ERA in 2024: Let’s Get This Show on the Road! I hope by now everyone is familiar with the push to add the Federal Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the U.S.Constitution this year. Not by next decade, or even next year, but in 2024. If you’re not familiar, you can look up the details at the Sign4ERA website. This federal ERA initiative is distinct from Proposition One, New York State’s ERA. The state ERA was described in a guest column by Mickey Belosi, Vice Chair of CNY NOW, in last month’s DASH. Even with only three months left in 2024, we can make the federal ERA happen by recruiting enough members of the House of Representatives to bring House Joint Resolution 25 to the floor for a vote. If it passes, the ERA becomes the 28th Amendment. Of course, there’s a catch. We need 218 signatures from voting House members to begin the process. To date we have 214. To reach the goal, we’re going to need to reach across the aisle. And that’s where four New York Republicans, including our own congressman, Marc Molinaro, come in. As constituents, we have a right to ask our elected representatives to support initiatives close to our hearts. […]

Molinaro on Abortion Rights: Setting the Record Straight By Ann Reichlin Marc Molinaro talks a good game on abortion rights. In fact, he’s come out with a new ad claiming that he believes that reproductive choices are between a woman and her doctor. While I appreciate the sentiment, I just don’t believe that he is sincere. In his first term in Congress, Molinaro has had ample opportunity to support women’s reproductive choices; yet time and time again he has voted for amendments that would do exactly the opposite. For example, Marc Molinaro voted Yes on H.Amdt.222 to HR 2670, which would prohibit the Secretary of Defense from paying for or reimbursing expenses relating to abortion services.

By Ted Crane Our household received at least four postcards from Marc Molinaro (R-NY19) during the month of August. These full-color, 11″ x 5.75″ pieces—about the largest size allowed at letter rate—are mailed at taxpayer expense, paid by congressional frank. These mailings have a veneer of being “job reports”. Absent the frank, we would have assumed they were—because they appear to be—campaign mailings. If use of franking for political campaign purposes is not unethical, or even against the rules, it should be. “Franking” is derived from colonial-era English Law. It allows authorized officials to use the Postal Service: instead of a stamp, the official “signs” the mail piece (see image below) and taxpayer money is transferred directly from the Treasury to the U.S. Postal Service. Congresspersons must provide quarterly reports on their frank use … but who reads them? The franking privilege has frequently been misused. Detailed language (1991 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2 U.S.C. §§ 503-506) exists to prevent misuse but, like so many rules and regulations intended to police Congressional behavior, enforcement is subject to political deadlock. The misuse has to be blatant enough to force the offender’s party to agree to an investigation. We’re used to self-serving […]

State Senator Lea Webb announced that she has secured $120,000 in state funds to support infrastructure projects at the Kitchen Theatre Company (KTC). This will enable the organization to renovate its lobby, providing a more welcoming and accessible environment for both artists and patrons. Founded in 1991, KTC has produced more than 200 plays and has consistently challenged audiences to see the world differently. Emily Jackson, Producing Artistic Director, said the state’s investment “signals a deep appreciation and understanding that arts organizations are impactful cultural, social, and economic drivers in our community.” Watch the Kitchen Theatre announcement here. Senator Webb also announced $120,000 in state funding to build an addition to the Picnic (Large) Pavilion at Stewart Park. It will house equipment and supplies for the Stewart Park Day Camp, eliminating the need for campers and staff to cross the parking lot to get camp supplies. The funds will also cover improvements to the Pavilion’s south facade. “I am thrilled to have secured this funding for the City of Ithaca,” said Webb. “This park is a cornerstone of our community, offering a space where people of all ages can come together to enjoy recreation, education, and cultural activities.” “Ithaca’s parks and natural […]

