Cuomo on charter schools (NYDN)* Fordham law professor Zephyr Teachout is promising to remain a thorn in Cuomo’s side. The former gubernatorial challenger is re-joining forces with the Working Families Party today to fight her erstwhile primary opponent on charter schools. Picture @ZephyrTeachout &amp; @WorkingFamilies Bill Lipton w parents &amp; activists vs the billionaires #AllInForFairness
* Teachout And WFP Join Forces To Oppose Charter Schools(YNN)

The WFP Already Throws Mud Back At the Liberal Party

NY's Corrupt Parties Good@Throwing Mud

“The idea that reviving the corrupt Liberal Party that endorsed [Rudy] Giuliani as a progressive alternative to the Working Families Party won’t fool a single person,” said Khan Shoieb, New York Communications Director for the Working Families Party. Gov. Cuomo and the WFP have been at odds in recent months over Cuomo’s agenda.

Is Sheinkopf Hit On the WFP Intended to Lower the Reform Demands on Cuomo to Get the Party's Ballot Line?

Or is Sheinkopf Warning the WFP to Play Ball?
The party says Cuomo is not acting progressive enough, pointing to what they call his watered-down version of a public financing bill, and to his creating a rift between himself and Mayor de Blasio over charter schools. A chess match between Cuomo and the WFP has been going on since the spat began. Shortly after the tension started to mount between the two Cuomo let on he was trying to revive the Liberal Party. But of late reports have surfaced that the Governor’s people are quietly talking with WFP heads behind closed doors. The party, who will nominate a gubernatorial candidate at a May 31convention, has not ruled out picking someone other than Cuomo

WFP Campaign Finance Push But the Real Fight is About Control of the State Senate Gov. Andrew Cuomo met with good-government advocates and a top Working Families Party official to gauge support for a possible compromise on public campaign financing, Capital New York reports: * Members of the Democratic Senate conference and advocates who have pushed for public campaign financing over the years say they won’t support any agreement they deem watered-down, State of Politics reports:* Sources: Negotiations Underway for State Campaign Finance Reform Agreement(NY1)

‏@CTLizB .@nygovcuomo says privately that when eulogized he wants to be remembered for 3 things: gun control, gay marriage, public campaign finance.

Sheinkopf Up to His Balls In the FBI AEG Corruption Scandal is Somehow Working for the Democratic Party

Sheinkopf took the 5th when asked questions by the NY former state Inspector General Joseph Fisch about the AEG scandal which is still being investigated by the feds as part of the AEG investigation. The Feds are also investigating a Board Of Election (the cesspool of political corruption) contract for new machines that Sheinkopf was a lobbyist for. Feds investigate switch by Board of Elections ... - New York Post "Sheinkopf copped a memo, (Barrett, Village Voice, 2010) too, obtaining it from an aide to the top Senate staffer, Angelo Aponte, who Sheinkopf personally installed in the key spot. He had the power to do that because the skillful Sheinkopf doubles as a lobbyist and as a political consultant, and had advised Senate Democrats in the elections that led to the 2008 majority, helping to make Malcolm Smith majority leader. Sheinkopf collected $356,741 in consulting fees from the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee at the same time that he was representing AEG and its precursor with Senate Democrats. Having worked for Bill Thompson and Mike Bloomberg most recently, Sheinkopf makes kings so he can then make deals with the kings he’s made." More on Hank Sheinkopf

More About Corrupt Hank Sheinkopf

.@BilldeBlasio believes WFP should endorse @NYGovCuomo

Our multi-tasking members are at City Hall 2 demand quality housing + local power 2 #raiseupNY pic.twitter.com/DE08yQOvNM

The WFP Nexus . . .
2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . .
Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

Prosecutor investigating Working Families Party sought interview with de Blasio aide Emma Wolfe
A special prosecutor investigating the Working Families Party’s relationship with get-out-the-vote corporation Data & Field Services wants to interview Emma Wolfe, an aide to Mayor Bill de Blasio, The Wall Street Journal reports: Since 2012, the prosecutor, Roger Bennett Adler, has been investigating the Working Families Party's relationship with Data & Field Services, a corporation formed by the left-leaning party to provide its candidates with get-out-the-vote staffing and expertise. Investigators are looking at whether the for-profit firm charged significantly lower fees than is typical for such service, potentially providing an unfair advantage to favored candidates.

WFP Lawyering Up To Stop An Investigation

WSJ Says It is About Says It is About Closed Moreland and Cuomo's Public Financed Failure BS, The WFP Wants Power Control of the State Senate in Albany

Sharknado WFP Ballot Line

Cuomo Braces for Re-Election Challenge From the Left(WSJ) Cuomo, a Democrat, entered the second half of the legislative session having riled the liberal establishment on fiscal issues in the budget as well as with related actions, including his decision to shutter a commission investigating public corruption. In the weeks since, the Working Families Party and other liberal-leaning parties have threatened to abandon the governor at the polls and on the ballot, where the appearance of a third-party candidate could siphon votes from Mr. Cuomo.

A Siena College poll in late April found that a candidate perceived to be more liberal than the governor, running on the Working Families Party line, would win up to 24% of the vote, knocking Mr. Cuomo's lead over Republican challenger Rob Astorino to 15 points. Without a third-party candidate, Mr. Cuomo's lead over Mr.Astorino would be 30 points, the poll showed. With the WFP scheduled to decide by the end of May on whether to give Mr. Cuomo its ballot line, the governor has focused his public rhetoric on a liberal wish-list of agenda items, most prominently a more comprehensive system of public financing for state political campaigns.

Cuomo Running Against Himself

The Post writes that the proposed limits on union funding of independent-expenditure committees that would come with the governor’s campaign finance proposal would infringe on First Amendment speech rights * Cuomo Pushing Re-Election Pork@NYGovCuomo's administration approved $2.66 million in pork payments in the last fiscal year No Show Charters ‘Honorary chair’ Cuomo won’t attend pro-charter retreat(Capital) Large protests were threatened. Scripted Cuomo MTA Deal Prase* Donohue: Gov. Cuomo 'saves' MTA-Transport Workers Union contract deal * "Cuomo can show leadership by getting the people who pay the bills to work." MTA could learn from London's lessons(NYP) Cuomo's Attack Race Card Ads to Regain Black Support A GOP strategist says Cuomo played the “Sharpton race card” against his opponent, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, which makes him look “weak and scared” and will backfire. InsideAlbany:Cuomo’s racial-discrimination claims will hurt him in election: GOP sources(NYP) Cuomo Switching From IDC to Dems?* Cuomo has “privately” pledged to campaign against the IDC-GOP Senate coalition if the DREAM Act, Women’s Equality (with an abortion plank) or campaign finance reform doesn’t pass by the end of the session.

Tuesday's True News Wags NYP
A civil war for working families(NYP Ed)

Monday True News Declares A State of Civil War Existed Inside the WFP
WFP Civil War Over Cuomo/Union Vs Activists

Wednesday Update
Cuomo’s Allies Reach Out To WFP(YNN) Allies of Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke extensively to about 100 members of the labor-backed Working Families Party in a conference call last night, insisting to them that the Democratic incumbent supports a liberal platform in the upcoming campaign and would support ending Republican control of the state Senate. Uncertainty regarding who the Working Families Party will back for governor is said to be causing tension between the party and unions affiliated with it that plan to endorse Cuomo individually Cuomo may not get backing of Working Families Party(NYP)The uncertainty of who will be on the Working Families Party line for governor this fall is causing “real tension” between the party and the unions affiliated with it, a source with knowledge of the union’s concerns told The Post. The unions — who plan to endorse Gov. Cuomo individually — are worried that if the party doesn’t follow their lead they may not garner the 50,000 necessary votes to keep the line in future elections.

