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!
Norm -- I wanted to share with you my latest Gotham Gazette piece
co-authored with Wendy Lecker of the Education Law Center about why
this year, to do right by our kids, the Legislature must restart the
clock on NYC's obligation to lower class size by passing S.6296 and A. 7447.
We have only four more days before the Legislature closes for the year. Please call the Legislative
leaders today, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea
Stewart Cousins, and ask them to bring these bills to the floor for a
vote.
Call Speaker Heastie at 518-455-3791; here is what you can say when you speak to his staff or leave a message:
Hi, my name is x and my phone number is y. I am calling to urge Speaker Heastie to bring A. 7447
to the floor, the bill that would require NYC to update and implement a
five-year class size reduction plan. The state’s highest court said
that smaller classes would be necessary to provide NYC student their
constitutional right to a sound, basic education. Now that we are
getting full state funding, NYC should be requiredto lower class size
in our schools. I would appreciate a call back to let me know Speaker
Heastie’s position on this important bill and whether he will allow the
members to vote on it.
Call Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins at (518) 455-2585, and say:
Hi, my name is x and my phone no. is y. I am calling to urge Leader Stewart Cousins to bring S.6296
to the floor for a vote, the bill that would require NYC to update and
implement a five-year class size reduction plan. The state’s highest
court said that smaller classes were necessary to provide NYC student
with their constitutional right to a sound, basic education. Now that we
are getting full state funding, NYC should be obligated to lower class
size in our schools. I would appreciate a call back to let me know her
position on this important bill and whether she will allow the members
to vote on it.
Finally, if you have time, please put the info here on our google doc so we can track who has been called and what response if any you’ve gotten from their staff.
As always, thanks for your support, Leonie
Leonie Haimson
Executive Director
Class Size Matters
This article by Rachel Cohen from The Intercept is one of the best I've read on the bait and switch to Medicare Advantage as it exposes the flaws.What it doesn't address is WHY are unions doing this? And it you are far from retirement be worried - cost savings on your backs will be next. The goal of the Dems, Rep and unions seem to be to wipe out public insurance plans: the UFT is “generally at the beginning” of the trend.
UPDATED WITH COMMENT BELOW FROM RETIRED UFT MEMBER WHO HAS FAVORED A MEDICARE ADV PROGRAM
Generally a well-balanced read, Ms. Cohen's. One fact wrong:
managed care, in the form of HMOs (the first form of Medicare
Advantage) began in the 1970s, not 2000, then was formalized in a 1997
Budget Act and revised thereafter. They are now what's known as Part C,
though that term is not much used. "Original Medicare" was set up in
1965 as Parts A and B. MAs manage Parts A and B in private structures
and are required by law to offer nothing less than Original Medicare. In
many ways they offer more.
Secondly, Ms Cohen is not
factually wrong here, but makes it seem as if there's something wrong
with having to get a referral for specialized care. Primary physicians
can handle a lot of ailments. People frequently self-diagnose an illness
and traipse off to a specialist when the primary could have handled it.
Not only that, once the referral is made to the specialist, they don't
have to keep visiting the primary to get additional care from that
specialist. When the referral period is "up," they just have to call
the primary for another referral. The primary's involvement becomes
virtually nil. And what's more: the primary is keeping records of your
whole health picture, which is not a specialist's job. There's an
advantage to having one doctor know the whole of a patient instead of
just his sinus cavities.... UA (https://underassault.blogspot.com) https://wikis.westchesterlibraries.org/sbic/demystifying-medicare/
Here are key excerpts with the full article below the break.
One study Meyers worked on found that Medicare Advantage beneficiaries were more likely to enter lower quality nursing homes
than those on traditional Medicare. Other research by Meyers found that
about 30 percent of Medicare Advantage plans have narrow primary care
networks, and even more have narrow psychiatry as well as mental and
behavioral health options. Limiting provider options is “one way plans
can save money,” Meyers said.
