For immediate release
Sept. 4, 2014
For more information contact: Shino Tanikawa, info@nyckidspac.org , 917-770-8438
NYC KidsPAC endorses Teachout for Governor, Jackson, Liu, Koppell for State Senate;
Fedkowskyj and Simon for Assembly
Today, NYC KidsPAC, a political action committee composed of parent leaders devoted to strengthening our public schools, announced its endorsements in the Democratic primary due to take place next Tuesday, Sept. 9. KidsPAC endorsed Zephyr Teachout and Tim Wu for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, over the incumbent Andrew Cuomo and his running mate, Kathy Hochul.
KidsPAC’s other endorsements in contested races include: Robert Jackson for State Senate District 31 in Manhattan, John Liu for the 11th Senate District seat in Queens, Dmytro Fedkowskyj for Assembly Seat District 30 in Queens, Oliver Koppell for Senate District 34 Seat in the Bronx, and Jo Anne Simon, campaigning to replace retiring Joan Millman in the 52nd Assembly District in Brooklyn.
Said Shino Tanikawa, parent leader and President of KidsPAC, “NYC KidsPAC wholeheartedly endorses Zephyr Teachout for Governor for her commitment to fight against privatization of our public education. We need a governor who believes in small class sizes, provides adequate resources for our most vulnerable students, respects the profession of teaching, opposes education driven by standardized tests and will fight for a high quality schools for all students throughout the State. We believe Zephyr is the right candidate who will move us in the right direction.”
Shino added: “Governor Cuomo, on the other hand, has massively cut education aid to our schools, opposes fully funding CFE – despite a court order – and owes NYC more than $2000 per student. He also supports raising the cap on charters, and has pushed through preferential access for charters to expand in space paid for by the city, while hundreds of thousands of our public school students sit in overcrowded schools, in trailers or on waiting lists for their zoned neighborhood school.”
“Though Robert Jackson and the incumbent Adriano Espaillat both completed surveys emphasizing their support for public schools, Jackson has a long history of leadership on education issues. He was the original plaintiff in the CFE case, walked to Albany for the final deliberations in court, and was a terrific advocate as Chair of the Education Committee on the NYC Council. Wherever and whenever we have needed him, Robert Jackson has stood for us and with us, fighting for the rights of our kids. Now parents must be there for him,” said Karen Sprowal, a board member of NYC KidsPAC and a long time Harlem resident.
“John Liu and Tony Avella have strong education records, but Liu was an exemplary City Councilmember and Comptroller – always pushing to keep the Department of Education honest in its reporting. Moreover, we cannot forget how Avella deserted the Democratic Party to join forces with the GOP, which has consistently opposed full funding for NYC schools and supports privatization, vouchers and charter expansion,” said Isaac Carmignani, long-time parent leader in Queens.
“KidsPAC is endorsing Oliver Koppell for State Senate against Jeff Klein, as Klein led the defection from the Democratic majority to prop up the GOP, which has hurt our schools badly. Klein also supported the egregious provisions in this year’s budget, providing preferential treatment and public space at city expense for charter schools – despite the fact that the public schools in his district are hugely overcrowded and badly need expansion,” said Gloria Corsino, a Bronx parent leader.
Isaac Carmignani explained, “We enthusiastically support Dmytro Fedkowskyj, running against the incumbent Margaret Markey in Queens. Dmytro was a strong advocate for NYC parents and kids when he was the Queens member on the Panel for Educational Policy. As his candidate survey shows, he will continue to be a strong advocate as Assemblymember. He opposes test-driven education, is strongly against raising the cap on charters and supports full funding for our public schools.”
Finally, NYC KidsPAC is endorsing Jo Anne Simon vs. Pete Sikora in the Assembly. Tesa Wilson, a Brooklyn parent and KidsPAC board member said, “Though both Simon and Sikora responded with positive answers to our candidate survey, Simon has been a long-time advocate for the rights of special needs students, and for full funding and smaller classes in our public schools. In our survey, she came out strongly against raising the cap on charters. While Sikora said he was supportive of keeping the cap this year, he was in favor of re-evaluating the cap in future years.”
The links to our endorsements, completed candidate surveys and the NYSAPE Governor’s scorecard can be found on our website at http://www.nyckidspac.org .
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This upstate New Yorker has been reminding his fellow teachers of the primary on Tuesday, and simply asking them which candidate has the best track record of supporting education. Every single respondent said “Teachout”, and nearly every single respondent said they had no intention of voting because “What’s the use, Cuomo will win anyways. Why waste my time?”
It’s hard to argue that position when it wil most likely come to pass, but I will still make the time, to do the right thing, and vote for Teachout. Years ago I vowed to only vote for candidates I can support fully – to never vote for someone I dislike, or vote for someone as the lesser of two evils – that ends up with an evil person in office.
If and when Teachout loses (hopefully by a much smaller margin that Cuomo expects), I’ll look at Syracuse’s Howie Hawkins on the Green line. Again, not a chance he will win, but he is a person of integrity and character (like Teachout), and ! in the end I can feel good about my vote.
It’s a message!
Give Cuomo a Teachout moment on Tuesday!
And who knows, BTW, what Preet Bharara will come out with by November, or after. Cuomo may have to resign at some point. He is not above federal law.
I personally would love to give Cuomo a “jail” moment.
About 17 years worth of them for his corruption . . . .
In New York City in 2009, lots of people didn’t vote in the mayoral race because Bloomberg was ahead in the polls anywhere from 8-25% http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2009/other/ny/new_york_mayor_bloomberg_vs_thompson-1083.html#polls
Lots of unions and other groups remained neutral, afraid of the “Bloomberg billions”.
Bloomberg spent 80 million dollars and only won by 4%. What if everyone knew how close the election really was?
Bloomberg stopped negotiating with the unions soon after he won. When he won, the people didn’t win, the 1% won.
One month ago, in Hawaii, a little known, under financed opponent unseated the incumbent governor.
http://www.staradvertiser.com/s?action=login&f=y&id=270636641
And in June Eric Cantor lost the primary and his seat in the Senate.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2014/06/10/eric-cantor-majority-leader-defeated/10304543/
Your vote counts!
“. . . nearly every single respondent said they had no intention of voting because “What’s the use, Cuomo will win anyways. Why waste my time?”
The margin of victory matters. This is good reason to vote for Teachout. Cuomo craves a landslide victory as a springboard onto the national scene. Denying him that is worth the effort. The same reason I and many other democrats will vote for Howie Hawkins. The other reason is that Tim Wu for Lieutenant Governor has a good chance of defeating Cuomo’s ultra conservative running mate Kathy Hochul. They don’t run on a mutual ticket as they are elected individually.
Amazing article!!!!
http://www.texasobserver.org/walter-stroup-standardized-testing-pearson/?site=full
Arrgh: This is the commentary today from Rex Smith’s column at Albany TU. Not one mention of Zephyr. Hmmmm could it be that the papers are primarily owned by men? Also no letters to editor today or opinions. Barren. Thank god for an article on front page by Seiler on the lawsuit against the democratic party for printing millions of glossies for Cuomo. http://www.timesunion.com/opinion/article/Rex-Smith-In-politics-women-still-await-parity-5737132.php