“A bunch of the biggest affiliates (unions) going in a different direction than the party could lead to bad blood” said the source. A handful of strong labor unions are the main backers of the WFP. In response WFP officials pointed to a recent Siena Poll that showed the smaller party would get enough votes from a candidate, other than Cuomo, to keep its line in future elections.
While the party weighs its options Gov. Cuomo is not waiting around. Seeking smaller party endorsements, and as many voting lines as possible, a source close to Cuomo says allies of the Governor have been exploring remaking the existing Liberal Party. The new Liberal Party would “pursue a progressive agenda on social and economic issues that is far broader than the WFP’s,” the source stated. * WFP: ‘We Disagree’ With Cuomo On Public Financing Comments(YNN)
John F. Kennedy Accepting the Liberal Party Nomination (Video)

Left Strengthening Their Machine
A new podcast called “Hall Pass” is being launched today by a group of progressive New York City political activists and advocates, including Maria Fernandez of the Urban Youth Collaborative, community organizers Steve McFarland and Stephanie Yazgi and independent consultant Theo Moore. The audio show, which can be downloaded through iTunes, bills itself as “sharp elbows, sharp wit—your podcast at the intersection of City Hall & the progressive movement.” Today’s show includes an interview with Councilman Carlos Menchaca on municipal identification cards in New York City and another Hall Pass founder, Arab American Association of New York Executive Director Linda Sarsour, on the NYPD’s recently shuttered Muslim surveillance unit. “Hall Pass NY is a long overdue online platform to spread the good work of the progressive movement in New York City,” Menchaca said in a statement. “As a recent guest, I felt right at home amongst diverse progressive organizers discussing pertinent issues that impact all New Yorkers." (City and State)

Cuomo's Working Family Problem

His Plan Divide WFP and Win Line

Cuomo, Working Families Party May be at Odds This Time Around(NY1)

Cuomo’s plan to undercut the W.F.P.(Capital) The WFP’s largest union affiliates, such as 32BJ, 1199, and the Hotel Trades Council (1199), are helping him. Behind the scenes, the Working Familes Party is basically composed of two separate factions at this point: the activists and many of the large unions.For the most part, the activists deplore the governor, who has made a mockery of their progressive ideological vision, opposing them on everything from tax policy to charter schools to campaign finance reform. These are groups like Citizen Action, and individuals who have been active in the party for years and spend their time petitioning on weekends. So realistically, if the governor is to have a chance at winning the WFP ballot line, it may have to be driven by the union side of the party. Cuomo "has..decisively reversed course in recent months, delivering key unions several items on their wish-lists.."

Will Cuomo make a deal with the WFP and give the democrats control of the state senate or will team Cuomo try to revive the Liberal Party?
A Siena poll shows that Gov. Andrew Cuomo still holds a 30-point lead over challenger Rob Astorino, though that margin drops to 15 points with a Working Families Party candidate on the ballot * Cuomo holds huge lead over GOP challenger – for now(NYP) *Siena Poll: WFP challenge would damage Cuomo’s margin in November(Capital)

Poll: Blue New Yorkers like Senate GOP(CrainsNY) Though Democrats hold a more than two-to-one registration advantage in New York, 58% of voters would like to see the state Senate continue to be run by a coalition of Republicans and Democrats, a Siena College poll released Tuesday morning found.* Capital New York‘s Blake Zeff explored the possibility of Gov. Andrew Cuomo pushing unions to defund the Working Families Party if the lefty group opposes his reelection: “Several Albany insiders I spoke to suggested that the governor could even conceivably seek to revive the Liberal Party … as a new home for some of those large unions.” * Experts say organized labor fared pretty well in this year’s state budget, could this year's election be the reason?(City and State) * Cuomo also defended his liberal credentials, saying, “I don’t know if there’s a lot of space to my left” and cited the passage of the SAFE Act and the legalization of same-sex marriage, State of Politics reports: Cuomo has two choices when it comes to heading off the increasing threat posed by the Working Families Party—get them to give him its ballot line, or render the party impotent* Cuomo Defends His Liberal Credentials(YNN) * Astorino’s challenge(NYP Ed)

‏@MichaelRCaputo

Left v Cuomo news is a ruse. Gov already brokering deals for lefty legislation this session, etc. Cuomo will be on WFP line. #CuomoHeadFake

More on the WFP

The WFP Finds A Way To Praise Cuomo(NYO)

The Working Families Party has not ruled out endorsing a candidate other than Cuomo this fall despite praising his support a measure that would add New York to the national popular vote compact, State of Politics reports:

A Tale of Two Cities Divide Growing
Manhattan real-estate prices rise above 2008 pre-recession record(NYP)

2 Weeks Ago True New Wrote
Jeff Klein is Trying to Stop the WFP and de Blasio Machine From Helping Senate Democrats and Blowing Up his IDC-GOP Ruling Coalition
Will de Blasio's WFP's and Progressive's New Machine Go After the IDC's Triangulation? Today Capital NY Confirmed We Were Right * In an email to supporters, a Working Families Party official said the big picture of the state budget was that the wealthy and banks got tax breaks while New Yorkers got shortchanged, State of Politics writes
WFP's Dan Cantor on endorsing Cuomo: "There's a lot of debate internally on that. You have to trust the process."

Hawkins' Green Party Manager Slams Nation's Vander Heuvel's Magazine and WFP

Katrina vanden Heuvel WFP Campaign Flyer

Vote Working Families Party to Pressure Andrew Cuomo (Nation)

In New York State, the best way to end corruption, reform politics and counter inequality is to keep the WFP strong.

Ursula Rozum Green Party's Hawkins Campaign Manager Answers Vanden Heuvel Attemps to Save the WFP With Her Magazine

This was predictable since the Nation urged Zephyr Teachout to endorse Cuomo on the WFP line if she were to lose the primary. I worked for WFP for a short period. While there are good people in the WFP, it's little more than a staffing and marketing agency for Democrats willing to pay for it's line and field services. It's far from immune from the "money drenched politics" since most of it's funding comes from the campaign coffers of corporate Democrats. In addition to bring up good issues, Howie Hawkins has also won endorsements from teachers unions, NYC Democratic clubs and education activist Diane Ravitch. Grassroots activists should join the Hawkins campaign and help build a real electoral alternative to the two parties and independent political power - www.howiehawkins.org :) * Teachout Contributes $28K To Senate Democrats (YNN)* As the Working Families Party released a statement criticizing Cuomo for calling public education a “monopoly”, the labor-aligned party finds itself in the unusual position of trying to get voters to in essence rebuke the governor by supporting him on their ballot line, State of Politics reports: * WFP on public ed “monopoly,” or: A party criticizes itscandidate 6 days before an election: * Zephyr Teachout’s Campaign Manager Backs Cuomo on WFP Line (NYO)

Katrina vanden Heuvel's $100,000

"Mr. de Blasio is also helping the Working Families Party, the left-leaning group he helped found. As are some of his supporters: Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of The Nation, donated $102,300 to the party’s campaign committee this month. Ms. vanden Heuvel did not elaborate on what she and the mayor had discussed. But she said she shared the mayor’s eagerness to bring more liberal voices into the Legislature." (NYT)

WFP: When You Need 50,000 Votes To Remain An Active Party With A Ballot Line, Your Heart and Minds Follows

The Working Families Party’s Cuomo dilemma(Capital) “Can a party whose rationale for existing is to grow progressive economic movements throughout the country “where politicians are held accountable to working people, instead of big-money backers” really work for, endorse, and host on its line one of the greatest threats to its agenda within the Democratic Party

