Written and edited by Norm Scott:
EDUCATE! ORGANIZE!! MOBILIZE!!!
Three pillars of The Resistance – providing information on current ed issues, organizing activities around fighting for public education in NYC and beyond and exposing the motives behind the education deformers. We link up with bands of resisters. Nothing will change unless WE ALL GET INVOLVED IN THE STRUGGLE!
A vote for Retiree Advocate is a vote to protect your health plan.
Ballots are out and here is the chance for retirees to send the UFT leadership a message that they are not happy with the way secret negotiations have taken place to push a quarter million municipal union members out of the public Medicare and into a privatized Medicare Adv program.
Numbers count -- Retiree Advocate had 450 people register for its webinar a few weeks ago -- UFT leaders took notice.
The same with this vote -- the more we get the better the chance to influence the leaders. No, we don't expect to win but a serious improvement on our usual 20% will serve notice not to tamper with retiree benefits, especially since Unity Caucus uses retirees to hold on to power. Even a 10% shift in this election might cause a shift in next year's general UFT election. If Mulgrew totals every dropped below 70% of retirees, the UFT elections become more possible for the opposition.
In response to the health care issue:
RA PRESS CONFERENCE ON MEDICARE CHANGES
MONDAY MAY 24 12 NOON
LOCATION: PARK ROW NEAR CITY HALL ACROSS FROM B'KLYN BRIDGE
Numbers count there too even if only a press conference where usually 30 people show - Imagine if a couple of hundred showed up -- that would scare the hell out if Unity -- so if you are free on Monday -- see u there.
We have an amazing list of 130 candidates, including UFT activists and superstars going back a half century - some of whom I didn't speak to for decades. OY! Strange bedfellows, indeed. You should see some comments on the Retiree Advocate listserve. I love open debate which you can't find in too many places in today's world, both left and right.
Why so many candidates? We could have run 300.
We are voting on a retiree chapter leader, ten officers, a 25 member retiree ex board (not to be confused with the regular UFT Ex Bd), and 300 delegates to the Delegate Assembly - another key element of Unity control. It's winner take all so even if we got 20% we get no delegates or ex bd members.
Taxation (dues) without representation
So we are entitled morally and democratically to 20% of the delegates - 60 - and don't think having 60 retired activists in the DA wouldn't have an impact. And of course Unity will never give. But our voters get no representation at all at the DA. We need to throw the tea bags at the retiree meetings into the ocean. But this time we asked Unity for a measly 5 delegates. And of course they said no --- all their 300 positions were filled.
Unity delegate banned for vote at DA
But then we found out that Unity delegate Dave Pecoraro who blew up the April DA by opposing Unity endorse Corey Johnson and was one of the 300 that morning, was tossed off the Unity slate - past the deadline for submission - after the DA -- supposedly at Mulgrew's orders. He Mulgrew -- I'll take Dave's place.
Unity even cheats on leaflet enclosed with ballot -- prints RA on cheap paper
Did you notice our leaflet that came with the ballot -- went out to all 70,000 retirees. The Unity leaflet in on yellow heavier bond paper, while ours is on cheap white paper --- but I still like ours better -- and I modestly claim to have played a major role in producing it. And I loved the collaborative effort working within the RA Organizing committee. The leaflet reflects our general leftist positions but not over the top with the usual rhetoric -- I am making war on leftist rhetoric - though some may have slipped through. We have an article on why unions shouldn't opposed universal health care, a move the money from defense spending article and a stock transfer tax article.
The last time our contract addressed class size was over 50 years ago. Now money has come through to do so and you might be scratching your head as to why the
UFT leadership is not doing more to support moves in that direction. You know my theory -- that they pay lip service but fundamentally they are ed deformers and don't have a deep belief in small class size -- I know, my theory is pretty controversial, but over the years the UFT leaders have supported many ed deform underpinnings:
mayoral control
charter schools
closing so-called "failed" schools based on high stakes testing
high stakes testing itself
the "good" teacher more important than class size -- as if the number of students in a class has no impact on the relative quality of the teacher and the nature of teaching itself.
Well, I'll get off my soapbox and let Leonie (who I do not believe agrees with my analysis above) talk and ask for your support for the class size bill in the state legislature.
Dear Norm: It would be great if you could reach out to UFT members and ask them to:
send a letter to their legislators asking them to support S.6296/ A. 7447, which would update and renew NYC’s commitment to implement a five-year class size reduction plan.
If
there are any who live or work in Sen. Liu’s district (generally D25
and D26) it would be great if they could also contact me at leoniehaimson@gmail.com
No sooner had I become overwhelmed by the corpulent body of journalism
about Liz Cheney as some beacon of moral clarity than I began to feel
besieged by dissents about what a wretched opportunist she really is. -- Frank Bruni
May 12: Cheney just lost her leadership position. Who gives a shit? Well, the liberal media does, which exposes how shallow they are.
Let's face it - Liz Chaney and her dad are despicable. No heroes to me. As are the Bushes. As is the entire anti-Trump Lincoln Republican wing of the party. What does it say that the equally despicable Elise Stefanik is way more liberal than Chaney?
It's nice to see Frank Bruni and Maureen Dowd agree with me in their op eds in last Sunday's NY Times, May 8, 2021. The headlines say it all.
But I've been watching with interest. Why did she escalate her war with Trump? Yesterday she made another speech on the floor - and many Republicans walked out. These are calculated moves.
Certainly not because of moral fervor or adherence to democracy - remember Iraq! No, it's a calculated attempt to take back the party. And it's not a totally dumb move.
