As
Kagro says:
...he's just not enough of a self-promoter, at least online.
So, in an attempt to self promote, I offer you the following....
There was a time, when I thought political activism meant watching TV news and going out to vote every four years. I also once thought that political activism meant reading news sites and blogs and being well informed. I now have a much more refined definition and understand that there are multiple layers of political activism. For me, it now means running for elected office and becoming a voice from within the system in order to change the system. The system is broken, and it has fallen upon us to put aside our day to day differences and to fix it. The alternative is simply too ghastly to imagine.
For that purpose, I look to the Democratic Party as the most viable chance that we have of reforming government. I truly believe that our Party is more progressive and forward thinking and deserves our energy, support, and participation in order to make it more so. This can be seen with the
latest changes to the Democratic primary and caucus schedule:
The Party recognizes the need early in the nominating process to broaden participation to reflect the Party's rich racial, regional, and economic diversity by including 2 additional states. Twelve states applied to conduct early primaries and caucuses. We believe that shows the energy and excitement for opening up the process.
As we all know, government at all levels has been completely bought and sold by corporate interests, and we have seen the continual erosion of our middle and working class. I have chosen to join the fight for transparent and accountable government and demand that my voice be heard. To those ends, I have gone in one year from
co-founding the first ever Stamford (NY) Democratic Committee to running for the 107th New York State Assembly District. Since most of my political awakening as been influenced by DailyKos and other progressive sites, my campaign reflects the progressive agenda shared by many here at this site.
I believe that there needs to major changes to how the New York State Legislature conducts its business of representing the people. When our elected officials in New York State cannot even be held accountable for their own votes, since the Rules of the Assembly allows for empty seat voting, then we have a huge problem:
the yeas and nays shall be taken by a fast roll call and a member desiring to vote in the negative on such a roll call shall do so by entering a negative vote through the electronic voting system or in such other manner as may be prescribed by the Speaker. All other members shall be recorded in the affirmative.
When you are able to
contribute more money to a NYS assembly candidate like myself than for a
presidential candidate, then we have an even bigger problem. When tax-payer's money is handed out to political allies by the leaders of the two legislative bodies and then further used by members to reward supporters, then we have
bribery:
The funds in question are commonly known as member items, or state grants legislators are allowed to give out at their discretion, and the state's top officials contend they don't have to disclose which lawmakers got the funds, how much they got or what they spent it on.
Lucky for us, though, there have been many, who have been working towards a solution, and what is now needed is the political will to fully implement the reforms necessary to make our state government more responsive to the voters. The
Brennan Center of Justice has detailed the modifications required to change the New York State Legislature, which would allow rank-and-file legislators the chance to advance good legislation through the process while stopping bad:
New York's legislative process limits legislators' consideration of legislation - whether counted in hearings,debate, amendments, readings, conference committees, or even simply legislators' presence when they vote - far more than any other legislature.
Clean elections would implement real campaign finance reform, which would take the ungodly amounts of money out of New York's politics and return government to the people:
The Clean Money, Clean Elections bill would create a new system in New York that provides "clean money" candidates with a fixed and equal amount of public financing for their political campaigns. To qualify, the candidates agree to limit campaign spending and contributions, and collect a set amount of small contributions from voters to show that they have real citizen support.
The goal of both of these reform packages is to promote progressive people-powered politics (blame
Kagro for that one) at the most basic levels: campaigning and legislative procedures. With a responsive government, we would be able to resolve even the most challenging issues.
If we can change the government in New York, we can change anywhere (cue music), which is why I am asking for your help. My campaign has received the endorsement of all Democratic county committees within the 107th NYS Assembly District, the Working Families Party, Citizen Action of New York, Rep. Maurice Hinchey, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, and the AFL-CIO. I would have had liked to have seen the AFL-CIO also endorse many of our other great progressives running for state office: Brian Keeler, Susan Zimet, Scott Trees, Mark Trabucco, and Elizabeth Garry. But endorsements do not do it all, and I am asking Kossacks to help support my campaign to change the system. Please consider donating by going to my website and clicking the Make a donation button on the top left of the screen (sorry that is the technical trainer in me). Or better yet, words are worth more than money. I am out there on the ground fighting the fight, but I need some back-up, since we all know that politics can be an ugly business.
Thanks