Phyllis McCabe, Photographer

From ViVi Hlavsa:

Clean Elections Resolution Passed at AAUW-NYS Convention

From Irene Miller:

You can read the whole story, including our branch's role in getting the resolution passed, here.

A resolution urging New York State legislators to enact Clean Money Clean Elections passed overwhelmingly at the AAUW-NYS annual convention in Cooperstown---but not without a lot of drama!

So what is Clean Elections and how does it work?
Clean Elections is full and equal public funding of all qualified candidates who refuse private contributions and abide by spending limits. In keeping with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Buckley vs Valeo, which basically says money is equal to speech, Clean Elections is a voluntary system. Those who choose not to participate are free to opt out. If they opt out, they cannot have any public funds. As has been shown in states with Clean Elections, "Clean" candidates have a distinct advantage over privately funded candidates because they can say, "I am beholden only to voters."

Clean Election candidates qualify for public funding by demonstrating community support before the primary. They do this by collecting a certain number of $5 contributions from individuals in their own district. Once qualified, they do not have to raise another cent. They can spend all their campaign time communicating with voters. Clean Elections would cost New Yorkers about $3 each per election cycle. In return, the billions that now go to tax breaks and subsidies for big corporate contributors could be available for healthcare, education, the environment, fire and police departments, and infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

It is important to note that full public funding of campaigns with Clean Elections is very different from partial public funding of campaigns, which matches tax dollars to private contributions. Corporations, which are the biggest contributors, like partial public funding because our tax dollars permit them to give less and still retain their political influence. Polls show that people who know the difference between full and public funding overwhelmingly reject partial funding because it wastes tax dollars.

Clean Elections bills have been introduced in both the NY Senate and Assembly, but few New Yorkers know this because most media owners do not want Clean Elections. That means passing Clean Elections must be a statewide grass-roots effort. Although there is a great deal more to be done, I'm glad to say we are succeeding. As "we the people" get our message out across the state, more and more New Yorkers are demanding Clean Elections because they already know that big campaign contributors trump the people's will. Learning that Clean Elections would make it easy for politicians to put people first flames a strong will to pass it.

What can you do?

Things to do include hosting house parties with a Clean Elections speaker, having your branch and other organizations you belong to host a Clean Elections presentation, passing resolutions, helping with phone trees, tabling at flea markets or fairs, gathering petitions, and writing letters to newspapers, the Governor, and your state Senator and Assembly member. Whatever your talent and expertise, it is welcome and needed.

Governor Paterson introduced the Clean Elections bill in the senate before becoming Governor and is a strong supporter as are quite a few others legislators. But, as you can imagine, not all legislators are eager to change the current system. Our message to them is two fold: 1) New Yorkers want this. 2) It has been very successful with legislators and citizens in other states. In Maine and Arizona, two states that enacted Clean Elections more than 10 years ago, legislators who opposed its passage now say they will never go back to the old system because it frees them from onerous begging for dollars and lets them spend all their campaign time communicating with voters.

Connecticut passed Clean Elections in 2005 and will have its first election cycle using it this coming November. Maine, Arizona, and Connecticut's Clean Elections laws and New York's bill cover campaigns for Governor, the Senate, Assembly, Attorney General, and Comptroller. North Carolina, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Vermont also have Clean Elections, but for lesser offices.

There also are bills in the U.S. Congress. The House bill is called Clean Elections and the Senate bill is called Fair Elections.

You can read the AAUW-NYS resolution here.

Irene Miller is a member of our Branch, founder of New York Citizens for Clean Elections, and board member of Citizen Action of NY, a leading statewide grassroots organization devoted to passing Clean Elections in New York and on the national level. She can be reached at 518 678-3516 or imiller1@hvc.rr.com.

Where? The intersection of Route 28 and Hurley Mountain Road

Take Action

We urge you to support the installation of a traffic light at the intersection of Route 28 and Hurley Mountain Road. The intersection has a history of fatalities, the most recent - AAUW member Richard Hlavsa in 2007. The speed and density of traffic on Route 28 has increased substantially over the past few years and will continue to grow with the development of Route 28 and Belleayre.

Without your intervention, this request will move very slowly. We understand that the process to install the last traffic light in Ulster County took twelve years to complete.

You can easily send an email to the appropriate legislators and the Commissioner of the Department of Transportation by completing your information here.