Trump has 70% of the party. But he doesn't have 30%. And that 30% is the key. Last week I heard an anti-Trumper on Morning Joe say something is coming and today I think it dropped in the NYT:
“This is us saying that a group of more than 100 prominent Republicans
think that the situation has gotten so dire with the Republican Party
that it is now time to seriously consider whether an alternative might
be the only option,” he said.
We know that third parties can't really win. But I don't see that as the aim. They can't win primaries with 30% but if they run in the general elections and pull 25-30% of the vote, they can help Democrats win, which they view as temporary until they regain control of the Party, which they feel they will as Trump support begins to slip -- and it will if they start losing elections.
And even internal polls show that Trump support is slipping but they are afraid to announce that.
And no worries, the Bush/Chaney wing has plenty of money, especially from corporations which will rush to help them take back control.
So imagine in battleground states the Real Republicans taking away even 15% of the vote (and some of that may come from Dems if their candidate is too far left).
They will pick their spots. And it will be interesting to see if they will get this going in time for the 2022 midterms -- they need to start now. Or wait until the 2024 elections and run Chaney for president in key states.
Will it work? They understand that many in the party are with them but afraid of Trump because they don't think they can win without him. But if they start to lose with him, the feeling is the spell will be broken and by 2028 they will be in control again.
If one allegation, with shaky evidence, is enough to
short-circuit a political career, a new playbook is opened up, one
left-leaning Democrats must take into account when embarking on future
campaigns.... Ross Barkan
“I’m
very proud of that endorsement because of what Scott has done and what
he will do,” said Ms. Weingarten, the former president of the U.F.T. “I
think he’ll be a great mayor. Am I troubled by the allegations? Of course,” she said, adding, “I’m also a unionist who has dealt with false allegations.”... NY Times report , Eliza Shapiro
Most of Stringer’s Supporters Have Fled. Not the Teachers’ Union.
The United Federation of Teachers is boosting Mr. Stringer’s embattled campaign with an advertising blitz.
I don’t know what happened. But here’s what I do know. We cannot flourish
as a society if a single accusation out of the blue upends an election
overnight and ruins a 30-year career in politics. More information may
clarify matters, but as of now, we don’t have it. Love him or hate
him—and I spoke to people who consider Stringer arrogant and bullying,
as well as others who think he’s “sweet,” “clumsy,” and “nebbishy”—he’s
entitled to a more measured assessment, as are the voters of New York
City. It is shocking that so many political figures would abandon him so
quickly. Why did they do that?
The Nation is left-progressive, as are The Intercept and Krystal Ball, and they all have raised questions, as has Ross Barkan, over the rush to judgement.
Also interesting takeaways from the NYT article of support for Stringer, who is unlikely to win, yet the AFT/UFT are not backing away. The fact that Randi seems to be leading this local battle from the national stage and not Mulgrew shows us she is still pulling the strings. He isn't even mentioned in the article.
Shapiro, not exactly teachers' favorite ed reporter made a fair point (finally):
Some parents and mayoral candidates
have accused the union of slowing the pace of school reopenings in New
York over the last year. But with the majority of families still
choosing to learn remotely, there is no evidence of a significant public
backlash against the union.
The fact is when you look at all the other candidates, the UFT doesn't really have an alternative path to Stringer, though Wiley is favored by some in the second tier leadership. Morales, favored by MORE Caucus, is too left for the union. Ironically, I recently heard a left wing NYC tennant organizer trashing her left creds because she spent a decade running an agency of a major landlord. I also often point out that Morales apparently worked in the Joel Klein anti-union administration.
Leading candidates Yang and Adams are now viewed by the UFT as existential threats. Yang is Bloomberg light as evidenced by Bradley Tusk's control of his campaign. And Adams is clearly a Charter industry clone, as evidenced by Jenny Sedlis, my old sparring partner from Success Academy, taking a leave of absense from running the ani-union Students First to form an Adams PAC.
I speculated in my report on The Intercept and Rising exposure of discrepancies in Stringer's accuser's story that Stringer, who ended Eva's political career, is a particular danger to Success and the charter industrial complex and the political hit on him serves them well -- I never put it beyond them in alliance with the Bloomberg crowd.
Mulgrew went off on Yang/Adams at last night's Ex bd as reported by Arthur:
Will be NYT story about how UFT and AFT have opened up support for
Stringer and others. Mayor's race will really get hot and heavy now.
Something we thought was happening seems to have come to fruition.
Agency run by Bradley Tusk, who campaigned against UFT running Yang
campaign, and Students First giving 6 million to Eric Adams. These
groups have worked to get city hall back. They are now major players
with two candidates. Will get ugly. All the colocation fights can be
tied to these agencies. Every time something bad happens, you'll see
them involved when it comes to us.
We know who these people are,
and we thought Adams would work with Students First. Thanks groups who
did vetting, dug into finances, and checked who they supported and
donated to. Will discuss in detail at Town Hall and DA.
Mayor's
race shaping into three person race. Stringer has allegations against
him, but most unions who've endorsed have stuck. Allegations are
allegations. Our group that first endorsed says we should continue.
Never
thought we'd go back to Bloomberg days. Yang isn't billionaire, but is
tied with this group. Adams is tied with Students First. We will get
word out.
Stringer, unlike Cuomo, had never developed any kind of reputation of
acting inappropriately toward women. There were no stories of boozy
holiday parties or anecdotes of hugs and kisses that lasted far too
long. Stringer was especially not flirtatious. Current and former aides,
many of them female, spoke highly of him. Stringer, at age 40 or
41, may have been a sexual predator. But he may not have been. The
incident with Kim took place 20 years ago. There are no witnesses, as of
now, that have come forward to recall that Kim related this allegation
to them in 2001 or shortly after.