“We’ve gotten some verbal assurances from the unions, like Mulgrew
said Memorial Sloane Kettering would accept Medicare Advantage, but
let’s see that in writing,” said Eber. “No one has given us a written
explanation of how the city expects to save $600 million, yet the vendor
is going to make a profit and retirees won’t pay the price.”
studies have shown that individuals in Medicare Advantage plans tend to utilize fewer health care services,
including preventative care. “This suggests that some of the tools that
Medicare Advantage plans are using to control costs are pretty blunt
instruments,”
This past spring, in an annual federally mandated analysis on Medicare,
the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission wrote that “the current state
of quality reporting in [Medicare Advantage] is such that the Commission
can no longer provide an accurate description of the quality of care.”
“They’ll be saving money on the backs of retirees.”
A deputy commissioner from the Mayor’s Office of Labor Relations acknowledged
that such pre-approval from insurance would likely be required for
municipal retirees under a shift to Medicare Advantage. Cost savings
often come from making it harder for patients to access services.
Diane Archer, president of Just Care, which offers health and
financial information to seniors, said if New York City moves forward
with the shift, “they’ll be saving money on the backs of retirees” who
need expensive care. Corporations and unions nationwide have been able
to avoid an outcry over similar cost-cutting moves “because the majority
of people they’re moving are in good health and value what appears to
be additional benefits; they generally don’t understand the
financial and administrative barriers to care they will face when they
need costly care.”
“Unions can negotiate something better for their retirees than people
can get on their own in the Medicare marketplace, but I don’t think it
will be anywhere as good as what they have now,” said Archer. “Mulgrew
explains that people will still have premium-free care, but he doesn’t
explain that they could have out-of-pocket costs that will be
prohibitive if they develop a complex condition.”
New York City labor groups aren’t the first unions to look to
Medicare Advantage as a way to cut costs. Experts predict that there
could be a marked increase across the country over the next few years as
local budgets come under more strain.
Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works, noted that
Medicare Advantage is being considered at a time when organized labor is
under attack from multiple levels, including over pensions and retiree
health care. Unlike traditional Medicare, Medicare Advantage invests
heavily in sales representatives who market their products nationwide.
“They always have an answer, but it’s just like if you’ve ever been
pitched to buy a timeshare,” Lawson said. “Yeah, those people make a
good pitch; it doesn’t change the fact that it’s just a hustle.
the UFT is “generally at the beginning” of the trend.
Health care researchers say it’s not necessarily true that New York
City retirees will be worse off under Medicare Advantage, but the lack
of good data makes it hard to be confident. “Surprisingly little is
known about how much Medicare Advantage enrollees pay out of pocket for
the services they receive overall, across plans, according to health
condition, or in comparison to beneficiaries in traditional Medicare
(with or without supplemental coverage),” wrote Kaiser Family Foundation
researchers in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018.
Jason Abaluck, an economist at Yale whose research
found great variation among Medicare Advantage plans, told The
Intercept the existing evidence “is not completely clear that [New York
City retirees] will not have a more efficient plan and of the same
quality” under Medicare Advantage.
New York City Unions Prepare to Shift Retirees Off Medicare
To
cut costs, public sector unions are planning a switch to Medicare
Advantage, a privatized program whose impact on care is not well
understood.
The Mayoral race is looking like the Belmont. A long mile and a half to go. Am I going to get canceled for comparing the candidates to horses? With Wiley taking a great leap, I expected some quick hit on her. And sure enough:
Lee Fang
@lhfang
·
Maya Wiley, the NYC mayoral candidate who wants to cut $1 billion per year from police, pays for private security on her block in upscale Prospect Park South. A neighbor recounted her demands for more aggressive NYPD policing after her partner was mugged. https://nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-ope
This will be front page of the NY Post. But actually, Lee Fang misrepresents what the article was saying --- but Wiley will also have to respond and it will be a tough ride as she tries to thread a police reform needle.