Cuomo Dances With the Liberal Party to

Pressure WFP! Could Have Killed Party in 2010

Why For Cuomo the Liberal Bell Tolls

Liberal Party buries the hatchet, eyes Cuomo re-election(NYP)

WFP Treating to Work With the Mayor to Elect A Democratic State Senate If the Gov Does Not Support the Tax Increase

WFP Needs Cuomo to Get 50,000 Vote to Keep Its Ballot Line. Cuomo Could Boycott the Party Which Only Has .03% of the registered voters in NYC less in the state

Cuomo Gave the WFP Life in 2010, Second Thoughs? Given the resistance the Working Families Party and its allies are mounting against Governor Cuomo and his agenda, should the governor regret not having killed the party when he had the chance? City State’s Morgan Pehme
Catsimatidis the Liberal Meanwhile, Republican businessman John Catsimatidis is thinking about bankrolling an effort to revive the defunct Liberal Party and boost Mr. Cuomo’s re-election bid. “Catsimatidis will help us. We are on the same page,” Liberal Party Executive Director Martin Hassner told the Post.* WFP to honor Mark-Viverito and Ben Jealous(Capital)
Cuomo met privately Monday with several influential labor unions that have ties to the Working Families Party, amid signs that some progressives are frustrated with the governor.* * In an email to supporters, a Working Families Party official said the big picture of the state budget was that the wealthy and banks got tax breaks while New Yorkers got shortchanged, State of Politics writes

WFP Needs Cuomo Trying to Save Face?

Charter Dividends
Game Over
Looks like no WTF Progressive war against Skelos and Klein's Coalition Leadership
De Blasio to offer truce with Cuomo over charter schools(NYP)After weeks of warring with Gov. Cuomo and education advocates over the contentious topic of charter schools, Mayor de Blasio plans to extend an olive branch in a speech Sunday morning, sources have told The Post. “It’s an effort to stop the bleeding,” one source said of the ongoing war, in which the mayor took a severe public relations beating after blocking the opening of three charters this fall. The mayor also got heat for eliminating $210 million construction funds for the popular privately-managed, publicly-funded schools. “He hopes to re-establish a dialogue” another source said. * State Senator Jeff Klein isn’t sure what to make of Gov. Andrew Cuomo‘s recent comments about ex-Councilman Oliver Koppell‘s potential primary challenge. “I have a master’s degree and a law degree,” Mr. Klein told the Times. “And sometimes I can’t always figure out Cuomo-speak.”* Gubernatorial candidate and Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino continued to hammer the governor for the millions of dollars spent on START-UP NY television *George Marlin says Astorino should not be counted out in the governor’s race, despite his lack of resources and low name recognition.ads, Gannett Albany reports: * Interesting if WFP leverages Cuomo endorse for public financing, but feels like Cuomo holds most of the cards here. *Astorino: Where Did The Businesses Go? (YNN)* Westchester County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Rob Astorino may face a tough test in Republican-heavy Nassau County because of party leaders’ and lawmakers’ close ties with Cuomo, Newsday reports:
More on the War: de Blasio vs Cuomo
More on the IDC GOP Senate Coalition
More on the WFP, New Progressives
Another CW Follow the $ Tweet: Former US senator turned lobbyist, Alfonse D’Amato backs Cuomo's
re-election campaign(NYP) * Mayor de Blasio First 3 Months

Acorn 2.0, Inc (NY Communities for Change)
]

New Tammany Hall GOTV Field 2013
NYCC, Reincarnated Acorn, Rises in de Blasio’s New York(NYO)One of the country’s best known community organizing groups, it crumbled rapidly four years ago, after right-wing activists, posing as a pimp and prostitute, secretly filmed Acorn workers providing them tax advice. But it turns out that Acorn’s exile was only temporary. The very same agitators are now whispering into the open ear of the new mayor, under the name New York Communities for Change. NYCC, which is battling to raise the wages of low-income workers and eventually unionize them, increase affordable housing and beat back the charter school movement, is also entwined with the influential Working Families Party. n the early stages of the mayor’s race.* Housing Activists Rally At City Hall(NYDN) The "Real Affordability For All" launch includes leading progressive groups like Make the Road New York and New York Communities for Change, and is billing itself as the "largest affordable housing campaign in the city." The Black Institute was also paid $23,000 for polling last October by then-state Sen. Eric Adams' campaign for Brooklyn borough president. Mr. Adams faced token opposition for the seat and won handily.

Were the PACS, NYCC and WFP Working Together in the Primary in Violation of the CFB Spending Caps?

NYCC launched a valuable vote-pulling operation in minority neighborhoods where a gawky white candidate like Mr. de Blasio, even with a black wife, might not have held supreme appeal. A 501(c)(4) nonprofit that can participate in political activities without revealing its donors, NYCC has proven most potent in predominantly black areas in central Brooklyn and southeast Queens, where voter turnout is heavily Democratic and deceptively high. Where the WFP begins and NYCC ends can be difficult to discern. The two organizations are headquartered in the same Nevins Street building, one floor apart. Jonathan Westin, the successor to Mr. Kest at NYCC, who died in 2012, sits on the WFP’s executive board. And their political aims, from unionizing fast food and car wash workers to combating the power of the real estate and banking industries, are all but identical.

The New Machine, Progressives, WFP, NYCC, Lobbyist (Advance, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno, Berlin Rosen)

Machine Coup D'etat
“It seems to me these folks are like the worker ants of the Working Families Party,” said one right-leaning nonprofit executive. “They’re kind of a nonprofit community front for the party.” Lending its ballot line, organized labor troops and dogged get-out-the-vote operation, many credit the WFP will helping to spearheaded the victories of the public advocate, comptroller, council speaker and various council members last year. NYCC’s own greatest coup of 2013 may have been helping crown the speaker of the City Council, ensuring that the group would have its phone calls returned by the two most powerful elected officials in the city. NYCC played a crucial, behind-the-scenes role. Rallying around her speakership candidacy early on, NYCC dedicated a top staffer. After her victory, Ms. Mark-Viverito would hire Ms. Adams as a senior adviser. Meanwhile, Ms. Lewis hasn’t disappeared from the scene entirely. While she has no official role with NYCC, she still uses the pronoun “we” when discussing the organization and remains one of Mayor de Blasio’s closet confidantes. * The New York City Council Finance Committee “lavished praise” on de Blasio’s budget proposal at a hearing, which reflects the “progressive” values the mayor and many Council members share, Crain’s writes: * Crain's analyzes Lewis's support for opponents of waste transfer station after period of neutrality(AYO) In Mayor's ally being paid to fight him, Crain's New York Business reports on the curious situation in which Bertha Lewis, head of the Black Institute and longtime friend/supporter of Mayor Bill de Blasio, is opposing mayoral efforts--which began under Mike Bloomberg and which de Blasio supports--to build a waste transfer station on the Upper East Side.* Mayor's ally being paid to fight him (CrainsNY) Instead of opposing the heavily favored Mr. de Blasio in the general election, however, Pledge 2 Protect hired the Advance Group, a Manhattan-based Democratic consulting firm that had just run a $1 million campaign to sink de Blasio rival Christine Quinn. Pledge 2 Protect also hired Ms. Lewis, who shares an office with the Advance Group and whose nonprofit is a client of it.

Progressive Member Item Power Grab Disguised As Reform

City and State Reports
COUNCIL MEMBER ITEM REFORM EASIER SAID THAN DONE: City Council members have been clamoring for member items reform for years, but an equitable, needs-based formula for discretionary funds remained elusive at a Rules Committee hearing Monday for the $50 million dollar slush fund the council givers out each year.