Members of the Tompkins County Democratic Committee gathered August 13 for the annual summer fundraiser. The event featured remarks by a special guest: New York’s Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado; and from Assemblywoman Anna Kelles and State Senator Lea Webb. Delgado quoted the late Dr. Martin Luther King: “We need leaders not in love with money, but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity, but in love with humanity.” He used his own improbable 2018 election to Congress as a young African American and Latino man— who’d just released a rap album—in a rural, upstate New York district, as evidence that Democrats can win despite formidable demographics. Delgado talked about the need for candidates to project a positive message, to listen more than they speak to their constituents, and to reach out to all parts of the electorate regardless of their political affiliation. Kelles spoke about the partnership among Democratic officials at the local, state, and federal level in proposing and enacting needed legislation. She cited the acceleration of her efforts in the Assembly with Webb’s election to the State Senate. Webb echoed Kelles’s thoughts, and emphasized the importance of working to elect Democrats at all levels, statewide and […]

TCDC is organizing a Letter to the Editor campaign for our Democratic candidates: Josh Riley, Lea Webb, Anna Kelles and Kamala Harris. Each letter should focus on an individual candidate and address an issue that the writer would like to highlight. TCDC would like to schedule weekly letters for each candidate, from early August through October. Let’s show our support for the candidates and flood our news sources with supportive letters. Editing and other logistical support is available. If you are interested in writing a letter for one or more candidates and would like more information, please contact Renate Ferro at renateferrotcdc@gmail.com.

“Every time we expand democracy, it seems we get complacent, thinking it’s a done deal,” Heather Cox Richardson writes, in a July 28 post on Substack. “We forget that democracy is a process and that it’s never finished. “And when we get complacent, people who want power use our system to take over the government. They get control of the Senate, the White House, and the Supreme Court, and they begin to undermine the principle that we should be treated equally before the law and to chip away at the idea that we have a right to a say in our government. And it starts to seem like we have lost our democracy. “But all the while, there are people who keep the faith. Lawmakers, of course, but also teachers and journalists and the musicians who push back against the fear by reminding us of love and family and community. And in those communities, people begin to organize—the marginalized people who are the first to feel the bite of reaction, and grassroots groups. They keep the embers of democracy alive. “And then something fans them into flame.” Read the whole post here.

Donald Trump wants to strip federal funding from “anarchist” cities: Is Marc Molinaro okay with that? by Ann Reichlin If you think an emboldened Donald Trump would not withhold funds from Democratic jurisdictions if he is reelected, think again. Way back in the fall of 2020—yes, about four years ago, when Trump was the president—he created a presidential memorandum called the “Anarchist Memo,” ordering then-Attorney General Barr to designate cities as “Anarchist Jurisdictions.”  Enabler A.G. Bill Barr identified three cities: New York, NY, Portland, OR and Seattle, WA; as “Permitting Anarchy, Violence, and Destruction” during that summer’s Black Lives Matter protests. The intent was to withhold all federal funds from the designated cities. New York, Portland and Seattle sued. When Joe Biden became president, he undid the damage by eliminating Trump’s “Anarchist Memo.” Had Donald Trump won the presidency in 2020, who knows what kind of financial pain would have ensued for these cities as a result of the Anarchist Memo? If he was willing to withhold funds from Democratic cities in the middle of a pandemic, it is reasonable to assume that he would try to do so again as a way to punish the people and places that he perceives as disloyal to […]

There are very few members of The Party Formerly Known As Republican who your editor wishes were on our side. Former RNC Chair Michael Steele is one of them. Yes, he’s a conservative, and all that goes with that, but he’s also smart and strategic, with a set of ironclad principles that all Americans used to share. That includes the notion that no branch of government should wield more than the share of power granted it in the Constitution. Steele interviewed Dahlia Lithwick, who covers the Supreme Court as a Senior Editor at Slate magazine, for his July 25 podcast. “I’ve done this for 25 years,” said Lithwick. “There has never been a term like this. … And a piece of that is, what’s happened in the doctrine? What happened to the Chevron deference, what happened in the immunity case, what happened in the EPA case? “Then there’s this other strand that is the corruption scandals, the self-dealing, the luxury RV and the fishing trips … And those are not different stories. … a 20-, 30-year effort to purchase members of the Supreme Court totally came to fruition this year. Every piece of what we saw this year was that ethics […]