Garcia is a sudden convert
to the cause of charter schools, which have become, over the last two
decades, emblems of the neoliberal project.... Garcia had no history
discussing any kind of education issues before this mayoral race. She’s
made it clear, thanks either to her genuine belief in charters or her
awareness that rich people who support charters will donate to local
campaigns, that’s where she stands now.... The editorial board[NYT] , which prides itself on its liberalism, did not seem
to know or care that Garcia’s views on housing are not very different
than Bloomberg’s—or even Adams or Yang’s, for that matter. Voters who
take their cues from the Times may not care either. .... Ross Barkan, https://rossbarkan.substack.com/p/kathryn-garcia-reclaiming-the-neoliberal?
There are a few election lanes - the left/progressive with Wiley seizing control as Stringer/Morales fall, the right with Adams/Yang and the neo-liberal right-center with Garcia whom the NYT and Daily News endorsed. Reminder to Trumpies: The NYT is NOT LEFT. The business community apparently now sees Yang as a joke, incapable of managing this city. Capable management is at the top rung now which is helping Garcia and even keeping Stringer alive -- even from the business community which sees him as taking a progressive lane for this election and would move center if he wins.
Ross points to Garcia on housing, which as we saw with Bloomberg who built built built often half empty housing while ignoring infrastructure to go with it, allowing public housing to go under in the hope that unliveable conditions will drive people to move to Florida, will make the city even more affordable and when there are no people, there is no commerce. Bloomberg is a major cause of homelessness and the city housing crisis.
Someone [Garcia] who believes landlords with millions of dollars in equity
experience struggles similar to what tenants, many paying most of their
income to rent, endure is not going to side with the working class.
Garcia is a Park Slope home-owner, which likely makes her a millionaire
on paper. The suffering of a city tenant isn’t something she can
possibly know. And it’s not clear she wants to know it. It’s a
myth that small, hard-working landlords control most of the housing
stock in the five boroughs. They are not lavishly funding the Real
Estate Board of New York.
Mulgrew ignores Garcia threat
It was interesting that the left and center occupied by Mulgrew have told people not to rank Yang or Adams but do not include Garcia who may echo Bloomberg more than anyone. Tell me again, which side is the UFT leadership really on when it ignores Garcia on the charter cap?
For all the revolutions in politics today—the rise of the democratic socialists,
the ascendance of AOC—the neoliberal approach, in municipal politics at
least, has not left us. As predicted in the 1970s, CUNY never would be
tuition-free again. The stock transfer tax, effectively ended in 1981,
would not come back. The massive affordable housing projects of
midcentury and earlier—Parkchester, Electchester, the Coops, Stuyvesant
Town, Peter Cooper Village, the vast tracts of NYCHA housing—would be no
more, replaced with market-rate development that would, from time to
time, parcel out units to a few middle-class residents.
Barkan digs deeper than we've seen on Garcia - who in some ways is an empty vessel too - moving her politics to where the money is:
[Garcia's] platform has several progressive proposals.... But there is another Garcia, a truer Garcia—a
manager, a technocrat, a neoliberal skeptical of the most fundamental
safeguards against the violence of the free-market in a city that is
chasing out its working class and poor. She doesn’t hide this,
exactly—she’s a blunt person—but it comes out only with enough prodding.
Garcia is a sudden convert
to the cause of charter schools, which have become, over the last two
decades, emblems of the neoliberal project. If government-run education
is said to be failing, why not have the public pay for private schools
and circumvent those nasty teachers’ unions? Charter schools did not
exist in New York for almost the entirety of the 20th century. Now,
we’ve been conditioned to believe that a school system can’t function
without them. Yang and Adams are supporters of charters too, and the
left-wing Dianne Morales actually founded one. Garcia had no history
discussing any kind of education issues before this mayoral race. She’s
made it clear, thanks either to her genuine belief in charters or her
awareness that rich people who support charters will donate to local
campaigns, that’s where she stands now.
Morales dramedy continues, as former employees are pro and con
THE CITY spoke to more than a dozen of Morales’ former
staffers about their experiences at Phipps under her. Most wished to
remain anonymous so they could speak freely without professional
consequences. The people broadly fell into two camps: those who had
been working at Phipps before Morales took over and detailed how she
fostered a work environment rife with anxiety and mistrust, and those
who praised what they called her inspiring, visionary leadership. The
latter camp was made up overwhelmingly of employees she hired. ‘[It was] like the cult of Dianne.’ Overall, all the former employees agreed: Morales was charismatic, extremely smart and fiercely loyal to her people.... The progressive Democrat’s current woes
reflect past management issues, some ex-employees said, while others
defended her as a strong leader. Morales charges she’s being undermined,
but is “managing the disruption.”