Patricia Smith, New York State Commissioner of Labor, related her efforts to enforce the minimum wage law on behalf of employees ofNew York City greengrocers (receiving $250 a week for 72 hours work), deliverymen for A and P and Gristedes (paid $2 an hour), and bathroom attendants in nightclubs and restaurants (no pay; charged $25 to $50 a week for the opportunity for tips). She pointed out that legislation is useless without enforcement, and enforcement requires budgeted money.

Christianne Corbett, Research Associate at AAUW's national office, gave a preview of the upcoming report, "Where the Girls Are". Both genders and all ethnic and income groups have been making gradual but steady improvement in test scores, with boys continuing to do better on average in math and girls higher on average in verbal skills. Since white, Hispanic, and Asian males continue to attend college in larger numbers than females in the same groups, the so-called "boy's crisis" turns out to be more specifically a crisis for black men, who are far less likely than black women to earn degrees.

Carolyn Donovan, AAUW's representative to the United Nations, updated us Sunday on her efforts on women's education, the status of women, and women's human rights. She has worked to include "and girls" in each statement for women's rights. She pointed out that the United States is the only major nation of the 7 countries who have not ratified CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

What follows are excerpts from WHAT IT TAKES FOR A WOMAN TO SUCCEED IN POLITICS TODAY  presented by Janine Fallon-Mower at our April 22nd Branch Meeting.  You can read her whole presentation here.

As many of you know, in 2007 I ran as a Republican for Woodstock Town Board. I'm sorry to say that I lost but I'm very happy to report that I garnered 950 votes, losing to the next highest vote getter by 150 votes.

- This would be my first caution to those considering a run for office- be prepared to lose.

- Caution number two- be prepared to work your tail off to get elected- and if you win- be prepared to work your tail off to stay in office.

- Try very hard to gain experience working on other candidates campaigns. The system is not set up for a novice to run successfully.

Example of tricky rules- The Ulster County Independent Party nominated me, but my name was tossed off the ballot because the Independent Party Chair failed to file petition on time. The Republican Election commissioner, or his staff, didn't watch for mistakes on my behalf and we didn't know enough to watch for supporter error.

The system is set up such that the party leaders demand loyalty. Be careful how you show your loyalty. Some men referred to women on the county legislature as - a little light in the loafers, but they are our county legislators, intimating that they could count on the women to vote how the party bosses wanted. In my opinion, that's loyalty difficult to maintain.

This is the third  caution- Any one running for office will be faced with choices at times - run with the party pack- or stick to your own personal convictions. I had to reflect carefully when I decided to run. I was advised to change to Non-Enrolled or even become a Democrat and run two years later. People thought I was crazy to run as a Republican in Woodstock and expect to win.

Can you withstand others' criticism of your party? If you run for public office in the current political climate, you will be held accountable for other peoples actions, even in Albany or Washington DC .

I can relate two experiences regarding the atmosphere I faced.

When I told a local man who frequents our flea market that I was running for office, he asked what party? Republican. He responded, "I'll never support you unless you renounce George Bush."

A woman who knew my husband's family quite well said, "Oh Janine, I can't support you; you are in his party." I say, "look in my eyes. Don't tell me all you can see is George Bush when you look in my eyes." "yes," she said. "that's all I can see."

The resolution to the two conversations couldn't have been more different. The woman who saw George Bush when she looked in my eyes is now barely able to look me in the eye when we meet in CVS. I stood my ground with the gentleman, explaining my campaign was about local issues. He and his wife became ardent supporters and worked on my campaign.

Why the 950 vote number so significant? I ran a campaign focused on local issues, not national issues. I spent a lot of time counseling Woodstockers in the tradition of voting the person not the party. There are approximately 750 registered Republicans in Woodstock vs 2500 registered Democrats. In the final analysis, I had crossover appeal, the message vote the person not the party got thru. Nevertheless, I wasn't able to reach enough newcomers to convert them from party line voters.

I look forward to working on a Get Out the Vote movement this summer because the trend toward low voter turnout and fewer people running for office means we run the risk of missing out on new exciting ideas and solutions to our local, regional, national, and world wide problems.

Will I run again? It's hard to say. Many people expect me to run, as though a loss, received with your held high, on the first time out, is a badge of courage and honor. I'm taking it all one day- one local issue at a time.

Janine Fallon - Mower