Barkan also points to the dangers of the MeToo movement that leaps immediatley to cancel anyone charged before a vetting process takes place and how the movement can be weaponized to bring down any candidate, especially progressives. After giving details of The Intercept report, Barkan says:
None of this, on its own, proves Kim is lying. But it does raise an
uncomfortable question for the progressive Democrats most concerned
about holding men in politics accountable for their untoward behavior:
how much evidence is really required for an allegation? What allegations
should be strong enough to end a political career? The standard set
from the Stringer incident is that one allegation made by one person, no
matter the time elapsed or the amount of evidence presented, is
sufficient. And perhaps, they would argue, that is how politics should
be conducted from 2021 onwards. Women should be believed. Once they
speak out, that’s enough.
At least, with Cuomo, there are many allegations, and some of the calls for his resignation
have stemmed from a potential cover-up of nursing home deaths and a
scandalous pandemic response. Some of the women stepping forward against
Cuomo accuse him of harassing them as recently as last year. Kim’s
allegation, having taken place 20 years ago, cannot be substantiated in
such a way. It is notable, too, that many long-time Stringer allies were
willing to ditch his mayoral campaign entirely even though no man or
woman has come forward to tell the media that Kim related the incident
to them in 2001. For investigations into claims of harassment and
assault, this is the initial bar of evidence that usually needs to be
cleared.
If one allegation, with shaky evidence, is enough to
short-circuit a political career, a new playbook is opened up, one
left-leaning Democrats must take into account when embarking on future
campaigns. Last year, a popular 31-year-old progressive running for
Congress in Massachusetts, Alex Morse, was accused of engaging in improper sexual conduct
with younger men when he was a college instructor. Morse, who had been
mayor of the town of Holyoke at the time, insisted all relationships he
had were consensual. No one accused him of dating men younger than the
age of consent.
The allegations, the Intercept later reported,
were a farce. The College Democrats at the University of Massachusetts
Amherst had plotted in 2019 about ways to ensnare Morse, a young gay
man, in scandal. They were all supporters of Morse’s establishment
opponent, Richard Neal. The State Democratic Party of Massachusetts even coordinated
with the College Democrats on how these allegations could be planted in
the media. In the end, the scheme worked: Neal, the incumbent
congressman, won re-election comfortably.
What happened to Morse
could easily happen to other ascendant progressives in the future.
Conservative political operatives—or those aligned with the Democratic
establishment—can aim to coordinate or manufacture an allegation,
knowing that left institutions and politicians will rapidly withdraw
their support for the rising candidate. Morse quickly lost the
endorsement of the Sunrise Movement and other progressive organizations,
though the allegations immediately appeared dubious. If Democrats on
the left want to end any semblance of due process—if allegations, on
their own, are the equivalent of a conviction—than it is not hard to
imagine how this will be exploited by nefarious actors.
Stringer
is not Morse and there’s no evidence that other Democrats are
coordinating with Kim to damage Stringer’s campaign. Kim very well might
be telling the truth. The allegation lacks direct evidence, but
Stringer cannot disprove it, either. It will be up to voters,
ultimately, to judge Stringer, because he has rejected calls from his
rivals to drop out. With more than $7 million to spend, he is forging
onward, toward an uncertain finish on June 22nd.
What’s not yet
clear is how Stringer will be evaluated by the hundreds of thousands of
Democrats who will show up to vote. Polling in the next few weeks will
tell us. It’s very possible the allegation doesn’t hurt Stringer’s
position all that much. His supporters, many of whom have been voting
for him since the 1990s and 2000s, aren’t all defecting to front-runners
like Yang and Adams. Maya Wiley and Dianne Morales are hoping to hoover up
disaffected Stringer voters, though we don’t know yet how many of these
people they’ll be able to pull into their own camps. There is growing evidence
in polling data that older Democrats are not so easily moved by sexual
harassment and assault allegations. There’s a reason Cuomo has ignored
calls for his own resignation. Some Democrats, believing Al Franken was
unfairly driven from the Senate, are becoming less willing than
progressive organizations and politicians to throw their own overboard,
especially since Republicans almost never do.
That’s Stringer’s
political calculus. Assuming no new allegations, it may work in at least
maintaining a kind of stasis: a consistent third place in the polls,
with the hope of a last minute surge. Stringer’s most pivotal endorsers
haven’t defected yet. Congressman Jerry Nadler, the king of the Upper
West Side, is still with Stringer, as is the United Federation of Teachers.
Older voters of color are also not likely to judge Stringer especially
harshly, since it was Spitzer, the scandal-scarred former governor, who
dominated Black and Latino neighborhoods as he narrowly lost to Stringer
in that 2013 comptroller’s race. It’s no accident Stringer has been
hitting the church circuit every weekend.
If Stringer remains
viable and manages to come close to capturing the Democratic nomination,
it will be a further indictment of the nonprofit left organizations and
the elected officials aligned with them. For the last decade, these
organizations, like the Working Families Party, have boasted of their
power to move voters, to decide the direction of the left flank of the
Democratic Party. Most of the politicians who deserted Stringer are
closely allied with WFP and their member organizations, and seem to
believe, publicly at least, they are representative of the working class
voters of this city and can mobilize them at pivotal moments.
Special Education Far Rockaway teacher Daniel Alicea, the major organizer at EONYC, is doing the kind of work the UFT should be doing, following up on EONYC's enormously successful monthly Zooms on Tuesday with probably the most important issue we face:
What Should Next School Year Look Like?
The link to sign up. He has assembled a fantastic panel:
Panelists Set for EONYC May Forum: What Should Next School Year Look Like?