Here are parts 1-3 where I pin some of the blame people connected to DSA. Ross Barkan led the "Morales is a faux leftist campaign." Part 3 digs deep --
There is no question that the implosion of the Morales campaign and the second charge against Scott Stringer, this one 30 years later - I know, I know, sometimes things need to marinate - have boosted Wiley to the top of the progressives. And yesterday with the endorsements of AOC and Bowman (both of whom had pulled their Stringer endorsements) Wiley now has an unencumbered progressive lane since even of people vote for Stringer or Morales I can see Wiley will be in the top 4 and will get the votes of progressives as they drop off, though according to Barkan, Garcia is fooling enough progressives to deny Wiley. (I was sort of shocked to see some lefty teacher friends choose Wiley and Garcia and some Wiley and Adams -- like the hard left NY State Nurses (NYSNA). A head scratcher.
I think Yang has crested and you see that the business community is not interested in him. The leader is still Adams and I'm going to bet that going into the final week it will be Adams, Garcia and Wiley maybe pulling even with Yang - a sort of right, center and left lineup. I might have actually ranked Garcia if she didn't take the strongest pro-charter stance of them all and joined parents who were demanding schools be open no matter what.
If Wiley starts rising quickly in the polls, I expect somewhere, some
way a political hit on her -- some kid she knew in 6th grade will accuse
her of grabbing his balls.
More historical perspective from Ross Barkan:
Since 1975, every mayor of New York City has been something of a neoliberal. These
men may have varied by party or vision—a couple hewing left while
others took a more ruthless approach—but all ultimately governed under
the constraints foisted upon them by the era we still live in today. The
difference between the left-leaning Democrats (David Dinkins and Bill
de Blasio) and the oligarch-friendly Republicans (Rudy Giuliani and
Michael Bloomberg) could only be so dramatic when a certain segment of
the power elite was determining the course of events...The social democratic era, buoyed by New Deal largesse under Fiorello La
Guardia and continuing through a number of liberal Republican and
Democratic mayors, abruptly came to a halt when the city nearly went
bankrupt. The crisis mattered because it would reorder the city’s
politics indefinitely: instead of expanding the social safety net and
creating new services for the working class and poor, the new aim of the
modern city would be to make it as attractive as possible to capital.
Economic growth would be the new religion, with tax breaks showered on
wealthy men like Donald Trump....
Some sidelights
I was out with a bunch of old colleagues and one of them was ranting against teachers in general and claimed gold-bricking -- that they just didn't want to go into work and should have been made to and fired if they didn't. A former chapter leader, yet. Oy! There's troubling times ahead
Stringer probably did something. Men are sleaze, me included.
Did he pat the ass of an 18 year old waitress working for him when he
was 32 and then sort of ask her out and plant unwanted kisses which she
rejected - I think that is very possible. Look, I'm even older than
boomers and guys used to be told that girls had to reject you at least
once - or more - to appear pure. Today is my 50th anniversary and I'm
thinking back to our first date almost 53 years ago when we made out on
Campus road behind Brooklyn College. I asked her if she told me NO on
the first move I made --- which was so inept, I'm surprised we lasted that evening.
After years in the wilderness of the de Blasio administration and
waning influence in Albany, charter schools are gaining a foothold in
the city again — if the race for mayor is any barometer.
The three leading candidates in the Democratic primary are decidedly
supportive of charter schools — a dramatic shift from when Mayor Bill de
Blasio was elected eight years ago and another sign of the citywide
electorate hewing closer to the center in the June 22 Democratic
primary.
