The author, Bertha Lewis, left (photo: @Vote_Bichotte)
A recent New York Times column examined "The Source of New York's Greatness," and its conclusion was no surprise: our greatness comes from our status as the preeminent melting pot, both culturally and economically. We are home not just to doctors, lawyers, and bankers, but to bodega owners, shoe shiners and deli chefs. So I wonder what one of our great orators would say about the New Dime Bag?
New Yorkers, YOU BEEN HAD! A ten cent tax on plastic bags, specifically the regressive tax introduced by Council Members Brad Lander and Margaret Chin, is counter-intuitive, and hurts the working class and small business owners that make our city strong. Our communities are still struggling to make ends meet, still suffering economically from the recession, and still suffering from the effects of Hurricane Sandy. We shouldn't be asking our citizens to hand over any more of their hard-earned money at the grocery counter, especially when their communities won't reap the benefit of their investment.
New Yorkers, YOU BEEN TOOK! It is hard enough for our city's working families to balance multiple jobs, multiple children, and a checkbook, without having to also worry about whether or not they remember to bring a reusable bag. Council Members Lander and Chin have tried in part to alleviate this issue by proposing to waive the tax for those on food stamps. Unfortunately, this "remedy" creates more problems than it solves. Despite an exemption for SNAP recipients, New York's working poor must still pay this tax.
New Yorkers, YOU BEEN HOODWINKED! Additionally, many small businesses are opposed to this legislation, as they would be unnecessarily burdened to enforce it. The bill is very clear on how businesses will be fined, but is conveniently vague on how small business owners should keep track of their plastic bag compliance. The bill does not mandate any sort of paper trail to help businesses prove that they are in fact complying with the new tax. Why are we making things more confusing for our small businesses, instead of helping them run more efficiently?
New Yorkers, YOU BEEN LED ASTRAY! This bill is supposed to help the environment, but the goals don't match up to reality. Plastic bags make up only 2% of the waste stream, and are nowhere near the top of the list of glaring environmental priorities for our citizens. Reusable bags are also produced overseas from petroleum, a process that is harmful to the environment. Additionally, plastic bags are 100% recyclable, and are reused in a number of ways around the house.
New York City Council has RUN AMOK! If Council Members Lander and Chin really want to make an impact, they should focus their efforts on causes that more directly benefit constituents. A recent survey found that, by a margin of 2:1, voters believe taxing plastic bags is a distraction. New Yorkers think job creation (24%), affordable housing (22%) and quality public schools (18%) are the most important issues for lawmakers to address.
Bag tax supporters like Lander and Chin hurt their constituents by further supporting the punitive and regressive tax on plastic shopping bags. Before writing and supporting legislation, our elected officials should take the time to think through their actions and consider the range of effects their proposals will have on their communities, and not just themselves. Think about all New Yorkers. DUMP THE DIME BAG!
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Bertha Lewis is President and Founder of the Black Leadership Action Coalition (BLAC).
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Sen. Schumer, middle, with Congressional candidate Sean Eldridge, right (photo: @SeanEldridge)
The Center for Responsive Politics estimates that candidates and their supporters spent nearly $4 billion in this year's election. For once, however, New York is a bargain, one of the least expensive places in the country to win a seat in Congress.
(Estimates are based on data released from the Federal Election Commission on Nov. 4)
It helps that neither of our two Senators were up for re-election this year. The top five U.S. Senate races alone totaled nearly $180 million in direct spending, with Minority (soon to be Majority) Leader Mitch McConnell spending $25 million to defeat his opponent, Alison Grimes, in Kentucky.
But in the House, a slew of uncompetitive races meant the entire 27-member New York delegation together raised just $42.1 million, an amount less than the top four House Republicans, who combined to raise $49.3 million. And special praise, perhaps, should go out to Congressman Jose Serrano, who raised the sixth least amount ($178k) of all House incumbents, and won with 97% of the vote. We can only hope that Congressman Serrano was busy legislating for New Yorkers, rather than spending most of his time on the phone to donors, like many of his colleagues across the country.
There were a few expensive campaigns in the state, especially the 19th district race between Congressman Chris Gibson and Sean Eldridge. Together they raised more $7 million, and the race ranked in the top 10 in terms of dollars raised in House.
Of course, just because the incumbents in the state weren't that busy raising money, didn't mean our state was completely left out. New York remains the place where candidates and Super PACs from across the country come to raise money. The state's residents were third behind the District of Columbia ($298 million) and California ($294 million) with $192 million in contributions (82% from New York City alone), two thirds (61%) of which went to Democrats (figures based on reporting as of Oct. 25). New Yorkers in the Upper East Side's 10022 zip code alone gave $30 million, second only to those in 94104 (San Francisco, CA) which gave $73 million.
In 2016, things may change for our state. Not only is Senator Schumer up for re-election, we may have our own, semi-home grown candidate in the presidential race. We escaped the full political ad blitz in 2014, but we may not be so lucky in two years.