Our stakeholder panelists include parents, education activists, educators, and leaders from our various teacher caucuses We
are just days away from our May 11th online forum where we will gather
with expert panelists that include parents, education activists,
educators, and leaders from our various teacher caucuses. We hope to
also be able to lean on the expertise of a local medical doctor, as
well.
As this school year of hybrid learning in a pandemic winds
down, we as educators and stakeholders have begun to reflect and
formulate questions about what the next school year should look like.
At Tuesday evening’s event, we hope to share our collective thoughts,
ideas, and demands for what should be prioritized in the upcoming school
year.
Last month EONYC held a panel that included reps from every caucus and interest group in the UFT, including Unity Caucus and attracted hundreds to a webinar discussion of the UFT Mayoral Endorsement process, which is basically 3 people in a room.
Eterno pointed to how important these type of open discussions have been in his ad for the April event.
Everyone guesses the UFT will endorse Scott Stringer with some
believing Maya Wiley has a chance to be second. Is this the right
decision? Is the UFT top-down endorsement process fair?If you are
looking for a real discussion on the mayor's race and the Union's
involvement, you will most likely be out of luck at the DA as it will
more than likely be tightly controlled by Mulgrew.
This was a day before the UFT special DA where they did endorse Stringer but did not choose Wiley or anyone as a second choice. I wrote about the Stringer story a few days ago: UFT
Sticks with Stringer.
Here's more from EONYC:
Please
join our next Educators of NYC monthly meetup, on Tuesday, May 11th, at
7 PM, as we discuss: WHAT SHOULD NEXT YEAR'S SCHOOL REOPENING LOOK LIKE
IN A COVID WORLD?
We
are just a day away from our May 11th online forum where we will gather
with expert panelists that include parents, education activists,
educators, and leaders from our various teacher caucuses. We hope to
also be able to lean on the expertise of a local medical doctor, as
well.
As
this school year of hybrid learning in a pandemic winds down, we as
educators and stakeholders have begun to reflect and formulate questions
about what the next school year should look like. At Tuesday evening’s
event, we hope to share our collective thoughts, ideas, and demands for what should be prioritized in the upcoming school year.
RSVP now!!! ... as our slots to participate will go quickly.
We,
also, encourage you to take the pre-forum survey here if you haven’t
and you can also view the preliminary results. Almost 4k individuals
have responded already: http://educators.nyc/maysurvey
Lastly, if you have registered we will send you a Zoom link as the forum event approaches.
The forum event will also be live-streamed via Facebook Live our public Facebook page and private page.
Please share this with those in your education networks and circles.
Rising followed up the day after with Krystal focusing her aim on MeToo political hits, including the guys who primaried Nancy Pelosi and Richard Neal when fake stuff was leaked at a strategic point that made it impossible to recover. And that was my main beef and suspicians about Jean Kim who waited 20 years until just the right moment. Now people have been telling me I jumped the gun because more women may come out against Stringer. We may have to vet every woman he ever dated. Krystal, coming from the almost hard left, as does the Interecept reporter Ryan Grim, are important voices even though they risk cancellation.
WARNING! WARNING!! NORM ABOUT TO ENTER CANCELLATION TERRITORY
Claims by Scott Stringer Accuser Unravel as Progressives Flee New York Mayoral Candidate. New
details about Jean Kim’s role on Stringer’s 2001 campaign and her
relationship to the candidate paint a very different portrait of the
power dynamic at play....Wiley at the time recommended “assessing the accused’s credibility
and response to the allegation in comparison to the credibility of the
accuser and supporting evidence.” .... https://theintercept.com/2021/05/04/nyc-mayor-scott-stringer-jean-kim/
Video: D.C. bureau chief of The Intercept, Ryan Grim, digs into sexual harassment allegations against NYC mayoral candidates, Scott Stringer and finde major discrepancies in Jean Kim's story - Rising, The Hill https://youtu.be/qSy2d6Nq4EI
As former prosecutors and attorneys deeply concerned about respecting
the survivors of sexual assault and protecting the rights of the
accused, we believe that justice requires a more nuanced approach than
we are seeing in the current debate. We approach this, as we would any
the report of any crime, through the neutral lens of investigation.... Maya Wiley, May, 2020. https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/joe-biden-tara-reade-steps-can-provide-full-accounting-metoo-ncna1203006 {MUST READ}
5 days ago — Stringer denies the accusations claiming he and Kim had a consensual relationship for a brief period of time.
May 5, 2021, Report from a white privileged {old} male
Don't you love so-called "progressives?"
I'm so glad I've never had any power - especially in my own home.
The Intercept report and great reporter Ryan Grim's appearance on Rising yesterday might be too late to save Stringer, but I never gave him much of a chance of winning anyway. White males are not kosher this year. The way Yang is courting the Hassids, he may be the kosher one in the race.
UFT Endorsement holds
Don't get me wrong. I liked Stringer at times over the years but even he has links to Bloomberg though Micah, Lasher, his campaign manager, who many of us fighting ed deform have found to be despicable. Stringer wasn't my first choice - but actually none of them are. Much loved by the left Diane Morales once took a job in the Joel Klein anti-union pro-charter administration. But the left can conveniently forget when it needs to - except if you made a dumb tweet when you were in the womb - then cancellation for life.
The UFT endorsement with Stringer the only choice looked like another failure in UFT mayoral races. At the very least, given some high level UFT officials' support for Wiley, I figured her as second choice and viewed not doing so as a mistake.
Now with the Intercept report Mulgrew is not looking as bad - imagine if Wiley was second choice and screaming for Stringer to drop out practically before Kim got the words out of her mouth. I'm sure teachers could rely on Wiley for support for due process if they are accused of something. Anything.