Ambassador Gaspard Became Too Public

Patrick Gaspard, ambassador to South Africa, helped de Blasio campaign: Joe Lhota aide(NYDN)

Republican operative O’Brien Murray complains that the envoy violated the Hatch Act, a 1939 law that bans most government officials from partisan political activity.

_____________________________________
WFP's Special DA Appeal

State's Top Court to Hear Working Families Party Case

Matter of Working Families Party v. Fisher, 2013-996, a case that could determine whether the "actual prejudice" standard needed to disqualify a district attorney is applicable when the prosecutor himself asks to be replaced. The appeal arose after Richmond County District Attorney Daniel Donovan asked to be relieved for reasons that have never been publicly disclosed. Justice Fern Fisher, deputy chief administrative judge for New York City, appointed Roger Bennett Adler as special district attorney. But the Working Families Party challenged Donovan's request to be removed from the case as well as Fisher's authority in granting the request. The Appellate Division, Second Department, in August rejected the party's claims (NYLJ, Aug. 8). On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals granted leave, without comment. A long-running political/legal battle involving the Working Families Party and the appointment of a special district attorney to probe a 2009 race is headed to the state's highest court. On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals agreed to hear

Wow

A prosecutor investigating possible wrongdoing by the labor-backed Working Families Party, which is close to Democratic NYC mayoral frontrunner Bill de Blasio, says he expects to convene a grand jury shortly after Veterans Day as part of his probe into allegations the WFP illegally gave candidates below-cost campaign-related services in 2009.

Progressivism’s great failure: The rise and fall of the Working Families Party(Salon)

Despite its noble aims, WFP has never coalesced as a legitimate advocate for the interests of the labor movement

_____________________________________
The Victors WFP

Clever WFP Activists Filled the Disconnect Leadership Void

Working Families Party giddy at City Hall takeover(NYP) After two decades of fighting City Hall, the leaders of the Working Family Party are giddy that their candidates will control the levers of power at virtually all levels of Gotham’s government. “We expect real change, real results,” declared WFP co-founder Bertha Lewis, a longtime pal of Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio. In the City Council, at least a dozen members lined up with the party and are prepared to push its agenda. Communication Workers of American boss Bob Master — a co-founder of the WFP 15 years ago — marveled that the progressive agenda is on the new mayor’s to-do-list after being resisted for a generation. Lewis, who is the former ACORN chief, said she’s thrilled at having a seat at the table. “We’ve been out in the wilderness for 20 years,” she said. “Our ties in the government run deep,” Lewis boasted.

In New York City’s Sharp Left Turn, Questions of Just How Far(NYT) de Blasio message, of inequality and a government that might soften capitalism’s hard edges, and he drove it with skill. Now he must govern in a parlous time. Every municipal contract has expired. Democrats rule the executive chambers in Washington and in Albany, but purses are latched shut.* De Blasio’s win has started the transition to a borough-centric New York of workers, immigrants and second chances, Denis Hamill writes for the Daily News: * Liberal Council Could Pose Test for de Blasio(WSJ) * WFP Touts Upstate Victories(YNN)
_____________________________________
WFP's Special DA Appeal

State's Top Court to Hear Working Families Party Case

__________________________________________________________________________
WFP Investigation

A Liberal Party Faces Inquiries Without End (NYT) Three years ago, the Staten Island district attorney, Daniel M. Donovan Jr., submitted a secret application to state court requesting that it appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the Working Families Party and that same Staten Island race.* 2009 Election Probe Emerges Again(WSJ) Political opponents accused the Working Families Party of running Data and Field Services as a cut-rate political consultancy for its 2009 candidates, essentially giving those contenders an in-kind campaign contribution without disclosing it to the public. The party and the consultancy have said the rates weren't artificially inexpensive.

After a lawsuit filed by former Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, a state Supreme Court justice ruled that the WFP-DFS arrangement was illegal and ordered the party to shut down the firm. He also ordered the WFP to pay $100,000 in legal costs to settle the case, after finding the party in contempt of court.

WFP Winning in the Street, Blocking In Court
A Polar Vortex Investigation of the WFP is Being Delayed By Legal Maneuvering By the Party's Lawyers

A political investigation shrouded in mystery reached the Court of Appeals Tuesday in a case that could determine if the judiciary will stop an investigation of charges of illegal in-kind help by the WFP to defraud the city's public financing system. This court hearing came months at the WFP and their partners in the progressive unions used the Citizens Unions PAC and the city's public campaign finance system to take over City Hall, and at the time the party is pressuring Cuomo to adopt a public campaign finance system statewide. The Statan Island special prosecutor is looking into if the WFP skirted campaign finance rules by providing services to endorsed candidates at discounted rates, thus defrauded the city's public financing program. Special prosecutor Adler said the underlying campaign finance issues transcend the Working Families Party matter. "The public needs to know that people gaming the system will be held accountable," he said. "Accountability is important to ensure that … people will not be able to game the system and take unfair advantage and unlawfully affect elections. The investigation deals with the fairness of the council campaign and whether or not the campaign finance system was gamed during the 2009 election. That is what the grand jury needs to resolve."

How the WFP is Trying to Stop the Special Prosecutor

Last Tuesday, WFP's lawyer Avi Schick, counsel for the WFP, stressed that the party is not questioning Adler's investigation. Rather, he said it is challenging Fisher's authority to replace the district attorney. During oral arguments, Judge Victoria Graffeo questioned why the WFP cares if Donovan or Adler investigates. Judge Eugene Pigott seemed troubled by the secrecy of the matter. Judge Robert Smith hinted more than once that Schick might want to move to unseal the record to find out just why Donovan recused himself. Judges also questioned whether the target of an investigation should be permitted to choose its own prosecutor, and whether the WFP, if it gets Donovan restored and then finds he had a legitimate reason for stepping aside, could then seek to have him removed. The District Attorneys Association of the State of New York appeared amicus curiae in support of Donovan. In its brief, the group said that "justice is not served when a district attorney is put in a position where he or she believes there is a conflict of interest but recusal is not permitted." Interestingly, none of the issues before the Court of Appeals would stop the investigation from going forward. Rather, the most the Working Families Party can hope for is an order shifting the case back to Donovan. A six-judge panel will hear arguments late Tuesday afternoon. Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman has recused himself for unstated reasons.

The Media Ignores Efforts to Block An Investigation Into the Most Powerful and Successful Party in New York

In 2012, Brooklyn attorney Roger Adler, a Democrat, was appointed as a special prosecutor to probe allegations that Working Families had been manipulating state and city election law. Critics of WFP have charged for years that Data & Field Services (DFS) has provided heavily discounted consulting work for Working Families candidates, essentially giving them in-kind contributions without publicly disclosing it. The NYT editorial in 2009 Questions for Data and Field, wrote: "For example, the company charged City Councilman Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn $5,000 for lists of voters. Officials from other campaigns have complained that sophisticated voter files like those often used by the Working Families Party could cost $25,000 to $40,000. If there is such a differential — and lists can vary considerably — the extra should be counted as a campaign contribution and as part of the cap on allowed spending." In 2010, Working Families agreed to settle a civil lawsuit on the issue but didn’t admit wrongdoing, paying $100,000 for legal bills to Randy Mastro, a former Giuliani deputy mayor who brought the suit. It also signed a court agreement that DFS would end its association with the party. In 2011 Supreme Court Judge Anthony Giacobbe found Data and Field Services in contempt of court for not complying with the court's February, 2010 order, which we explain in some detail here. Data And Field Services Held In Contempt(NYDN) The upshot is that DFS was required to do a number of things the court felt it didn't do. Instead, it changed its status from for-profit to non-profit, decided the costs of its own services rather than getting an estimate of fair market value, didn't make sure board members had the required degree of independence from the WFP and failed to get an independent evaluation of the software it uses for its clients. * In Feud, Working Families Party Turns Tables on Prosecutor(NYT, 2013) * Working Families Party back under investigation | Crains (2012) * NY Political Parties for Sale: Ballot Corruption 2009 Election Probe Emerges Again(WSJ)* The Death Of DFS (Updated)(YNN) * WFP Concedes Admits No Wrongdoing (Capital)

A political investigation shrouded in mystery reached the Court of Appeals Tuesday in a case that could determine if the judiciary can second-guess a district attorney's decision to step aside from a particular matter.

