Daily Politics 8/23/2007

From the Daily Politics:

Odds and Ends

Did DOE spokeswoman Julia Levy seek to rig on-line polls on behalf of her boss, Chancellor Joel Klein?

Also in the print edition of the New York Press and the New York Post

Daily Politics, The Albany Project, Daily Gotham 8/21/2007

From the Daily Politics:

Odds and Ends

The UFT explains why it supports the Khalil Gibran International Academy.

Also, front page quick hits at The Albany Project and Daily Gotham

Daily Politics 5/23/2007

From the Daily Politics:

Odds and Ends

A new affordable housing coalition has formed.

Daily Politics 5/22/2007

From the Daily Politics:

News Of The Day

The DN's Bill Hammond is a supporter of paid family leave, which is working its way toward becoming law in New York.

Daily Politics 5/21/2007

From the Daily Politics:

WFP Turns Up The Heat On Affordable Housing

Working Family Party members will start canvassing this week in the districts of two Queens Republicans - Frank Padavan and Serph Maltese - dropping flyers that accuse the senators of "putting special interests ahead of working families" when it comes to affordable housing.

At issue is legislation that would extend rent regulations to all buildings that leave subsidy programs like Section 8 and Mitchell-Lama - a particularly big deal at the moment given the ongoing threat of the Starrett City sale.

Padavan himself is sponsoring one of the bills in question, but it hasn't moved out of committee.

Wednesday, the WFP will join with affordable housing and tenants-rights groups, labor unions and elected officials for a rally at Manhattan's Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village to call for rent reforms that would preserve the city's ever-dwindling affordable housing stock.

Organizers hope to draw up to 10,000 people and form a "human chain" around the buildings, which were sold for $5.4 billion last fall in one of the biggest residential real estate deals in history.

The number of groups smelling blood in the water and targeting marginal members of the Senate GOP conference just keeps growing.

Aside from this effort by the WFP, which was among the first to back Gov. Eliot Spitzer's gubernatorial bid and was instrumental in Sen. Craig Johnson's special election win in February, there's also NARAL Pro-Choice NY, another Spitzer ally, which is planning to push marginal Republicans on abortion rights.

Daily Politics 5/21/2007

From the Daily Politics:

News Of The Day

The Post slams Spitzer on his support of paid family leave.

Daily Politics 5/17/2007

From the Daily Politics:

WFP coup No. 2

Having just allowed day-care workers to unionize, which was the Working Families Party's top priority last year, Gov. Spitzer is now sponsoring paid family leave legislation, which is the WFP's top priority this year.

Under Spitzer's bill -- quietly introduced last week by GOP Sen. Thomas Morahan of Rockland County -- workers who need time off to take care for a child or sick relative (including domestic partners) would be entitled to as many as 12 weeks at half pay, up to a maximum of $170 a week. The bill sets the premium at 45 cents a week and authorizes employers to deduct it from paychecks.

These provisions appear to be identical to the WFP's "Working Families Time to Care Act."

UPDATE: There is at least one key difference: While the WFP bill expects employers to pick up the cost, the governor's bill gives them the option of shifting the cost to workers.

The Assembly has not yet introduced Spitzer's proposal, but it has passed a very similar bill several times before. One significant difference: The Assembly's bill extends to government employers, while Spitzer's does not.

In the U.S., this is pretty cutting-edge stuff. The only other state to adopt such a law is California, in 2002. According to the WFP, however, we're one of only five countries in the world that do not provide paid time off to care for newborn children, the others being Swaziland, Lesotho, Liberia and Papua New Guinea.

As far as I can remember, Spitzer has never once mentioned paid family leave as being on his to-do list, either on the campaign trail or since taking office. From what I hear, though, he's making a "heavy-duty, behind-the-scenes push" to get this done.

Daily Politics 5/11/2007

From the Daily Politics:

Spitzer Bolsters His Labor Ties

In recognition of Labor History Month, Gov. Eliot Spitzer today signed an executive order granting 50,000 day care providers the right to unionize and negotiate with the state to receive bigger public subsidies.

This has long been expected by the labor community, and is a big win for them. It is especially big for the labor-backed Working Families Party, which was among Spitzer's earliest backers but has often been at odds with him on policy - particularly when it comes to healthcare.

UPDATE: I'm told the bulk of the organizing work on this one was done by NY ACORN, whose executive director, Bertha Lewis, is a WFP co-chair, and the United Federation of Teachers.

This unusual move by Spitzer takes the place of legislation that passed the Legislature last year but was vetoed by former Gov. George Pataki.

The Senate overrode the veto on the last night of the 2006 legislative session in June - largely in hopes that the WFP would back then-Republican Sen. Nick Spano in a key race in Yonkers; the party remained neutral and Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins defeated Spano, further narrowing the GOP majority's already-slim margin in the chamber. The Assembly did not follow suit with the override.

The expectation is that day care workers will join one of the two state unions - PEF or CSEA. Critics say this sets a dangerous precedent, creating an employer-employee relationship where none should exist.

UPDATE: UFT spokesman Stu Marques says the expectation is that day-care workers within NYC will join UFT while those outside the city will join CSEA.