Were the charges against Stringer an outcome of the UFT endorsement which gave him legs? Do I suspect the Yang camp? Maybe not him but never forget Bloomberg fave Bradley Tusk, a major POS, is Yang's handler. If Stringer had been in single figures in the poles we would have been spared this drama.
But the UFT reaffirmed its commitment to the Stringer endorsement while MORE
Caucus called for the UFT to rescind. Naturally. Some people find it funny when
unionists want to throw away due process, but having been denied the
same when I was drummed out of MORE, I'm not surprised that the idea of
due process is forgotten when politically inconvenient.
Fuck due process:
MORE-UFT Stands with Survivors and Calls on the UFT to Rescind the Endorsement of Scott Stringer Immediately
-
In light of recent allegations made against Mayoral candidate and New York
City Comptroller Scott Stringer, we call on the UFT to immediately rescind
their..The UFT Endorsement process was undemocratic to begin with. Rank and
file members had very little decision-making power nor understanding of
the process....... LOL when MORE talks about democracy in the UFT
MORE clearly is pushing Morales but have they actually taken a democratic vote of all MORE members like they are asking of the UFT? They won't officially endorse Morales but are trying to shame the UFT into doing it. The left in the UFT is voting Morales and maybe some will be for Wiley. Stringer threatened to take some left votes.
I don't often love Mike Mulgrew but not backing down from the UFT choice of Stringer is gutsy in a way. I wonder if Stringer didn't give Mulgrew a heads up on the Intercept story. I'd put a few bob on that.
I may make Stringer one of my votes and will give no votes
to amy candidate that called on him to leave the race. Actually, that condition may leave Stringer as the only candidate left for me. I stand for due
process for teachers - and everyone else. I'm pretty sure Morales, whom I was considering, also asked for Stringer to drop out -- hooray for due process.
The Stringer case has bugged me from the start. Compare to the Cuomo story - I believed all the people charging him. The use and abuse of power accumulates over time. Have we heard of much Stringer stuff over the past 20 years? And don't forget, he stopped Eva Moskowitz' political career -- believe me if there was dirt the Moskowitz machine would have thrown it -- which actually leads my conspiracy laden mind to think how bad for Eva it would be if Stringer became mayor ----- Hmmmm. Did the charter ed industrial complex have a role in the exposure of Stringer? Does the PR firm Kim works for have any connections? This stuff hit just after the UFT endorsement gave Stringer campaign legs. Put The Intercept on that case. And by the way - here is this little tidbit about her firm from their story:
Since 2015, TLM has
represented the American Petroleum Institute, Bank of America, and a
slew of other corporate, nonprofit, and developer clients. Stringer, as
comptroller, led the largest divestment from fossil fuels in the world.
I had some issues with Tara Reade's Biden story due to no other women coming forth -- I assume if Biden did what he did to Reade a man with power would do it to more women. So that counts. But there is still an element of truth in her story. In some ways her story holds up better than Jean Kim's.
But the same conditions apply to Stringer. I don't see women coming out of the woodwork making charges like we hear about Cuomo. Maybe more women will emerge but they better have their ducks in a row given the holes in Kim's story. The Intercept story in full below catches her in lie after lie - I mean real lies with written records.
It's still going to be touch and go. If no one else emerges to say he groped or propositioned them, even if Stringer loses, Mulgrew looks good for standing by him. On the process they used for mayoral endorsement - not so much. Unity claims they sent out 10 billion emails and millions of UFT members, including the ghosts of dead members, took part in the process.
I smelled a rat with Jean Kim's account from the moment I heard it based on the exquisite timing. Wait 20 years until weeks before the election, when there would be little time to vet her. It looked like a hit. And it looked like it worked. I see Stringer as dead in the water and would bet on Adams being next mayor, based on rise in crime. A black ex-cop will have leeway to do certain things that will rile the left. A black Giuliani?
Stringer has been attacked for jumping on the story that Kim had petitioned for her friend Esther Yang using a petition with Andrew Yang on the same page and when the Stringer camp brought it up they were attacked. The Stringer campaign went too far in accusing Kim of working for Andrew Yang but her claims ring false about having no connection to Andrew Yang and she was just petitioning for her friend Esther and Andrew "just happened" to be on the same petition. Not that her friend Esther had anything to do with Andrew Yang, especially when his campaign put out this call for volunteers:
Join us in Door to Door knocking for Andrew
Yang and Esther Yang! Canvassing is the best way to spread the word
about Andrew, Esther and their policies and ...
I guess Jean Kim had no idea her good friend Esther was aligned with Andrew. Note to Esther - Jean Kim was once Scott Stringer's friend. Watch your back.
One of my favorite reporters is Ryan Grim at the left-leaning Intercept and he appears often on Rising. Yesterday he was on the Jean Kim case as he explained to Krystal and Saagar in some detail about his investigation. (See video below).
Intern is the magic word
Stringer and Kim were part of the same social circle and they all volunteered for his campaign. She was 30 and had a job but initially claimed she was an intern - a bald-faced lie - and her explanation he told her it was an intern-like environment was bullshit as they actually had real interns. The Intercept talked to people who knew them and reported their relationship fell into the "friends with benefits" category.
In today's climate we're automatically expected to believe a female accuser, and often they are proven right. But sometimes with vetting, there are doubts. Witness the Biden accuser, Tara Reade, whose credibility was doubted over months of vetting her past. Some people still believe her and in some ways her story is much worse than that of Stringer's accuser.
Wiley Hypocrisy on Biden and Stringer: Fuck Due Process II
Note how Wiley gave Stringer less
than 24 hours before calling for him to resign from the race.
Progressives. People calling for Stringer to quit should also demand
Biden resign. That's a joke - but hypocrisy, rear thy ugly head. I had
considered listing Wiley on my ballot but she now joins Andrew Yang in
Norm's "ballot hell." I give Wiley the Norm Scott POS seal for standing
up for her principles of "protecting the rights of the
accused.
