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An
informed voter is the best guardian of democracy.
Welcome
to The Rhinebeck Demogram, an email newsletter bringing you
information and commentary about current issues, candidates,
and events. Published by the Rhinebeck Democratic Committee
(RDC) for all the people of our community.
Our
email address is demogram@rhinebeckdemocrats.org.
As always, we welcome comments, questions, suggestions and
corrections. IN THIS ISSUE
LOCAL FORUMS 2005:
LET'S REFRAME THE DEBATE
This
was the title of the well conceived and carefully planned annual
Issues Forum of the Dutchess County Democratic Committee,
co-sponsored by the Vassar College Student Democrats and held
on
April 17 at the Poughkeepsie Day School. It is regrettable that
attendance was modest; the program and the speakers offered much
to consider and pointed a way out of the jungle in which we find
ourselves.
Participants
were able to choose two workshops from a total of seven which
covered the topics of election reform, the future
of
pro-choice, privatization of social security, smart development,
gay rights issues in schools, and better alternatives to current
forms of incarceration.
The seventh
workshop featured the DVD, "How
Democrats and Progressives Can Win," which was particularly
thought provoking, and obviously inspired the title and theme
of the forum. It
features George Lakoff, professor of Science and Linguistics
at
the University of California, Berkeley, talking about language
and how it is used to frame the issues and direct political
debate.
For
example, both sides of the abortion issue have found positive,
appealing ways of identifying their positions: "pro
choice" vs. "pro life." But we have let the Republicans
dictate
most other terminology, putting ourselves firmly on the
defensive. For instance, how do we deal with Republican
euphemisms such as tax relief, clear skies, no child left behind,
healthy forests? Or a Republican pejorative such as death tax?
Following the viewing participants were asked to imagine and
present a conversation with a neighbor in which they 'reframe
the
debate.' Not an easy thing to do, but there is help. See the
**
below.
Mark
Green, former Public Advocate of New York City and candidate
for Attorney General of New York State, launched the program.
His
account of campaigning in Ohio in 2004 was especially pungent.
He has retained, and offered to produce, a flyer he obtained
there which stated (in so many words): If you have been
convicted of a crime, you may not vote. If anyone in your family
has been convicted of a crime, you may not vote. If you vote
anyway, your children can be taken away from you.
Closing
comments fell to State Assemblyman George Latimer, 91st A.D.,
who was pinch hitting for Maurice Hinchey. A very
effective speaker, he invigorated the audience with his appeal
for passion in local politics. Though 2005, featuring only local
and state elections, will not be a glamour year, he urged us
to
begin now to "let politics occupy more of your life. Otherwise
other people will be making life-long decisions about your life
that you don't like!"
** The DVD, "How Democrats and Progressives Can Win" is
available
from www.winwithlanguage.com for $15. But also, there
will be
a showing of the DVD at the Cocoon Theatre in Rhinebeck on this
coming Wednesday, May 11, at 7:30 pm. All welcome.
George Lakoff's best selling book, "Don't
Think of an Elephant! Know Your Values and Frame the Debate" can
be purchased for $10
from Oblong Books in Rhinebeck and other local bookstores.
IS
THE PRIVATIZATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY A FALSE PROMISE?
On
April 9 a forum was held at The Friends Meeting House on Hooker
Avenue in Poughkeepsie. The subject of the forum was "Is
the Privatization of Social Security a False Promise for All
Generations?" But prior to the event the subject discussed
in
local papers was the venue, originally to have been the Wallace
Center at the FDR Library in Hyde Park.
Plans
had been finalized for use of the Wallace Center and notices
distributed when administration representatives
intervened, insisting that a speaker representing President
Bush's "plan" for Social Security must be included
on the panel.
The forum's organizers had attempted, at the outset, to secure
such representation. In addition to Democratic Congressman
Maurice Hinchey, they had invited local Republican
Congresspersons John Sweeney and Sue Kelly, who both declined
to
participate.
The
long and short of it is that the forum---sponsored by local
branches of OWL ("the Voice of Midlife and Older Women"),
the
American Association of University Women, and the League of Women
Voters---was moved to The Friends Meeting House, where, despite
the inconveniences attendant to the change, at least 200 men
and
women gathered to listen to the speakers and to ask questions.
The
principal speaker, Congressman Hinchey, focused on the stability
of the Social Security program, as currently
structured, citing projections by the Social Security
Administration Board of Trustees and by the more independent
Congressional Budget Office to support his strong assertion that
the program is NOT in serious trouble in the immediate future.
He answered his own question ("If this is the case, then
what is
President Bush trying to do?") by providing an historical
perspective of past attacks on this 70-year-old program.
