Join us for a special Linkup on the NYPD Mosque controversy

Wednesday night, September 4th, we'll discuss the NYPD's latest mosque controversy at our 7-8:30pm Linkup at Peculier Pub on Bleecker Street. Click here for details, including subway directions.

Shana Tovah to all who celebrate!

This month, Linkup lands on the first night of Rosh Hashana. We understand this means many DFNYC members are celebrating and can't participate. We will have a full report on Linkup in the next newsletter and welcome your input on this issue - info-at-dfnyc.org.  (Linkups have been the first Wednesday of every month for over 10 years, since they started during Howard Dean's campaign; but we do try to avoid major religious holidays when scheduling other political events.)

DFNYC endorses Scott Stringer for NYC Comptroller!

Democracy for New York City is happy to announce that our members have endorsed Scott Stringer for NYC Comptroller. 

In our endorsement vote, the results were:

SCOTT STRINGER  59%   ELIOT SPITZER 39%  NO ENDORSEMENT 2%

DFNYC has been working with Scott Stringer since his time in the NY State Assembly.  In 2005, when the Brennan Center for Justice stated that NY had the most dysfunctional legislature in the nation, DFNYC and other groups joined Scott in his push for reform in Albany - a politically risky move for any Assembly Democrat.  As Manhattan Borough President, he has been accessible and effective, working on issues of concern to our members, including affordable housing and food security.  Scott has promised to expand the scope of the Comptroller's office to make it a more effective tool in pushing the progressive agenda and protecting our citizens.  For more information or to volunteer, go to stringer2013.com

DFNYC's leadership committee thanks both Scott Stringer and Eliot Spitzer for participating in our endorsement process, by taking the time to answer our questionnaires and attend our recent forum. 

Candidates' responses to our questionnaire: Click here.

Video from our forum August 13^th:  We held a forum for the Comptroller's race, co-hosted with Act Now NY and Living Liberally, with Justin Krebs as moderator. Both candidates joined us at The Tank in midtown. Video  is at DFNYC's new Youtube channel - click here.  

Photos from the forum: Click here.

About the Endorsement Vote:

Among DFNYC members, there are strong supporters of both candidates, and we sincerely thank everyone who voted for weighing in on this highly-competitive race. DFNYC leadership made every effort to ensure that voting was easy, secure, anonymous, and that members knew about the opportunity to vote. (Members who have attended two events since Nov. 15^th 2011 were eligible to vote.)  Thank you to Tim Nicholas and Chaim Julian, our out-of-state volunteer vote counters.

DFNYC This Week - Voting for Comptroller Ends Monday Night!

Voting closes tonight, Monday! in DFNYC's Endorsement vote for Comptroller. Click here to go right to the ballot. Click here for endorsement rules and procedure. Voting will close Monday, Aug. 19th, at midnight.

Scott Stringer & Eliot Spitzer's answers to our candidate questionnaire - click here.

Last week we had a great forum for the Comptroller's race, co-hosted with Act Now NY and Living Liberally. Both Scott Stringer and Eliot Spitzer joined us at The Tank in midtown. Click here for pictures. Videos of the forum are available here.

Twilight of the Elites - Kellner, Spitzer, Weiner, and Lopez

To what ills has our class of political elite succumbed? Rare has been the occasion when a breadth of candidates aiming directly for key legislative and municipal seats been so oversaturated by characters all embroiled in scandals of precisely the same theme, though with minor stylistic differences. Kellner and Lopez’s difficulties stem directly from clearly abusive behavior towards office-mates, colleagues, and employees - a blatant violation of public trust and the implicit, tacit understanding - not to mention legal explicitness - to which all parties agree upon entering into a work arrangement. Weiner and Spitzer’s are an entirely different class of misbehavior that, while reprehensible, did not necessarily step over the same lines that the other two did.

Where, now, does this leave us? Much has been made, recently, of politicians evolving into effectively sex scandal proof entities. But ever since the days of JFK supposedly sneaking Marilyn Monroe into the Lincoln Room, we have been as a nation overly obsessed with every politician’s bedroom behavior. Similarly, ever since “Client #9” became a widely referenced moniker, local elected officials have been under additional scrutiny. But despite living in the Mecca of Progressivism and idyllic thought, this conundrum has vexed us with a bewilderment.

We are adamantly anti- the Micah Kellner/Vito Lopez section of the spectrum. This is brazenly in conflict with worker’s rights. No woman - or man, for that matter - should need fear that s/he will suffer untoward advances from their professional superior. To work in an environment where the leadership individual is an elected official adds an extra layer of complete disenfranchisement. True - in the end, they are only human. Also true - we hold our elected officials to a higher expectation of morality, but really, with their access to so many layers of power capable of affecting so many people’s lives, should we not keep our expectations high?

What we do know is that we have arrived clearly at the following: whether the topic is sexual preferences, (non) wedded bliss, or polyamory, a Normal Rockwell painting type life should not be a pre-requisite for considering a candidate to be politically viable. If you are gay, bisexual, straight, have multiple partners or are seeking the same, that’s your business. Just kindly remember that as a public official that every move you make exposes itself to the public record. So, again: there is danger, and then there’s Carlos Danger.

So, to sum up: sexuality good, sexual abuse in the workplace - bad. Embarrassing yourself online; mmm-meh. Embarrassing yourself online as a public official and the public finds out: doubleunplusgood. Embarrassing yourself either online or not as a public official sexually harassing interns/employees in your office and the public finds out about it: lose your access to power. There is a reason why laws exist regarding sexual harassment. Protecting elected officials that cross that line creates a landscape that allows for more harassers, not more equitable work and that is something which we are decidedly against.