But Maya Wiley was quick to hold off judgement on Biden in an essay she co-wrote in May 2020.
That means that step one after accepting Reade’s allegation is to
investigate it. Because her allegations occurred long enough ago that
the statute of limitations bars any possibility of prosecution, law
enforcement agencies don't have jurisdiction to investigate, and
investigation funded by either Reade or Biden would likely be viewed as
lacking objectivity. But there is a vehicle for investigation — the
independent press, where investigative journalists are highly motivated
to seek out details and witnesses and where competing views will be
aired.
Now watch how Wiley and crew cast shade on Reade for showing support for Biden many years after the incident:
Reade has praised Biden for protecting women from sexual assault. As recently as 2016 or 2017, Reade, under the name Tara McCabe, tweeted praise
for Biden’s efforts to address sexual assault and retweeted the
accolades of others for his efforts. In one tweet, Reade said, “My old
boss speaks truth. Listen."Reade has also changed her story about the reason she left her job at Biden’s office,
Scott Stringer was on Brian Lehrer and he was really grilled by Bryan, and not in a totally fair way. Like even if they were dating, what about the power relationship - holy fuck, we must assess our power relationships before dating. Maybe we need an online form to fill out before getting permission or else expect 30 years later to be charged with something. Or male teachers -- Did you ever tell a female student she looked pretty?
Here's the Rising video
D.C. bureau chief of The Intercept, Ryan Grim, digs into sexual
harassment allegations against NYC mayoral candidates, Scott Stringer.
Are there signs the pressure from retirees is having an impact on UFT leaders?
Unity
has used retirees as their main instrument of control of the UFT and
have received 85% or more of their votes in UFT general elections and
about 80% in retiree chapter elections (where most people are not aware
of an election so don't vote). They have always made sure retirees are
well treated - there are goodies.: Ridiculously cheap classes, refunds,
trips and a good healthcare plan. OOPS! It seems risky for them to
alienate retirees. Don't think they won't be watching the numbers in
the upcoming chapter election. If they saw some serious slippage it might even affect
how far they are willing to go in this health care fiasco.
May 4, 2021, 1:30 PM - in the middle of the Mulgrew-retiree fest.
The above is can excerpt from my post below where I argue that pushing back might have an ability to shake the UFT leadership. Alienating UFT retirees? Maybe not a good idea.
A debate broke out on the Retiree Advocate listserve Monday following the amazing webinar RA held on Sunday where 450 registered and 300 showed up. I will post the video when it's available. A key was that we had speakers from every angle and caucus and even had a doctor. But I'll say more about that another time.
I presented at the webinar and had originally supported a rally at the MLC HQ on Water St. (Municipal Labor Committee) which is meeting tomorrow - Wednesday - to possibly vote on the proposal or at least reveal whether Emblem or Aetna won the big money sweepstakes - and believe me, it's BIG MONEY - for them - and LESS MONEY for us. A poll held at Sunday's meeting indicated the majority who voted were not prepared for a rally. We also began to see that an effective rally would require more preparation and that may still happen.
Some people wanted to hold a rally ASAP and one target was a protest of sorts during Mulgrew's event today. I pushed back against holding a rally today in this email to the group and echoed James Eterno's push to flood the meeting with questions.
Monday, May 3, 11PM
Compliments to the many excellent points made so far. People should
begin to come together to facilitate areas of common interest. I'm
speaking for myself here and not RA/UFT or ICE/UFT.
I
wanted to address some assumptions being made on the retiree advocate
google listserve that attending the Mulgrew info session is a waste of
time and we'd be better off having a rally at UFT at the same time.
One
of the reasons Mulgrew is even holding a town hall is due to the
pressure not only by Retiree Advocate but by hundreds if not thousands
of retirees as they get informed. RA organizing has been around
spreading information and .the webinar was an outgrowth of that
organizing. And we only learned of these proposed changes a few weeks
ago from people in PSC. The UFT has used stealth to try to sneak this by
us.
RA was in position to reach out due to
the consistent educating and organizing over the past few years - even
decades - as the only group in the retiree chapter pushing back against
Unity. But this year we were able to meet more often due to zoom -- a
pandemic benefit and we have focused on getting a messy email list in
order, working on the FB page and expanding outreach for the chapter
elections. Fundamentally, RA has been putting out newsletters aimed at
retirees over these decades.
This year we
reached out directly to many retirees who had been active in the UFT to
run with us and that has been the basis of getting the word out. When we
submitted almost 130 candidates last month - including almost every
opposition presidential candidate since the 1970s --- the largest slate
ever from what I hear - the Unity machine took notice. I'd bet today, a
month later, we'd be able to fill all 300 slots in the election.
All
indications are that the pressure we have been applying is having an
impact. The very fact Mulgrew is holding this meeting is an outgrowth of
that pressure. He had people tune in to our webinar and don't think the
450 registrants and 300 attendees goes unnoticed.
Rally Confusion -- Retiree votes have been key to keeping Unity in power
I'm not sure how the idea to rally Tuesday at the UFT during the Mulgrew town hall came about.
Nor the idea that attending the Mulgrew meeting was meaningless. The very opposite was presented at the webinar by James Eterno.
I
get the negative history of our dealings with the duplicitous
leadership. But this may be new territory for them and the opposition.
Unity
has used retirees as their main instrument of control of the UFT and
have received 85% or more of their votes in UFT general elections and
about 80% in retiree chapter elections (where most people are not aware
of an election so don't vote). They have always made sure retirees are
well treated - there are goodies.: Ridiculously cheap classes, refunds,
trips and a good healthcare plan. OOPS! It seems risky for them to
alienate retirees. Don't think they won't be watching the numbers in
this election. If they saw some serious slippage it might even affect
how far they are willing to go in this health care fiasco.