A
panel of two OWL officers and an OWL consultant discussed,
respectively, the particular importance of Social Security
to
women, the proposals 'out there' to forestall financial crisis
in
the program, and the possible effects of privatization,
particularly for the young. The following points were stressed
by all speakers:
- Social
Security is a family (not an old age) program. It provides
financial support not only for retirees, but for
children who survive their parent providers, and for the
disabled. According to OWL, a 20-year-old today has a 30%
chance of becoming disabled before retirement age.
- Women
are the most vulnerable Social Security recipients. Not only
do they earn less during their working lifetimes, they live
longer and are less likely to have income from savings or
pensions. They represent 60% of all Social Security recipients
at age 65 and 72% of all recipients by age 85.
- In
the attempt to strengthen the solvency of Social Security,
no measure should be enacted that would reduce benefits.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT: The Rhinebeck Village Board
ELECTIONS
The
four candidates supported by the Rhinebeck Democratic Committee
swept into office in the recent village elections.
Though the vote counts are very small, according to RDC Co-Chair
Warren Smith, the "turnout was significant given the uncontested
nature of the race." 121 people voted in person and 11 by
absentee ballot. Carol Mielich, our new mayor, received 112
votes, as did reelected Justice William Sanchez. Scott
Cruikshank and Kevin Rheden, both new trustees, received 110
and
97 votes respectively.
Incumbent
trustee Richard Cunningham had decided not to run for reelection
in 2005, but has since agreed to fill out the
unexpired trustee term of Carol Mielich and thus will continue
to
serve on the village board until 2006.
These
five public servants and Acting Justice John Kane took
the
oath of office before the April village board meeting, on Tuesday
the 12th. The RDC congratulates all five and thanks them for
their willingness to serve.
PRIORITIES
When
asked earlier to define their priorities for the coming two
years our new mayor and two new trustees responded as follows.
Mayor
Mielich: "In the past three years I feel that
the board
has made many effective decisions and I plan to keep things
moving in that direction. The biggest challenges facing the new
board are lack of parking, controlling sprawl, and controlling
spending in order to keep taxes down."
Trustee
Kevin A. Rheden: "With the help of all village
trustees and town council members, my hope is to lend a hand
in
unifying the village and town boards, which, of late, have been
experiencing an ever-widening disparity of views."
Trustee
Scott G. Cruikshank lists his goals as follows: develop a
better working relationship with the town, promote
calculated and controlled growth, and improve infrastructure,
including parking.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The
Village Board members have accepted the following responsibilities
for the 2005/2006 year:
Mayor
Mielich -liaison to the Police Department, Village Court,
and the Village Hall;
Trustee
Richard Cunningham - Deputy Mayor, liaison to the Water and
the Waste Water Departments;
Trustee
Svend Beecher - liaison to Streets, Parks, Garbage and Recycling;
Trustee
Kevin Rheden - liaison to the Fire Department;
Trustee
Scott Cruikshank - liaison to Planning and Zoning
NEWS FROM ASSEMBLYMAN KEVIN CAHILL [Moving
New York State Toward Full Compliance with HAVA]
Reform
is a word heard frequently these days in the halls of Albany.
Election reform is an issue that has drawn nationwide
attention in the past few years, and one that the [New York
State] Legislature has been particularly focused on in the
past and current session. From
my college days at SUNY New Paltz, a place some would call
the birthplace of student voting rights in New York, I have been
concerned with full and fair access for every voter. Back then,
a main concern was the right of students to vote in local
elections. Today we are dealing with an entire range of issues
over this basic franchise of democracy. Whether it is new voting
technology and the implications of it or who gets to decide who
votes, we have seen these matters played out in other states
with
controversial results, to say the least.
I
have been asked once again this year to serve as a member of
the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Joint Conference Committee along
with just four of my Assembly colleagues and five Senate
representatives. This body was reconvened on March 7, 2005 to
negotiate the differences between the State Senate and Assembly
bills regarding HAVA implementation. New York State has until
January 1, 2006 to comply with various federal election reform
guidelines [in order] to qualify for $235 million in federal
funding earmarked for election purposes.
One
of the issues being contested in the Conference Committee is
the form of voting technology that will be used. A significant
portion of the state allocation may be used to replace New York's
non-HAVA compliant lever voting machines. The Assembly position
supports a voting machine that is fully accessible to all voters
and that creates a voter-verifiable paper trail. The concept
of
paper ballots and optical scanning technology has gained
significant ground this year. The Assembly bill already
provides for that option, among others. Thus far, the Senate
remains silent [on this issue] and would like to defer this
decision to the State Board of Elections. The Senate has
expressed that it will not rule out the possibility of electronic
touch-screen voting machines.
