Today, grassroots activists came together to protest the attempted coup and call on leaders to get back to work to address the issues that are impacting all New Yorkers, not just the ones that go to serve the egos of a select few.
Over one hundred voters and advocates, shocked and outraged at the yesterday's attempted Republican takeover of the State Senate, came from around New York today to protest yesterday's attempted coup d'etat. At the protest, outside renegade Democrat Pedro Espada's office, the voters and advocates said they would not let the people's agenda be silenced by a political power grab partially engineered by a billionaire who left the state to avoid paying his fair share of taxes.
Updated: As advocates were speaking with the press, Tom Golisano stopped into Senator Pedro Espada's office. When he came out, protesters began chanting "Voters Not Donors," and "Golisano Pays and Espada Plays." Senator Espada's staff then slammed the door to his office shut. Video to be distributed soon.
"Last November, the voters refused to allow the party of "no" to return to power in New York," said Veronica Horne, a member of the board of Citizen Action's Capital District chapter, who attended the protest. "The results of that historic election, when a coalition of young people, independents and communities of color voted in the first American-American President in history and the first Democratic State Senate in decades, must not be overturned by big money interests who oppose change."
"We will not let our agenda be silenced by a power grab by Pedro Espada, Hiram Monserrate, billionaire Tom Golisano, and the Republican minority in the Senate," said Karen Scharff, Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York. "Yesterday's coup d'etat was not about reform, but the blocking of the people's agenda in the last two weeks of the legislative session. While Espada and Skelos are playing political games, the Legislature isn't acting on public financing of elections, reigning in health insurance rates and high drug prices, acting on Mayoral Control, and providing affordable housing. We need the Legislature to get back to the business of addressing the most urgent needs of the state."
"Two corrupt politicians have made a corrupt deal with the real estate lobby and its cronies in the Republican Senate Conference to hijack the tenants rights agenda when we were on the verge of major legislative reform to protect tenants and preserve affordable housing," said Michael McKee, Treasurer of the Tenants Political Action Committee.
The events today were co-sponsored by Citizen Action of New York, Housing Here and Now, the Metropolitan Council on Housing, the Real Rent Reform Campaign, and the Tenants Political Action Committee.
I will post the video of the Golisano-Espada portion of the protest when it is made available.
This protest is just one example of the outrage many are expressing after yesterday's coup attempt that has left the rest of the session up in the air.