In 2011, a New York City grand jury issued subpoenas as part of an ongoing probe of the party and its tangled links with Data & Field Services, a company that provides campaign workers and organizers to candidates.

But in 2011, DFS filed an appeal with the court, saying it had to remain linked with Working Families — by far its largest client — or suffer “extreme economic and logistical hardship.” In April 2011, state-supreme-court justice Anthony Giacobbe held DFS in contempt for failing to follow through on its agreement to separate from Working Families. Mastro has said the party claims it “needs the DFS’s people there so vitally, so close at hand that they need to be there operating in the same office space with the same people.”

While legal investigations grind on, WFP is making progress elsewhere. It continues to perfect its Alinskyite tactics in New York: recruit activist leftists to run for office on the WFP line and the Democrats’, help them raise money that can be generously supplemented by city financing, and make certain they change election laws in the party’s favor. In 2005, WFP allies on the city council were instrumental in overturning a ruling by the city’s independent Campaign Finance Board that restricted union political donations. Frederick A. O. Schwarz Jr., then the chairman of the Campaign Finance Board, complained that the changes “create a gaping loophole for union contributions, undermining the contribution limits established by the Campaign Finance Act.”

New York’s loophole-ridden campaign-finance laws have been a happy hunting ground for Working Families for years. But now there’s a new sheriff in town, unaffiliated with the de Blasio–WFP cadre. The day before he left office as mayor, Mike Bloomberg announced a new head for the city’s Campaign Finance Board: Rose Gill Hearn, a no-nonsense lawyer who formerly headed the city’s watchdog, the Department of Investigations. “She has been getting worms out of the Big Apple” for years, the New York Daily News reported last year in an article highlighting her dogged investigation procedures.

Federal prosecutors conducted an investigation and the New York City Campaign Board commenced an audit. Neither inquiry turned up any misconduct.

Other Scams to Rip Off the CFB

Irregularities Found in John Liu's Campaign Finance Reports (NYT)

Liu's Campaign Treasurer Arrested on Fraud Charges - NYTimes.com

Sheldon Leffler, Former Councilman, Is Convicted in Campaign Fraud Scheme(NYT)
Sheldon Leffler Hit With $400G Fine
Queens pol Albert Baldeo busted for using straw campaign donors ...

Even With Allies Leading New York City, Unions Won’t Have It Easy(NYT)

Labor-backed candidates are on the verge of taking over the city, but experts say unions will still probably not be able to get everything they want.

WFP Takes Over the City
The Establishment Does Not Even Know Who Alex Rose Is, Or What He Did to Make NYC Great, While Protecting NYC's Poor and Middle Class
Letitia James pushes support for Working Families Party(NYP) James sent out a personal email urging backers on the WFP’s mailing list to vote for her on Row D — the Working Families Party line — in the Nov. 5 general election instead of the Democratic line.

* Working Families Party – It’s been a gangbuster few weeks for the WFP, with the party’s old friend Bill de Blasio looking like he will cruise into office as mayor, big wins in City Council races, and then topping off their success with Letitia James, the first council member elected solely on the WFP line, winning the Democratic contest for public advocate, making her a shoo-in to win the general election. In a relatively short amount of time, the party has become a flagship for progressive candidates and policies as well as organized labor’s political voice. Now we will see what it does in power.* The WFP Flexes(YNN) * The WFP expressed opposition to Cuomo’s new tax commission “headed by former Republican Governor George Pataki,” making no mention of the other co-chair, former state Comptroller Carl McCall.

As the NYP, Daily New and NYT Lost Power the Working Families Party Takes Over

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Bill de Blasio is expected to be declared the winner of the mayor’s race shortly after the polls close tonight at 9 p.m. Joining him in the winners' circle will also be the leaders of the Working Families Party. In April of 2001, four months after Michael Bloomberg was sworn in as mayor, the W.F.P. had only 2044 registered voters. In 2009, the first year the party formally backed a mayoral candidate, the W.F.P. got one-fifth the number of votes for its candidate, Bill Thompson, that the Independence Party did with Michael BloombergToday, with de Blasio’s victory, the W.F.P. is also set to displace the Independence Party as New York City’s dominant third-party player. If polls hold steady, de Blasio and the W.F.P. will have proven that there can be political gold in talking about economic injustice.

Sick Pay Passes
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a law to expand paid sick leave to companies with at least five employees starting next month, expanding a recent but more limited law, the Staten Island Advance writes:
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the first bill into law of his administration: a mandate to require all businesses in New York with five or more employees to provide paid-time off to its workers.* Without rules, sick-leave law leaves biz in dark(CrainsNY) * City's small biz owners face rising costs(CrainsNY) Soaring city rents, rising labor costs and more mandates slow biz expansions. * Closing in on No. 1(NYP Ed) The consequence of this law is likely to be . . . fewer jobs. Businesses that can’t afford to pay sick leave will hire fewer workers, move or shut down. All of which will make New York job market even tougher.The New York Business Journal reports on the confusion around the city’s new paid sick day law: “[W]ith only 12 days before the law takes effect, the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs has still not issued final regulations that employers expect to spell out numerous details and clarify points not explicitly addressed in the law.

How the Working Families party took over New York City

The NYC Working Families Party Scam UPDATED - Daily Kos

ACORN, the Working Families Party and Political Corruption ..

WFP is essentially a money funnel which pays for an aggressive door to door canvas. Largely funded by unions, the WFP is ACORN’s “political arm” in New York State. Candidates supported by the Working Families Party and issues supported by ACORN are both advocated on the door steps of target voter homes as they share one major voter canvas. Gathering of Eagles: NY

The Working Families Party Scam - Huffington Post

The Death Of DFS (Updated)

Working Families Party candidates warned about financial ...(Daily News)

New investigation for Working Families Party | Crain's New Yor

The incestuous relationship between Working Families Party & D

Working Families Party = ACORN - Roger Stone: The Stone Zon

Working Families Party candidates warned about financial dealings with Data and Field Services firm(NYDN)

Editorial - Questions for Data and Field - NYTimes.com

Bill de Blasio's Other Party | National Review Online

Working Families Party Documents Subpoenaed(NYT) 2009
In October, Randy M. Mastro, a former deputy mayor who is now an election lawyer, filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court on behalf of private citizens on Staten Island claiming that the Working Families Party had unfairly aided their preferred candidate, Deborah Rose, who ended up winning her race. The case is due to go to trial in January. Then, shortly after the election, the Working Families Party announced the hiring of Judith S. Kaye, former chief judge of the Court of Appeals, and her firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom to review their operations.

Under Investigation, ACORN Chief Bertha Lewis Quits Working Families Party

Die-hard supporters of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- better known as the infamous ACORN -- are not going to like these developments. From City Hall, Edward-Isaac Dovere reports that the embattled Lewis has quietly stepped aside as head of the Working Families Party in New York State, which is currently under investigation by the feds: The change in leadership comes as the Working Families Party and many of its endorsed candidates are providing extensive email and other documentation in response to December subpoenas from the United States Attorney’s office in New York. Lawyers are also preparing to return to Staten Island Supreme Court on Feb. 23 for the lawsuit being brought against the WFP’s company, Data & Field Services, and the campaign of now-Council Member Debi Rose by Randy Mastro on behalf of five Republican-connected residents of her Staten Island district.