RA only considered a rally on Wednesday at MLC not UFT
Retiree
Advocate at no time considered a rally at the UFT on Tuesday. That's
why James Eterno was asked to do a presentation at the webinar on why we
should flood the Tuesday Mulgrew meeting with attempts to get questions
answered. James' presentation pointed to why we should try to be there.
Numbers count and leadership notices them. -- flood Mulgrew's meeting
and try to get through the screeners
to ask a question. There may be
thousands of people on the call who are frustrated - I think some may be
more willing to come to a rally AFTER being turned back at Mulgrew's
meeting. From what we are hearing, Unity will be watching the number of
people who sign on tomorrow - they know they have to tread carefully
with misinformation because that will come back to bite them.
Our
man on the Ex Bd Mike Schirtzer asked questions tonight at the meeting
about letting people get their questions in. (iI has been incredibly
valuable having Mike on the EB because no opposition retirees can get
elected due to Unity winner take all.) Mulgrew said it would be open --
we'll see. Mulgrew referenced the upcoming retiree chapter election to
try to throw shade on RA: "Not making any decisions yet. If we have to blow it up, we will.
[GASLIGHTING] Lots of bad information out there. There are always factions." What bad information since they've given us none?
Reports
coming in point to the fact they may be in front of thousands of
attendees -- which was James' point and we should not miss the
opportunity to chime in if we can- and if we can't and questions aren't
answered or they are blowing smoke then many people will go away being
more pissed and open to our message. And if people try and are shut out
we make a big deal about it.
Rally? I can
only focus on one thing at a time at this time in my life. For the
record, in my webinar presentation I put forth the Retiree Advocate fall
back position on a rally that since MLC is meeting Wednesday we should
hold a rally at noon at their headquarters. Even with a flawed poll it
was disappointing to see the outcome. I was hoping for more than 35. And
we know that slippage might lead to less actually showing up. It seems
most are not ready to venture out to a rally at this point but maybe in a
week or so of increasing agitation, they might be. RA is ready to help
organize with many of you for a rally that is well thought out and
organized.
Based on the back and forth so
far, especially the email from Jose with some great organizing
tactics, a successful rally takes some time. I hope Jose jumps on board
to assist with his expertise.
I do want to
point out that there are activists in the retiree chapter who do not
believe in holding protests at any union facility because they feel it
feeds into the general anti-unionism we face and if a rally is held at
the UFT some will not attend. I've always been willing to demo at UFT
but in the interests of small u unity, there seem to be plenty of other
targets.
A rally idea should be tackled
after tomorrow for sometime in the near future if there is enough
interest. But consider that numbers actually do count. A weak showing in
a union of 70k retirees sends a message we may not want to send.
Here is Eterno's blog post tonight about the Mulgrew meeting tomorrow and reports of tonight's ex bd.
61% of Harlem families have made the choice to keep their children in remote schooling (D4 = 60%, D3 = 64%, D5 = 61%) for the remainder of the school year. The KSO movement is led by privileged white caregivers who have repeatedly used the experiences of Black and Brown families as props for their agenda to rush fully reopening of school buildings. This group has spent the past year demonizing and blaming New York City teachers for the broken response by Mayor de Blasio, and the former Trump administration. They have also allied with known segregationists and right-wing racist groups who oppose Critical Race Theory and anti-racism. Now they’ve enlisted the support of problematic Mayoral candidates Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia. ..... Parents for Responsive Equitable Safe Schools (PRESS NYC)
I'm venturing out to Harlem for my first public event since March, 2020.
There are two rallies occurring at the same time and place today at Wagner Park in Harlem (120th St between 1st and 2nd ave)
A "Keep schools open no matter what and fuck those lazy teachersand who cares if kids get sicksince they are more likely not to be white" rally of mostly white wealthy parents
A counter rally in support of teachers and parents who still feel it unsafe to go back into schools at the same location is being led by Kaliris Salas Ramirez, parent activist supreme who we worked with in the successful battles to get rid of an abusive principal at Central Park East a few years ago. Kaliris and parents at the school backed teachers who were rubber roomed and pretty much saved their jobs. (Parents at Central Park East 1 Issue Press Release Calling for Removal of Principal Monika Garg).
Mostly Upper west side parents, led by people who have been linked to anti-vax and anti-mask groups, are holding the rally in Harlem - an in your face move, given that parents of color have been more unwilling to go back into schools than higher income white parents. This group has also engaged in attacks on the UFT and on teachers in general. But despite that, they are advertising that mayoral candidates Garcia and Yang will be speakers.
Here is the press release of the group pushing back:
CONTACTS: Kaliris Salas Ramirez , Liz Rosenberg
MEDIA ADVISORY
For immediate release
Public school families & educators of Harlem, along with allies, demand school planning be
rooted in community concerns and priorities for safety & equity; Denounce Keep Schools Open
mayoral candidate rally (happening simultaneously) as cynical exploitation, unrepresentative of
the community
WHEN: Saturday, May 1 beginning at @ 10 AM
● Gathering
● Rally With Speakers
● Community Conversations/Teach-ins
WHERE: Gathering and rally -- outside Wagner Playground, E. 120th St (between 1st & 2nd Aves), Manhattan
Community conversations/teach-in -- The Harlem Art Park E. 120th between 3rd and Lexington
WHAT & WHY:
61% of Harlem families have made the choice to keep their children in remote schooling (D4 = 60%, D3 =
64%, D5 = 61%) for the remainder of the school year. The KSO movement is led by privileged white
caregivers who have repeatedly used the experiences of Black and Brown families as props for their agenda
to rush fully reopening of school buildings. This group has spent the past year demonizing and blaming New
York City teachers for the broken response by Mayor de Blasio, and the former Trump administration. They
have also allied with known segregationists and right-wing racist groups who oppose Critical Race Theory
and anti-racism. Now they’ve enlisted the support of problematic Mayoral candidates Andrew Yang and
Kathryn Garcia.