Regardless of who does or does not ultimately enter the presidential contest, total spending on the campaign is likely to dwarf this midterm year and all previous presidential year elections. If historical patterns hold, it is likely that total spending in 2016 will top $8 billion, making it the most expensive campaign in U.S. history. Candidates will again seek out New Yorkers to support their bids for elected office, as will organizations with a special interest in certain issues. We may even get to see more of those salacious attack ads that voters in Georgia, Kentucky, and New Hampshire are probably glad to be rid of for a little while.
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Heath Brown, Ph.D., is assistant professor in the Department of Public Management, John Jay College, City University of New York. You can follow him @heathbrown
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (photo: @erinmdurkin)
Our annual day of spooks and scares has come and gone, but it's Election Day when I'm truly haunted. I know that when I'm in the voting booth I'll feel the ominous lurking of undead politicians—the ones who just won't stay buried. On the Upper East Side where I live, for example, the spectre of soon-to-be-former Assembly Member Micah Kellner lingers.
Just last week, former Court of Appeals Judge Howard Levine upheld the Assembly Ethics Committee's decision that Kellner had through his inappropriate flirting with multiple employees created an "abusive and hostile" workplace. Kellner, in case you don't remember, is the one who told a junior staff member in her twenties during an online chat, that he "wouldn't mind falling asleep with her but not remotely."
Since sexual harassment in the workplace disproportionately affects women, I took enormous pleasure this September in supporting a worthy woman (Rebecca Seawright, who won the Democratic primary) to hold the seat Kellner is vacating. It looked like we would finally be rid of him.
My revenge-vote moment was ruined, however, when I cast my eye further down the ballot. There it was: Micah Kellner for State Committee Member. And then that night, Micah Kellner winning. I didn't vote for him, but 2,614 others did. Micah Kellner is still in elected office, folks, and while he told The New York Observer that "This isn't some comeback or rehabilitation," it sure looks like that's what he's planning.
For some infuriating reason, sexual misconduct does not seem to be a matter that male politicians consider serious enough to make them think twice about running for office. Just look at last year, when Kellner and Vito Lopez both attempted—and lost—runs for City Council amid scandal. (Lopez, after resigning from the Assembly, remains a State Committee Member like Kellner.)
It is deeply disturbing to know that multiple sexual harassment claims, which Kellner dismissively calls "sensationalized, five-year-old allegations," weren't enough to make Kellner question whether he should continue to run, then or now.
Even more upsetting: this time we let him win.
Kellner, Lopez, and other politicians seem to think these issues are awkward, but surmountable. They don't believe that their sexual misconduct means they shouldn't get to hold public office. This attitude of entitlement and exception sends a message to people—primarily women—that if they are harassed by male superiors, it doesn't matter. And it sends an even more insidious message when we, the voters, don't hold them accountable.
On a much grander stage, entitlement and exception led NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti to attempt their despicable cover-ups of 'the Ray Rice incident.' These powerful men tolerated the intolerable in order to protect their jobs and the reputations of their respective organizations. Doing the right thing wasn't important enough to them until real public pressure built.
Entitlement and exception led Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to attempt to hide Lopez's harassment with a confidentiality clause in the secret settlement that was requested by Lopez, not the female staffers he harassed. Not that Lopez and Kellner are isolated incidents—see the list of accusations against former Assembly Member Dennis Gabryszak for still other examples of the behaviors that have occurred on Silver's watch.
Silver is currently facing claims that he "aided and abetted" Lopez's pattern of abuse through his failure to take official action. This is not mere rhetoric: Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, serving as special prosecutor to investigate the case, concluded that Silver's deliberate behavior "encouraged" Lopez to continue harassing. Protecting the Assembly's interests, Donovan wrote in his report, "outweighed any interest in investigating or disciplining Assembly Member Lopez or in preventing similar occurrences in the future." [emphasis added]
So there it is: the choices of Silver, Goodell, Bisciotti, and other leaders who look the other way encourage abusers and harassers to keep abusing and harassing. They know that under leaders like these, they won't have to pay. We may not be able to elect the NFL Commissioner or oust an owner, but we can do something about candidates like Silver (who faces a challenger on Election Day), Lopez, and Kellner. When we continue to vote these men into office—or don't bother to vote against them—we are equally complicit in perpetuating these patterns of abuse and harassment.
If we refuse to tolerate sexual harassment and attitudes of entitlement and exception when we're at the polls, then those in power will truly feel that they have something to lose. But until the majority of us take that stand, sexual harassers will continue to operate with impunity.
In September, Kellner bet on the voters not caring enough about his sexual misconduct when it wasn't on the front page. His victory is our loss. Next time he or a similar candidate is on the ballot, we need to do better—for women, for workers, and for ourselves, the voters of New York who have a choice.
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Sara Gold is a community organizer active in local issues and politics. She has been a resident of Assembly District 76 for three years. Follow her on Twitter @saragold2
Do you have an op-ed idea or submission for Gotham Gazette? Send it to Executive Editor Ben Max: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.