Bertha Lewis Departs From WFP; Perjury Charges Possible Against Rose Treasurer In Staten Island Case(City and State)

With national scrutiny on ACORN and local scrutiny on the
Working Families Party, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis quietly departed as state
co-chair of the Working Families Party.
The change in leadership comes as the Working Families Party
and many of its endorsed candidates are providing extensive email and other
documentation in response to December subpoenas from the United States
Attorney’s office in New York. Lawyers are also preparing to return to Staten
Island Supreme Court on Feb. 23 for the lawsuit being brought against the WFP’s
company, Data & Field Services, and the campaign of now-Council Member Debi
Rose by Randy Mastro on behalf of five Republican-connected residents of her
Staten Island district.
After being warned by a judge in mid-January about delays in
producing documents, Data & Field Services says that it met the Feb. 5
deadline to provide the remaining information with over 1,000 pages of information.

Working Families Party Officials Served With Subpoenas ...

The NYC Working Families Party Scam UPDATED - Daily Kos

No Charges Against Working Families Party - NYTimes.com

Working families charade | New York Post

Working Families Party Hits Back At NY Post Attack: Gothamist

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE WORKING FAMILIES

Kaye Report - Working Families Party

Legal Troubles Force ACORN’s Lewis out of Party Post

Working Families Party = ACORN - Roger Stone: The Stone ...

De Blasio’s Atlantic Yards Support Helped Old Ally

ACORN played pivotal role in 2001 City Council race

ACORN wasn't just a housing organization. In the late 1990s, it helped found the Working Families Party, to support pro-union, pro-grassroots candidates and confer on them a sort of progressive seal of approval. In 2001, ACORN was supporting de Blasio in his first run for City Council. But he was in a six-way race. His leading rival was a well-liked champion of the poor, Steve Banks, a lawyer at the Legal Aid Society.
“We liked both of them,” recalled Bertha Lewis, who was then executive director of New York ACORN. “It’s always hard when you have two folks you really, really liked, but I do have to say, Bill edged out Steve.”
Many members of the South Brooklyn Club of the Working Families Party, the district where the council race was taking place, felt the opposite. When the club voted on which candidate to endorse, Steve Banks got 50 votes, according to one tally. Bill de Blasio got none. But then, the state-wide Working Families Party reviewed the endorsement.
“When this got to the executive committee, the executive committee overturned that recommended endorsement,” said Dorothy Siegel, the club chairwoman at the time.

Mayoral Candidates Get Around Spending Limits . . .De Blasio Leads In Creative Finance
De Blasio Donors Hit Maximum, but Keep Giving(NYT) About two dozen supporters who have contributed as much as allowed to the mayoral campaign of the public advocate, Bill de Blasio, have donated more to defray debts from his 2009 race. About two dozen individuals who have donated to the campaign of Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio have also donated to his 2009 Public Advocate campaign to pay off past debts

Working Families Party giddy at City Hall takeover | New ...

WAKE-UP SCOOP: OUTLINES OF A FIRST-LADY INITIATIVE -- ‘McCray’s Mayor’s Fund goals begin to take shape’ -- Capital’s Sally Goldenberg: [First lady Chirlane McCray] and four other board members and two-person staff are sifting through the projects prioritized during the Bloomberg administration, when the Mayor's Fund was chaired by first deputy mayor Patti Harris, to assess which fit into their plans to use the organization to bolster the mayor's efforts on income inequality.
So far, they have selected four priorities: assisting parents in recruitment and enrollment for de Blasio's signature proposal of expanded pre-kindergarten; increasing summer jobs for teens and young adults; helping the surviving victims of the fatal East Harlem building explosion in March; and applying to make the city a test case for broadening eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit. http://goo.gl/bgOY5W

Unions' political party endorses GOP Senators who supported minimum-wage vote

Five Republican state Senators were endorsed by the union-funded Working Families Party the day the Senate agreed to increase New York's minimum wage by 39 percent, the New York Sun reported.

The .0003% Potemkin WFP Party

The WFP Took Over Politics Because the Other Parties in the City Are Not Real Also

Competition On the Left is the Way to Stop or Slow Down the WFP Invasion of New York's Government

HAS THE WFP LOST ITS SOCIAL JUSTICE VISION?

SundayUpdate WDP Primary Still
Senate Dems still back IDC challenges, for now(Capital)

Friday Update WDP Primary Backing Off
IDC Senator David Carlucci will avoid a primary following this week’s agreement that the conference will work alongside the mainline Senate Democratic Conference.
Meanwhile, a potential primary challenger to IDC Senator Diane Savino indicated he may back off his election bid.* Skelos Downplays Comparisons Between WFP, Conservative Party(YNN) * WFP Raises Off IDC-Dem Deal(YNN)*Five measures that could be law under Senate Democrats (LoHud)* Koppell: ‘No reason’ to end Klein challenge(Capital)
.
.
.The IDC No Spin Zone

SenatorSkelosis spot on here: rips Cuomo for Senate deal - Politics on the Hudson * A post-election IDC-Democratic Senate reunification could result in fewer or less strenuous primary challenges against IDC members, but it could also mean a GOP opponent for one member where none previously existed, State of Politics reports: * Business groups are wary of the deal announced that could return control of the state Senate to the Democrats and many say they fear their four-year streak of pro-business legislation will soon come to an end, Crain’s reports:

Former New York City councilman Robert Jackson kicked off his bid for state Senate today and will now face off against the incumbent, Adriano Espaillat, City & State reports:* Democrats and the Working Families Party are clear on what issues they would push to get into law if they win the Senate majority in November—public campaign financing, the Dream Act, abortion rights, increased minimum wage and a ban on fracking,Gannett Albany reports: * State of Politics explores the complicated nature of the Independent Democratic Conference’s announcement that it will rejoin the mainline Senate Democrats after November, noting that IDC Leader Jeff Klein and the “regular” Democratic leader will have to jointly agree on everything that comes to the floor for a vote:* * State Senate Republican leader Dean Skelos told WNYC listeners that his party would retain control of the Senate, despite his crumbling coalition with the Independent Democratic Conference, by taking out Democratic incumbents in contested districts, the Observer reports: * The decision by the Senate Independent Democratic Conference to work with the mainline Democrats next year will mean Sen. David Carlucci, who recently pledged to rejoin the Democratic Conference if the IDC didn’t break with the Republicans, will avoid a primary this year, Gannett Albany reports:

“I’m surprised with the governor for his capitulation to the Working Families Party and Bill de Blasio and their radical agenda,” Skelos said. The Long Island Republican noted how only four years ago Cuomo demanded that the liberal Working Families Party accept his centrist agenda.