Last week, “Our City” — a left-leaning political action committee
headed by Gabe Tobias — hosted a rally urging New Yorkers to not rank
Adams or Yang, referencing the candidates' support from hedge fund
billionaires linked to school privatization. ... Politico
Of course, They're in it for the children
With the latest charge against Stringer -- how more perfectly timed could they be, 20 and 30 years after the fact -- the charter industrial complex is in great position to renew the charter wars.
Even as charters see a new dawn of sorts this election season, there is
still a movement of families and advocates who remain wary of charter
growth and are taking steps of their own to fight it. City Comptroller
Scott Stringer remains a strong candidate in the race and his skepticism
over charters was among the factors that won him the endorsement of the
United Federation of Teachers — the city’s powerful teachers union
which is helping fund a multimillion dollar, independent expenditure in
support of his campaign.
The more charges against Stringer, the better a charter comeback looks. With him and Morales damaged, the best progressive shot might be Wiley - but don't be shocked to see something drop on her in the next week.
The charters have been given renewal by the awful manner in which de Blasio handled the schools during the pandemic and have opened up a dangerous channel of support from people who would risk trying something new as an alternative to any mayor running things for them. Thus the door is open to privatizing as it hasn't been since the height of the Bloomberg years. In three years the jobs crunch will come for the UFT which should take a message from the Chicago Teacher Union which actually has a clue on how to organize charter schools.
If you don't think there's war has been and is brewing - and will continue to brew in the Dem Party -- this one's for you.
In a listserve discussion of mayoral candidates, those in support of charters were being identified and echoing one of her blog posts, Diane Ravitch said, "Morales said she favors school choice, so strike her. "
Note: On the debate Morales took the strongest stand AGAINST charters, but some progressives have doubted her true commitment.
But then this comment came from a now retired person who was very tight with the UFT hierarchy until retirement:
She [Morales] should not even be a candidate...thank the so-called circular firing squad Dem progressives that are driving our City into the ground more than any GOP ever did!
Yes there is much disdain for progressives inside the UFT leadership and Unity Caucus. You can see that on social media where Unity hacks chime in to challenge progressive ideas --- and all of them echo the same talking points - it's like Unity has its own FOX news propaganda channel. Oh, that's the NY Teacher. Thank goodness no one reads it.
So imagine how they view the opposition, which varies on various levels of the left
-- if there is a credible threat to Unity in next year's UFT elections, just watch the fur fly with red-baiting ala Republican playbook - being played out. In fact Trump may be writing the Unity script - and if the opposition every did win, Unity will be calling Stop the Steal and invade the Delegate Assembly by climbing the walls of 52 Broadway with grappling tools.
“We
learned a lesson,” said Susan Kang, an active member of Democratic
Socialists of America who previously was supportive of Morales. “You
don’t go with an unvetted first-time candidate who tries to claim the
progressive mantle when you have never seen them before.”
Gabe
Tobias, a former campaign aide to both Ocasio-Cortez and Bowman, is now
working on an effort to educate voters about how the city’s new
ranked-choice-voting system will work and telling them to leave moderate
candidates like Yang and Adams off of their ballots. But even those
moderates, he notes, talk about left-wing ideas like reforming the NYPD
and meaningfully addressing poverty in the city. And had someone like
Ocasio-Cortez or Bowman or Public Advocate Jumaane Williams run, he
said, they would likely have been cleaning up in this race.
Follow the bouncing ball in the graphic above. Today we get into the nitty gritty of who did what to whom. DSA provided a lot of staffers for Morales and, in particular the Queens branch. Did sentiment inside DSA toward Morales shift away from her? Realizing her activism was short-lived but as long as she was not attracting attention, they could live with her. But as she began to make headway, what was viewed as a faux leftist became a possible threat to the DSA long-term project which is to infiltrate the Dem party with socialist ideals and candidates. They have strength in certain areas of the city to be able to elect state senators, assembly, congress and this year focused on city council. They were clear they would stay out of the mayoral race due to lack of resources but even if they did get involved on a citywide basis, it is not clear they hierarchy would have backed Morales since her career was so far from socialist ideals.