Compounding
the roadblocks encountered while formulating a comprehensive
approach to HAVA has been the inability of the
New
York State Board of Elections to come to agreement regarding
the
selection of an Executive Director, a position that has been
vacant for the last 18 months. Partisan issues have arisen as
the Board grapples with this issue. A recent meeting of the
board designed to focus on New York's compliance with HAVA
dissolved into a shouting match revolving around the refusal
of
the Republican board members to fill the vacancy.
This
governance issue is one that has recently been agreed upon
by the Assembly and the Senate. Under legislation we approved,
the stalemate will be broken and a full board and staff will
be
restored. This will avoid a "Katherine Harris" type
situation,
as existed in the state of Florida, where one partisan person
got
to decide who could and could not vote. Other important
components of HAVA implementation have also been agreed upon
during our current negotiations. These include the adoption of
a
statewide voter registration database, preserving local control
over who goes on and comes off those lists, county ownership
of
voting machines and an administrative complaint procedure to
address voter concerns.
There
are still a few differences to be resolved. Fully accessible
polling places are not just a good idea, they are
required under the new federal mandate. The Assembly bill that
I
sponsor would assure access for every voter at every polling
place. The current law of New York as well as the Senate
proposal would not comply with this standard and would continue
to allow waivers for specific localities, thus depriving a class
of citizens of their right to equal access. Voter verification
is also a sticking point. The Assembly bill would allow anyone
to be added to a list [of registered voters], even if a
bureaucratic snafu kept their "official numbers" from
matching.
The Senate version would exclude voters whose identity could
not
be verified, even if that failure was the result of a clerical
mistake by a government agency, such as the Department of Motor
Vehicles.
Of
course, we still have to agree on a technology for voting.
Will it be electronic voting machines, paper ballots or some
[other] system? Will we comply with access standards so that
people with disabilities can have the same right to vote as
everyone else? Will our verification system be exclusive or
inclusive? As they say on the news, stay tuned. Even with these
unresolved issues, the HAVA Conference Committee hopes to
complete their task as quickly as possible and certainly by the
end of the legislative session in June.
It
is imperative that we remain diligent in striving to meet federal
guidelines so that New York State can take full advantage
of HAVA monies. It is equally critical that the right of all
voters to cast their ballots in a secure and accommodating manner
[environment] is protected. I pledge to do my utmost to attain
these goals.
I
have been contacted by individuals and groups statewide expressing
their views on this topic. Anyone else who would like
to weigh in can call my Albany office at 518-455-4436 or email
me at cahillk@assembly.state.ny.us.
QUOTES OF THE MONTH
" A
party based on charisma has no long-term impact. Think of our
last charismatic leader, Bill Clinton . . . At the end of his
tenure [8 years] in the most powerful office in the world, there
were few Democratic governors, . . . senators, members of
Congress and state legislators, and a national party that was
deep in debt. The President did well. The party did not.
Charisma doesn't translate into structure."
---
(Former Senator Bill Bradley, in his op-ed piece, "A
Party
Inverted," in The New York Times, 3/30/05) " My
party is demonstrating that they are for states' rights,
unless they don't like what states are doing."
" This
Republican Party of Lincoln has become a party of theocracy.
There are going to be repercussions from this vote.
There are a number of people who feel that the government is
getting involved in their personal lives in a way that scares
them."
---
(Republican Congressman Christopher Shays of Connecticut, regarding
the vote in the House and Senate to allow federal
courts to take over the Terri Schiavo case, New York Times, A14,
3/23/05)
NUMBERS THAT COUNT
4,000 . . .
. . . Is the estimated number of gun shows that take place
annually across the nation in venues such as convention centers,
school gymnasiums, fairgrounds, and other facilities paid for,
maintained, or otherwise subsidized by taxpayers' money. Since
the Brady Law and many state laws requiring background checks
on
firearms apply only to LICENSED gun dealers, these gun shows
constitute an enormous loophole in the law, enabling uncontrolled
gun traffic. So our citizenry is being exploited on two levels.
We are forced to underwrite a dangerous industry over which
we
have no control. For more information, visit the website of
The
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence at http://www.bradycampaign.org. 25% . . .
. . . of all women (regardless of race or marital status) over
age 65 rely on Social Security for 90% of their retirement
income. (OWL Forum, 3/9/05)
"some
43% . . .
. . . of all U.S. Treasury bills, notes and bonds are now held
by
foreigners." Thomas L. Friedman quotes Robert Hormats,
the vice
chairman of Goldman Sacks International and goes on to add "And
the foreign holders of all those bonds are listening to our
debate. They are listening to a country that is refusing to
raise taxes, and an administration talking about borrowing an
additional $2 trillion so Americans can invest some of their
Social Secuity money in stocks." (Op-ed, New York Times,
February 24, 2005)
$742 . . .