Senate GOP leader Dean Skelos slams Gov. Cuomo overbreakaway Dems (NYDN) The IDC’s abandonment of the Republicans to re-join the regular Democrats in a power-sharing deal is either an unmitigated disaster or a bonanza for liberal causes – depending on who you ask.* Sen. Tom Libous: “It’s basically Mayor de Blasio just doesn’t want to run New York City, he wants to run upstate New York and New York City, and some of things he represents is not what we represent in upstate.” * Senate Republicans are preparing to run against “ultra-liberal New York City radicals” who are working to empower “illegal immigrants” and stifle business, according to a set of talking points distributed to Republican senators. * Despite their conceptual deal, leaders of both Democratic conferences have so far refused to call for an end to a half-dozen primary challenges to incumbent senators that were put in motion in recent months as the rival factions geared up for electoral war.* Former NYC Councilman Robert Jackson announced his candidacy for Sen. Adriano Espaillat’s seat, and said he thinks the senator, who is now seeking re-election, is “exhausted” from his failed primary challenge to Rep. Charlie Rangel.* * State Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos said Gov. Andrew Cuomo “sold his soul” to the Working Families Party and its “radical agenda” after Cuomo’s push to break up the IDC coalition, Newsday reports: * Although the IDC announced it will abandon the state Senate Republicans, IDC members will still face primary challengers that have the support of advocates and legislators wary of the new conference, the Gotham Gazette reports:

Update Cuomo Shrugs Off Samuels’ LG Threat(YNN) *

Democratic Women Urge Samuels To Not Run For LG(YNN)

Samuels told associates that he’ll make a final decision within a week, when the petitioning process for the primaries will be under way. * "Two Democratic strategists contacted said a serious race by Samuels against Hochul could be successful" *NY City Council speaker backs Gov. Cuomo, but stops short of calling on Working Families Party to do so(NYDN) *Gov. Cuomo's pick of David Paterson to head NY Democratic party has some scratching their heads(NYDN) * John Cahill taps top Mitt Romney aide to help with his attorney general run in New York (NYDN) * While Cuomo’s pick of Kathy Hochul to be his running mate might seem like a surprise, the choice fits with the political narrative of Hochul’s life of challenging the status quo with strong-willed confidence, The Buffalo News writes * Samuels Says He’s Giving ‘Serious Thought’ To LG Run(YNN) * The best-laid plans (NYDN Ed) Upstart Democrat Bill Samuels throws a wrench in Gov. Cuomo's reelection strategy* Cuomo's Running Mate Could Face Democratic Primary Challenge(NY1)* Not surprisingly, Daily Kos likes the idea of Bill Samuels challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s running mate, Kathy Hochul.

* State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a mainline Democrat, said it is unlikely that measures like the public financing of political campaigns and the 10-point women’s agenda will be approved in her chamber this session, State of Politics reports: http://goo.gl/MuWzCM
* State Republican Sen. Marty Golden of Brooklyn will be a top target this fall for the coalition created out of the Working Families Party convention to flip the Senate into Democratic hands, State of Politics report: http://goo.gl/LzmCBE

Why Is WFP Not Fighting For Their Core Beliefs?

WFP Hustlemania
Way off course (NYDN Ed)\What's in a name? Not enough, says a longtime player in the Working Families Party. As a gauge of how far Working Families has strayed from the purpose embodied in its name, here’s what Mike McGuire of the Mason Tenders union — a longtime player in the party — wrote on Facebook:“I’m ashamed I ever helped found the WFP. To call yourself the ‘working families’ party and then draw the line in the sand over campaign finance reform is an absolute disgrace. How about a line in the sand over raising the minimum wage? Or establishing a true living wage? Or fully funding the public transportation system? Or bringing jobs and opportunity and economic development to the pockets of NYC and vast swaths of upstate New York that so desperately need them?

Team Cuomo Panics
Cuomo is responding to a Working Families Party rebellion by urging State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, both Democrats, to refuse the WFP line, BuzzFeed reports ources: WFP’s Future At Stake In Endorsement Fight(NYO) According to another labor source involved in these talks, a number of the largest and most significant unions – including 1199 SEIU, HTC, the laborers, RWDSU, and the UFT – were prepared to call it quits with the WFP, knowing that their withdrawal could very well lead to the party’s “collapse.” Union leaders were burning up the phone lines this morning, discussing whether the time had finally come to pull their support of the party they helped create and have financially sustained since 1998, WFP.The situation at the moment is very fluid, and could very well remain so right up until the voting at the convention on the endorsement for governor question begins tomorrow night.And, according to BuzzFeed, Cuomo is reportedly fanning the flames by asking AG Eric Schneiderman – a darling of the left – to refuse the WFP’s endorsement, which would be a significant blow. The governor may have made the same ask of state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, who arguably owes his close 2010 win over Republican Harry Wilson to the unions and the GOTV effort they ran on his behalf.* * The WFP’s rift with Cuomo ahead of this weekend’s convention may have done lasting damage to its relationships with key unions, which some sources say could lead to the party’s collapse, State of Politics writes: * Zephyr Teachout, a Fordham Law professor, officially announced her candidacy for governor on the WFP line, saying “the system is rigged for the rich and powerful” and that Cuomo “isn’t going to fix it,” State of Politics reports: * There are probably enough dissenters to lift Teachout above the 50,000 votes needed to maintain the WFP line, but polls showing a WFP candidate winning 20 percent may be exaggerated, Capital New York writes:

Breaking
Wow: Cuomo is urging AG Schneiderman and Comptroller DiNapoli not to take WFP line, via @BuzzFeedBen and @ItsFischy * Who Is Zephyr Teachout? (C&S)* WFP Party Platform to Be Adopted * A Teachout For Governor Website Launches(YNN) * The WFP’s Gamble(YNN) * Teachout Challenging Cuomo For WFP Line(YNN) * Working Families Party conflict gets ugly, 1 of founders chides party for being willing to break with Cuomo (Newsweek) * Another Political Club Goes With ‘No Endorsement’ For Governor)Newsday) * WFP Founder ‘Ashamed’(YNN)

Cuomo:
Kill the IDC-GOP Maaaybe
PASS IT OR ELSE: Gov. Cuomo threatens state Senate to approve public financing of elections(NYDN) Asked if he would campaign to oust Senate Republicans, Cuomo smiled slyly and said, “Maybe. Maaaybe.” Republicans share control of the Senate with the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference.

Will the WFP Put In A Place Holder Governor Candidate So They Can See What They Get From Cuomo in the next 3 months?
Working Families Party Warns Cuomo of a Possible Opponent(NYT)Late Thursday, a co-chairwoman of the party said it expected to put its support behind a little-known academic with scarcely any chance to defeat Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo in the November race.* As Liberal Leaders Test Cuomo, de Blasio Stands by Him(NYT)* Education activist Diane Ravitch, who was floated as a possible WFP candidate for governor, said she would not run for public office due to her recent knee surgery, the Daily News reports:

Cuomo said that state Senate Republicans should approve public financing of elections this session, warning that he might campaign to oust them from office this fall if they don’t, the Daily News writes: * Lieutenant governor candidate and former Rep. Kathy Hochul spent $25,000 to lobby Cuomo and state lawmakers on redistricting in a failed attempt to keep her seat in Congress, the Times Union writes: * The WFP’s nominating convention this Saturday could feature an old-fashioned floor fight, with one possibility being that the delegates opt for a placeholder candidate, Capital New York reports: * The Daily News urges Cuomo to rebuff “unreasonable WFP demands” as he seeks the backing of the third party, arguing that a governor who bought into its entire agenda would be a “disaster”: * --A new political tag team -- New York’s Chris Smith: “Four years ago, de Blasio was a crucial broker in arranging the WFP’s endorsement of candidate Cuomo. Now he’s trying to play the same role, vouching for Governor Cuomo’s progressive ‘results’ and stockpiling credit in the Albany favor bank. But the context is trickier than in 2010 — and, ironically, de Blasio helped create the problem, or the opportunity: His victory as a loud and proud progressive stoked liberal complaints about the centrist Cuomo, particularly on economic issues, and emboldened elements of the WFP.”* Cuomo Faces a Problem on His Left(WFP) * Cuomo and the Working Families Party face a reckoning this weekend(TU) * NY1 Online: Columnist Previews Working Families Party Convention: Michael Powell from The New York Times helped... * The ideologues are making a last stand in a modern political party. If they win, will Cuomo kill Wilson-Pakula? (NYT)