It is interesting to see what has come out of MORE Caucus which seemed to be backing Morales. She gave them an hour interview and they castigated the UFT leadership for not including her in their final four. At the May DA a reso from a MORE ally called for Stringer to be dropped from UFT endorsement and I did read some MORE comment calling for Morales to be reconsidered. (I can't verify where I read that.) The key thing is that MORE is loaded with DSA people and they run MORE. Forming unions is of the highest priority and the DSA labor group is loaded with MOREs. So how to square the revolt by people calling for a union with support for Morales? If MORE is silent on Morales now after pushing her, there is a signal of DSA abandonment.
Before we go into more detail I'd like you to check out the new version of Rising in its first edition since Krystal and Sagaar did their final show on Friday. I was pleased to see Ryan Grim repping the left and I like Emily Jashinsky for the right.
Ryan delved into the Morales campaign mess and castigated the activists. In this must see video Ryan breaks news with a story of a similar revolt in Bernie's Iowa campaign where Bernie said - don't hire so-called activists who often put themselves and their interests ahead of the campaign -- the ME generation, I guess. Since so many were from DSA, these socialists weren't acting very social. I mean, you join a campaign a month ago and with a month left you want a union?
[UPDATE - In today's Rising Ryan goes deep into the charges against Stringer and the connections to is accusers lawyer to billionare anti-Stringer Steve Ross who formed an anti-Stringer PAC https://youtu.be/bjbY8iWjoPY].
On the other side, Morales brought into the campaign her personal assistant, Amanda van Kessel, who felt she had special rights and most likely came into conflict with campaign manager Witney Hu. Both are from Queens branch of DSA so that makes it interesting.
“We
learned a lesson,” said Susan Kang, an active member of Democratic
Socialists of America who previously was supportive of Morales. “You
don’t go with an unvetted first-time candidate who tries to claim the
progressive mantle when you have never seen them before.” The
collapse of the Morales campaign signals a low moment for a resurgent
left that not long ago looked set to dominate the race for mayor this
year. Back in 2020, New York’s financial and real-estate elites were so
concerned that this year’s mayoral election would herald a sharp
leftward turn in city politics that some of them started meeting
together in secret, trying to figure out how many millions of dollars to
deploy to fend off the rising tide.... With
the mayoral election less than four weeks away, the furrowed brows of
Wall Street can unclench. The spectacle of the Morales campaign staff
blowing up their own candidate seems to mark the end of any dream of a
leftist victory in the June 26 Democratic primary, and many of the
progressive organizers and activists who worked years for this moment
are left to look only with despair at the waning days of this race......
For
most of the past year, progressive hope was centered on Scott Stringer,
who, as a 60-year-old straight white male city comptroller with a long
career in government and a comptroller’s flair for spectacle, didn’t
exactly fit the young, diverse, and hype-house mood of the moment.
Stringer was surging when his campaign was derailed by an accusation
that he sexually harassed a volunteer on a 2001 campaign for public
advocate. The left-wing lawmakers whom he helped put into office in 2018
and 2020 by backing them early and campaigning vigorously on their
behalf quickly abandoned him (even as some have since expressed regrets
for acting hastily.)
Morales
seemed like a better fit. An Afro-Latina, she, like Bowman and
Ocasio-Cortez, came from outside politics. Unlike Stringer, she had
never taken money from real-estate interests (Stringer swore off the
donations once the campaign got under way), argued that the police
“don’t keep us safe,” and pledged to defund $3 billion from their annual
budget while creating “a care economy.”... had someone like
Ocasio-Cortez or Bowman or Public Advocate Jumaane Williams run, he
said, they would likely have been cleaning up in this race.
“The candidate is the problem to solve,” he said. “Not the ideology.”.... NY Mag
The hot mess in the Dianne Morales mayoral campaign: I began writing this article a month ago. "A month ago", you ask? All the current drama over her campaign came out in the past week. Well, there was other stuff way before. And throughout, when you'd expect attacks on the most progressive candidate to come from the right and center, I was seeing the critiques coming from the left. And they rang true, while the current revelelations from her former staff, many of whom are connected to DSA Queens branch, need further examination, especially given some of the tactics - like demonstrating outside Morales headquarters and demands for severance pay for people who quit, demands for a union, and more.