On May Day, a day that we are supposed to honor labor activism, for mayoral candidates to stand with
those who have actively demonized teachers for their own private interests speaks volumes. We are not
your props!
We say NO to the racist KSO movement
We say NO to Andrew Yang
We say NO to Kathryn Garcia
We say NO to Ray McGuire
We say NO to Maud Maron
WHO WILL SPEAK:
● City Councilmember Diana Ayala
● City Council candidate Cordell Cleare
● Community Education Councilmembers from Harlem
● Harlem community students, parents, educators
● Citywide ed-equity advocates
Representatives from the organizations listed below will also be available to speak to the press.
Racially Just Public Schools (RJPS) @ny4rjps
Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) @AQE_NY
Movement of Rank and File Educators (MORE) @MOREcaucusUFT
Parents for Responsive Equitable Safe Schools (PRESS NYC) @safeschoolsny
Coalition for Asian American Children and Families (CACF) @cacfnyc
Teens Take Charge @TeensTakeCharge
BLM at Schools NYC @Blm_edu_nyc
NYC Opt Out @NYCOptOut
IntegrateNYC @integratenyc
East Harlem Preservation @virtualbarrio
Justice Center en el Barrio @JusticeCenterNY
Friends of Art Park Alliance (FAPA120 on FB)
Young Buck Sports (YoungBucksSports on FB)
RA/UFT is sending the following letter to the Municipal Labor Committee:
To: Harry Nespoli, Chair, MLC
CC: Michael Mulgrew
The members of RetireeAdvocate/UFT strongly object to the lack of
transparency over the process in awarding contracts to one of two
finalists in the proposed transfer of 250,000 retirees out of Medicare
and into a privatized Medicare Advantage plan.
Until
there is complete transparency regarding the process, with full
information to those affected by this decision, RetireeAdvocate/UFT
calls for the Municipal Labor
Committee to declare a moratorium on this move due to the deleterious
effect it will have on NYC retirees.
RetireeAdvocate/UFT
I've been part of Retiree Advocate/UFT Organizers. We spent the past few months preparing a platform and a slate to challenge Unity Caucus in the upcoming UFT retiree chapter elections (ballots go out in about 10 days - if you are a retiree check the Retiree Advocate slate). We have 130 retirees running and could have had 300 to fill the entire slate but were running out of time.
Then a few weeks ago, just as we were meeting the UFT deadline for sending in our leaflet that will be sent out with the ballot, we began hearing about these negotiations going on behind our backs about pushing us all into a privatized version of our much beloved Medicare - which everyone should have but is opposed by our unions and the Democratic Party which are so tied to privatized insurance corporations that I sometimes wonder what they are getting out of it -- well, the Dems get massive donations but exactly what are the unions getting? I'll let you speculate on that in your spare time.
Once we were able to gear up and zoom meet - between our doctor appointments - possibly soon to disappear when our docs don't take the Advantage plans -- a plan of resistance began to formulate - and we forsee the battle continuing even if they make this change because we expect they might make things look good initially before the chopping block comes when people are no longer watching.
Someone in another union sent us a missive from the MLC chair Nespoli that MLC washolding a steering committee meeting Monday, May 3 and a full committee meeting on Wednesday May 5. It is not clear if they will actually vote. Hearing this sparked our moratorium letter to Nespoli and the MLC.
Then we hear that Mulgrew is holding a meeting for retirees on Tuesday May 4 -- hmmmmmm.
COMRO Objects
A similar letter to ours was sent to the MLC on March 14 by COMRO -- what is COMRO? The Council of Municipal Retiree Organizations which includes the UFT which is represented by one of the UFT founders George Altomare who we assume was involved in sending an open letter published in the Labor Press
An Open Letter to Mayor de Blasio and the Municipal Labor Committee:
The Council of Municipal Retiree Organizations (COMRO) has learned that you are in the process of awarding a highly
lucrative contract to a major health insurance company to take over
administering health insurance for over 200,000 Medicare-eligible
retirees effective this July 1. You released an RFP and have eliminated
two of the four responders. Your technical committee is evaluating the
two finalists and will shortly send their recommendations to you for a
final vote.
Nowhere in this process have you consulted with the 200,000 people
and their families to determine how it will help or harm us. Medicare
Part B works very well for most of us. We contributed to Medicare during
our years of employment with the tacit understanding that we will have
the hard-earned entitlement when we turned 65. Now we are dependent on
the kindness of strangers to maintain our health and wellbeing without
additional cost. We are duly concerned that these types of managed care
programs have a history of making it difficult to choose doctors and
specialists by introducing bureaucratic hurdles.
The lack of transparency in your rush to change this program is both
insulting and frightening to those of us who have collectively worked
millions of years serving the people of New York City. How can we trust
our very health to a backroom deal based on a dubious assumption of cost
avoidance?
Before this contract is awarded, you must include actual Part B
recipients in the evaluation process to ensure any change in Medicare
Part B will not harm us.
RA Sunday night (May 2) Info/Action Zoom at 7 PM
We expected 35 or so but so far registration has gone over 100 and we may have to buy an extended ZOOM package or stream live to FB for the overflow. You can still register:
Make sure to register early for our Zoom event this Sunday.