Cuomo and WFP Sell Out Dance

New York's Smoke and Mirrors Politics Old Guard Gets Exposed

NY's Political Parties Are So Corrupt They Not Keep Out the Public, They Also Cut Out Their Own Members

‘We Don’t Have to Agree With Everything’: de BlasioReveals His Cuomo WFP Pitch(NYO)* Cuomo: Without Public Financing, Senate Coalition A Failure (Updated)(YNN)

Diane Ravitch, citing knee surgery, says she's not running for office(NYDN)

Koppell Runs Against Klein, Winds of A Bigger Battle For Control of the State Senate

Thursday

Rivera Dodges On Koppell Endorsement(YNN) * Jeff Klein Isn’t Sure Senate Democrats Are Trying to Oust Him(NYO) * Though Senate Democrats were reportedly encouraging of Oliver Koppell’s primary challenge against Senate Co-Leader Jeff Klein, none have publicly endorsed him since the former Bronx councilman became a candidate, State of Politics reports:

Tuesday
KLEIN SCORES UFA ENDORSEMENT: The Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York lined up behind state Sen. Jeff Klein, the leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, shortly after a challenger entered the race, City & State writes: * KLEIN VS. KOPPELL: It may be too early to tell who will win the battle between state Sen. Jeff Klein and Oliver Koppell, but campaign cash, union support and minority issues like the DREAM Act will all play a role, City & State reports: * Jeff Klein Snags Teamsters Endorsement

More About the IDC GOP Senate Coalition

State Senator Jeff Klein Nets Steamfitters Endorsement(NYO)

Corrupt Pols and Their Campaign Account Lawyers

The Koppell race means that WFP who took over city hall in 2013 want to take over the NYS Senate in 2014. The IDC leader Klein who Koppell is challenging is the linchpin in the coalition Cuomo set up including the GOP to help him deliver on time budget for the past 4 years, the grand slam as he calls it. Does the Koppell challenge mean an all out war between Cuomo and the WFP progressive team? Or is a democratic state senate the deal the deal Cuomo has accepted to make piece with the party to gain their support and run on their ballot line? Stay tuned the next few days will be interesting. Will other challengers to IDC members like Liu against Avella appear? Will Cuomo agree to a democratic senate and weaken his ability to keep NY's taxes down? Will their be an be an all out war between the WFP and Cuomo forcing the governor to revive the Liberal Party line?* An IDC spokeswoman says conference leader Jeff Klein “looks forward to a spirited debate of ideas” with his (now official) primary challenger Oliver Koppell.

Koppell to announce bid against Senate leader (CrainsNY) Two sources with direct knowledge of Mr. Koppell's plans told Crain's that he is finally ready to make official his plans to challenge the Senate co-leader, Bronx Democrat Jeffrey Klein. The race is set to be a high-profile affair because Mr. Klein's five-member Independent Democratic Conference shares control of the chamber with Senate Republicans. That has raised the ire of liberal activists, including the website the Daily Kos, who charge that the arrangement has bottled up progressive legislation such as campaign finance reform. If Mr. Klein were to be defeated, power in the chamber could swing back to Senate Democrats.* Former state AG Koppell to challenge Klein in Bronx(NYDN) * Koppell for state Senate campaign account registered today with BOE * State Senate Co-Leader Faces Democratic Primary(NY1) * Koppell says his campaign is to end IDC coalition with GOP in Senate; cites lack of minorities, women in leader posts * UPDATED: Oliver Koppell launches Democratic primary challenge to state Sen. Jeff Klein (NYDN) * Oliver Koppell on Bid Against Jeff Klein: ‘I See a Path to Victory Here’(NYO) * Koppell Makes It Official (Updated)(YNN)

A Fight About Mastro and Cablevision is Really A Fight About WFP's Data and Field

Cablevison lawyeraccuses City Council members of being ‘pawns’ for union(NYDN)

Lawyer Randy Mastro accused Council members of being stooges for the Communications Workers of America and the Working Families Party. One council member called his comments ‘imbecilic.’* Progressive CaucusBatters Cablevision Lawyer in Insult-Filled Hearing(NYO)

True News (The Bund)

Saturday, May 11, 2013

WFP the New Progressive Machine, Is it Corrupt At Its Core? #300

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . .
Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

More On the WFP the New Progressive Machine

WFP Tries to Duck Subpoenas to Delay Case Which is Close to Statue of Limitations

Here Comes the WFP Investigation Melt Down

A special prosecutor has begun issuing subpoenas in the long-stalled investigation into the 2009 campaign activities of the Working Families Party, with a grand jury scheduled to be impaneled next month. (Capital)

WFP, Acorn 2.0 and the New Progressive Machine

No Charges Against Working Families Party - NYTimes.com(2010)

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . .
Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

de Blasio Lets It Be Known That He is Pushing WFP Activists to Back Cuomo

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . .
Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

Cuomo's Working Family Problem

The WFP Finds A Way To Praise Cuomo(NYO)

Why For Cuomo the Liberal Bell Tolls

WFP Treating to Work With the Mayor to Elect A Democratic State Senate If the Gov Does Not Support the Tax Increase

WFP Needs Cuomo to Get 50,000 Vote to Keep Its Ballot Line. Cuomo Could Boycott the Party Which Only Has .03% of the registered voters in NYC less in the state

The NYC Working Families Party Scam UPDATED - Daily Kos

ACORN, the Working Families Party and Political Corruption ..

The Working Families Party Scam - Huffington Post

The Death Of DFS (Updated)

Working Families Party candidates warned about financial ...(Daily News)

Working Families Party Officials Served With Subpoenas ...

The NYC Working Families Party Scam UPDATED - Daily Kos

No Charges Against Working Families Party - NYTimes.com

Working families charade | New York Post

Working Families Party Hits Back At NY Post Attack: Gothamist

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE WORKING FAMILIES

Kaye Report - Working Families Party

Legal Troubles Force ACORN’s Lewis out of Party Post

Working Families Party = ACORN - Roger Stone: The Stone ...

De Blasio’s Atlantic Yards Support Helped Old Ally

ACORN played pivotal role in 2001 City Council race

Working Families Party giddy at City Hall takeover | New ...

Unions' political party endorses GOP Senators who supported minimum-wage vote

HAS THE WFP LOST ITS SOCIAL JUSTICE VISION?

A Fight About Mastro and Cablevision is Really A Fight About WFP's Data and Field

No comments:

Post a Comment

Saturday, May 11, 2013

WFP the New Progressive Machine, Is it Corrupt At Its Core? #300

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . . Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

More On the WFP the New Progressive Machine

WFP Tries to Duck Subpoenas to Delay Case Which is Close to Statue of Limitations

Here Comes the WFP Investigation Melt Down

A special prosecutor has begun issuing subpoenas in the long-stalled investigation into the 2009 campaign activities of the Working Families Party, with a grand jury scheduled to be impaneled next month. (Capital)

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . . Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

de Blasio Lets It Be Known That He is Pushing WFP Activists to Back Cuomo

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . . Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

Cuomo's Working Family Problem

Why For Cuomo the Liberal Bell Tolls

WFP Treating to Work With the Mayor to Elect A Democratic State Senate If the Gov Does Not Support the Tax Increase

WFP Needs Cuomo to Get 50,000 Vote to Keep Its Ballot Line. Cuomo Could Boycott the Party Which Only Has .03% of the registered voters in NYC less in the state

ACORN played pivotal role in 2001 City Council race

A Fight About Mastro and Cablevision is Really A Fight About WFP's Data and Field

No comments:

Post a Comment

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . .
Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . .
Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits

2009 WFP . . . Data and Field . . . Wolfe . . .
Connecting to 2013 Spending Limits