Earlier in her career, our "most progressive" primary
candidate worked at New Visions for Public Education, the privatizing
non-profit that profited handsomely during those dark years of school
closings.
As a general rule, it's wise to be skeptical of, if not allergic to, non-profit/NGO leftists...
I'm always cautious about the kinds of attacks and where they come from.
But
from day one I was wary of the fact she had a high profile job with
Joel Klein and I remember complaints from parents over the actions of
that agency she was in charge of though I can't say for sure if it was
under her tenure which seemed to not last very long.
What is interesting are the attacks are from progressives who doubt her progressive credentials.
It is possible she got religion in the past year and a half after a career that didn't indicate progressive politics.
Like
no endorsements of people like AOC or Bowman or others. And hedging on
whether she voted for Cuomo. They view her as an opportunist who took
the lane left open.
There is a lot of info about Diane's links to charter school industry people in this article.
She
also came under fire on a podcast with Brianna Joy Tayler, with fire
from a tenant organizer who said her boss had the highest eviction rate
in the Bronx.
MORE Caucus called on UFT to cancel Stringer and replace him with Morales
There's been a lot more reporting on the story since but I thought this NYMag story is worth a read.
Apparently there are some people - some white people - who feel I have
no right to post critical pieces about a woman of color. The same kind
of attitude that allowed Neo-liberal in Chief Obama to skate by. With every passing day as I hear more stories -- like his labor cabinet member Tom Perez, taking a legal job with a major anti-union firm focused on stopping unions from being established. Or press spokesman Jay Carney running PR for Bezos.
Whereas a progressive candidate like Morales would expect to take hits from the right, she seems to be getting them from the left not just for not being a true leftist, but for not being involved in any of the major struggles over the past 20 years, even going back to two years ago.
But given the state of the candidates I will still put her as one of my choices.
Here are two Ross Barkan articles a month or so apart, with the latest from today coming first but read the older one for context since it predates the events of the past week but may have been the first real shot. Part 3 will delve into more details on the current crisis.
A key person we need to pay attention to is Amanda van Kessel
who worked with Morales at her previous job and still works there. She
used her relationship apparently to lord it over others. She's also
white in a sea of people of color. She was first demoted and then fired. She's also DSA, as was the campaign manager, Whitney Hu,
who quit. It is not clear if she quit because van Kessel was fired or
because she wasn't fired quickly enough. But both are Queens branch DSA
--- which I am also a fringe member of. Oh, the drama to come there as
many other Morales staffers also came out of DSA Queens branch.
May 30, 2021, 9 AM
The Morales campaign implosion, apparently unique in political lore, is going to have consequences for how some campaigns are organized in the future. There are lessons about bringing good friends into a campaign. See what happened to Scott Stringer whose supposed friend, Jean Kim, who he says he had a brief relationship with, turned on him 20 years later and imploded his campaign.
Let me say right up front - I've always had doubts about Morales but this strikes me as a hit job and I intend to pick her as one of my mayoral choices.
Lesson 1: Beware of friends in high campaign places
NYT... two campaign
staff members, Ramses Dukes and Amanda van Kessel, had been dismissed.
She said they were the employees accused of misconduct. Ms. van Kessel
had previously worked with Ms. Morales at the social services arm of
Phipps Houses, a housing development group. Mr. Dukes could not be
reached for comment, and Ms. van Kessel did not respond to requests for
comment.
The two leading progressives in the race have had their campaigns undermined. It is ironic that Morales and many of her supported immediately attacked Stringer and are now claiming Dianne needs a chance to explain. Ironic in that one person charged Stringer while 60 complained about Morales -- obviously not as serious a charge but numbers do count. If no other shoe drops on Stringer, on June 23, when Stringer who had been in the running loses because of that one charge and we end up with who knows who, we might see a reassessment of how to deal with the metoo movement.