. . . will be saved by middle class Americans (those of us in
the
middle 20 percent of the income spectrum) on our federal taxes
this year, due to a series of tax cuts since 2001. We'll need
it, thanks to the $3,791 (budget-deficit-plus-all-prior-
government-debt) in debt burden that each middle class family
has
accumulated since the advent of the Bush administration.
(Progress Report, 4/15/05, progress@americanprogressaction.org)
WEBSITES OF NOTE
http://www.hudsonriverheritage.org
This
site contains a petition about the development proposed for
Ulster County, north of Rondout Creek. The petition focuses on
the impact of vehicular traffic on River Road and on the the
streets of Rhinecliff. Go to the site and click on "Kingston
Waterfront Development Forum" to access the petition. As
of
April 26 there were only 70 signators. Surely this issue is of
concern to more residents than that!
http://www.friendsofhudson.org/coast (518-822-0334)
Local
author and investigative reporter Cynthia Owen Philip considers
this site "the best source I've found for the
state
laws that govern development close to the river." (About
Town,
Spring 2005)
http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/socialsec
Access
the AARP Bulletin site to learn AARP's position on the various
proposals out there regarding the solvency of the Social
Security Fund. To share your comments with other AARP members,
email the special message board designed for this purpose at
bulletin@aarp.org
http://www.buyblue.org/
Extending
the blue vs. red states metaphor, this site aims to inject
buying power into the political arena. Rating
corporations by their support of conservative interests, Buy
Blue
tries to help liberal and progressive consumers make informed
buying decisions that coincide with their principles. Recently,
ratings have been added for the areas of corporate and social
responsibility, employment equality, environment, industry
practices, and labor and human rights. Go to the site for an
A-Z
listing of companies which offer services and goods under more
than 800 recognized brand names.
A LISTSERV OF OUR OWN: rhinebeckdemocrats@yahoogroups.com
A
listserv (mailing list) exists for Rhinebeck Democrats. It
is
used by and for those interested in posting or receiving
information or opinions about local Democratic meetings, issues,
events, candidates, office holders, etc. Only those who request
or confirm their inclusion are listed. At present 28 people are
in the group (or, on the list). There are probably more of you
on the Rhinebeck Democratic Committee or among the Demogram's
readership of 285 who would be interested in joining this group.
To do so
is easy. Simply give one of the group's moderators, such as
Tess McKellen at tmac1337@aol.com or Linda Souers
at lsouers@optimusarchitecture.com permission
to enter your email
address on the group site. You will be sent a welcome email
and
soon thereafter will begin receiving correspondence from your
list mates. Be
aware that Yahoo is our (free) host and that therefore
we are
limited to Yahoo's design. You may receive a message to which
you want to respond. Yahoo has set up the list so that your
response will go to the entire group. If you wish your response
to go only to the sender, simply erase the Yahoo "mail to" address
on the reply form and supply an individual's address before you
begin writing your response.
CALENDAR
All
meetings and events listed are open to the public. Dates, times,
and places are subject to change, so call ahead to confirm.
MAY
May
9, Monday --- RHINEBECK TOWN BOARD meets, 7:30 pm, Town Hall
(876-3409)
May
10, Tuesday --- RHINEBECK VILLAGE BOARD meets, 7:00 pm, Village
Hall (876-7015)
May 11, Wednesday --- Free showing of the DVD, "HOW
DEMOCRATS AND PROGRESSIVES CAN WIN: Reframing the Debate with
George
Lakoff", 7:30 pm, Cocoon Theatre, 6384 Mill St., Rhinebeck
Village (876-6470)
May
23, Monday --- RHINEBECK DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (RDC) meets,
7:30 pm, location TBA (876-0885)
JUNE
June
13, Monday --- RHINEBECK TOWN BOARD meets, 7:30 pm, Town Hall
(876-3409)
June
14, Tuesday --- RHINEBECK VILLAGE BOARD meets, 7:00 pm. Village
Hall (876-7015)
June
27, Monday --- RHINEBECK DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE (RDC) meets,
7:30 pm, Town Hall (876-0885)
JULY
July
11, Monday --- RHINEBECK TOWN BOARD meets, 7:30 pm, Town Hall
(876-3409)
July
12, Tuesday --- RHINEBECK VILLAGE BOARD meets, 7:00 pm, Village
Hall (876-7015)
July
25, Monday --- RHINEBECK DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE meets, 7:30 pm,
Town Hall (876-0885)
Contact
us at demogram@rhinebeckdemocrats.org in
order to
subscribe, unsubscribe, comment, etc.
Our
snail mail address is The Rhinebeck Demogram, c/o McKellen,
22 Violet Place, Rhinebeck 12572.
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EDITOR: Tess McKellen
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: David Hoffman
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