I'm going to examine the Morales story in depth because there are many lessons for progressives. Was this a hit by the left, led by DSA members who felt that Morales was a faux leftist - which I have come to believe - but if they didn't know what they were getting into it's on them. Morales has become an instant leftist - she voted for Cuomo and didn't endorse any of the new leftist candidates - but DSA people, including her campaign manager, knew that going in.
In Part 1 I want to share the NYT take which with the comments is an attack on progressives. (Remember - the Times endorsed Garcia who has promised to lift the charter school cap -- do not even list her.) And not all if it is undeserved though we have a lot of unpacking to do. I mean, a campaign is not a long-term job and some staffers have only recently been hired. A union in the midst of a campaign with one month to go? That's progressiveness gone too far.
Comments at NYT emphasize the anti-progressive pov:
This sounds like sabotage at the highest level. Trying to unionize with
four weeks left in the campaign? The staff knows they are sabotaging
more than this race; her career is on the line, her name splashed all
over the media while the team gets to walk away & join a different
campaign. Sad state of affairs all around.
------
Welcome to progressivism 101. Any success is met with claims of “toxic
workplace.” The very values one holds get weaponized against you by
people who don’t like it when they don’t feel “centered”. And because
you built your campaign on “centering” everyone, you can’t call it what
it actually is: selfishness, when they don’t like the fact that you are
actually the boss and have to make decisions. It’s lose/lose. And why
progressives- despite caring deeply about actual policy, will never win.
----
This is why kids with no experience doing anything probably shouldn’t
gain control of large governments.
Reading through Twitter feeds of her staffers reads like the angry
message boards of high schoolers upset about a school dress code.
---
Was really excited about Morales....but she is turning out to be yet
another DeBlasio: all talk, 0 action, and considers herself above it
all.
Depressing to say the least.
---
She messed up with handling this, but I will say it is peak irony that a
"progressive" candidate is sunk by her own truly progressive staff.
Also, I agree with the post from the portland guy talking about activist
politics. I have seen the exact same thing.
It's like my pops always said:
"When you're a hammer, everything is a nail." Activist staffers can make
for virtually ungovernable teams leaving leaders stuck between a rock
and a hard place. The devolution into chaos can be swift thereafter.
-----
I stopped calling myself a progressive when I saw this same circular
firing squad happening over and over again in activist politics here in
Portland. Noble objectives, but terrible tactics and ungovernable team
dynamics hamper the progressive movement’s ability to make change
happen.
More to come in parts 2 through infinity.
Here's the entire article:
Dianne Morales Tries to Calm a Sudden Crisis in Her Campaign
Two staff members have quit, two have been fired and four others involved in a unionization drive have been terminated.
Over 150 retirees attended the press conference on Monday protesting the attempt to move 250K NYC municipal retirees out of medicare into privatized insurance plans (remember how well privatizing school systems via charters has worked out).
Here's the video of the entire event. Excellent speakers and great specially written songs - Imagine No Health Care --
It was a quite a success with about 150 people
attending including a large and loud group of members from the DC 37-
Retiree Association. Their President Ed Hysyk and Vice President Neil
Frumkin spoke. Many PSA retirees were there and of course, UFT retirees
were out in force. Probably some other unions were in the crowd.
Other speakers included David
Kotelchuck from the Social Safety Net Committee of PSC-CUNY, Mariana
Gaston from the CSA, Dr. Alec Pruchnicki, a board member for Physicians
for National Health Care, Denise Rickles and Bennett Fischer, UFT
Retiree Advocates, and Naomi Zewde, Asst.Professor from CUNY and
advocate for the New York Health Act.
We did get some media attention
which is no small feat in NYC. The Chief News came as did WBAI. WPIX-11
also covered it and had a short clip on the Monday night news. We heard
that Channel 4 reported it and there might have been other media as
well.
Our incredible Sound Man Joel
Breitbart not only brought his system but he recorded the entire
Conference. And the People's Dave Lippman was an added bonus. He
composed a few songs just for this occasion and performed them for the
crowd.
Ann Ambia, a DC 37 Retiree,
took pictures which we have posted on our RA Facebook page. There were
other people with cameras and we look forward to getting more photos so
we can share them with you.
