(photo: The Governor's Office on flickr)
A tribute to America’s workers, Labor Day has evolved beyond a day of parades and festivals duly celebrating the achievements of workers to one emphasizing the economic realities and civic significance of the unsung heroes responsible for the prosperity of our country.
Of these everyday heroes, no one is more unsung than the women of color and immigrant women who, in the main, bear the responsibility for raising their families while at the same time working outside the home.
All groups of women earn less than white males across communities and job categories, but the discrepancies vary greatly by race and ethnicity. White women earn 84 cents for every dollar earned by white men, Asian women earn 63 cents, black women earn 55 cents, and Latina women earn 46 cents. To put it in perspective, given the current pay gap, black women must work about an additional 200 days to make what white men earn in a year.
Here in New York, women of color and immigrant women form the bedrock of the labor force. They are frequently both the main or sole caregivers and main or sole wage earners in their households. They supply the bulk of the paid caregiving services, on which so many other New York households depend and account for a major share of the retail and restaurant sector workforce that drives our economy.
Yet the progress of women of color and immigrant women has not historically been a top priority for anyone, even philanthropies. Less than 7% of foundation funding goes directly to supporting programs for women and girls.
Today, there are determined, grassroots organizations forging strong approaches to expanding the economic security and well-being of women. The Business Center for New Americans and the Damayan Migrant Workers Association provide shining examples.
The Business Center for New Americans promotes the American dream of financial independence and home ownership, providing refugees, immigrants, women, and other New Yorkers with the information, counsel, and support needed to thrive financially. They advance entrepreneurship through microlending, combined with training and technical assistance, and homeownership through down payment assistance, training, and access to incentives.
The Damayan Migrant Workers Association empowers low-wage workers to fight for their rights by building leadership at the grassroots level to eliminate labor trafficking, fight labor fraud and wage theft, and to demand fair labor standards to achieve economic and social justice.
The New York Women’s Foundation is proud to support and salute these organizations, and our other grantee partners in this space, for their efforts to secure a better future for the thousands of women of color and immigrant women in our workforce. They, and those they assist, are our heroes on Labor Day and every day.
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Camille Emeagwali is vice president of programs at The New York Women’s Foundation.
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Late Senator John McCain (photo: Gage Skidmore)
There are precious few genuine heroes left in public life in America. That’s why the passing of John McCain last weekend felt like such a huge loss for many of us whose lives are devoted to the practice of politics and government.
Despite his flaws, Senator McCain leaves behind a deep and unique imprint on American history. Among his most important legislative achievements was the enactment of the most significant national campaign finance reform measure since the post-Watergate years.
As a young press secretary to Congressional Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT) in the late 1990s, I had the opportunity and privilege to work with Senator McCain and his staff as part of the legislative coalition fighting for reform on Capitol Hill. Though there were many good men and women whose efforts were necessary for success, there was no question who was leading the charge.
The issue of reform was a personal one for McCain. As one of the “Keating Five,” he was rebuked by the Senate for exercising poor judgment in meeting with bank regulators on behalf of Charles Keating, a long-time campaign donor and chair of a failed savings and loan institution. McCain described the incident as a low point in his career. He openly admitted his mistakes, apologized to his constituents, and began a relentless push to transform the campaign finance system.
The proposition that McCain and his colleagues advanced was a simple one: the same laws that applied to the way that candidates raise funds should apply to political parties and other campaign groups. No more corporate shakedowns for the party leaders—they would need to follow the same “hard money” restrictions as candidates. Interest groups trying to swing elections with campaign commercials disguised as “sham” issue ads (i.e. “Call Senator Smith and tell him to keep his hands off our guns”) would have to play by the same rules.
This was a stance that put him in direct conflict with the leaders of his party—Trent Lott and Mitch McConnell in the Senate, and Tom DeLay in the House—who collected the dough and held the purse strings. The McCain-Feingold legislation was a direct threat to their way of doing business.
Party leaders on both sides routinely approached corporate leaders for six-figure donations, often as they were considering Congressional action on their priorities. They distributed the proceeds to help their colleagues in close races. By withholding campaign funds, they could—and often did—exact retribution on those who stepped out of line.
The forces arrayed against the reform effort were powerful. Unlike today, there was no urgency from the grassroots in either party to address the corrosive power of money in politics.
Yet through the sheer force of personality and will, McCain pushed reform onto the national agenda. I recall long-serving members of Congress, as cynical as they come, whose faces would light up like school-kids in the presence of the senator from Arizona. Invariably, they would leave our coalition meetings giddy to follow him into battle.
The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA)--known as McCain-Feingold after the bill’s sponsors--took an extraordinary route to passage, one that seems no longer possible in today’s hyper-partisan environment. In the House, dozens of Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues to sign their names to a discharge petition that forced the bill onto the floor against the wishes of Speaker Dennis Hastert. In the Senate, 11 Republicans joined with the Democratic caucus to give the bill a filibuster-proof majority.
In taking on their party leadership, many of the moderate Republicans at the time were embarking on what could have been a political suicide mission. But McCain believed his party should succeed through the power of its ideas, not through the force of its fundraising efforts. By word and deed, he inspired his colleagues to follow his lead.
As we embark on a new conversation about campaign finance reform here in New York City, there are a few lessons to be drawn from the experience.
Achieving reform is about the art of the possible. It requires compromise and coalition-building. For all his legendary stubbornness and temper, McCain was an extraordinarily practical legislator. He was no purist—while protecting the soft-money ban at the core of his signature bill, he built his winning coalition by negotiating and embracing amendments offered by his colleagues. Some stand today as essential elements of every national campaign—if you are familiar with the phrase “I’m John Smith, and I approve this message,” you’ve felt the impact of McCain-Feingold.
The passage of McCain-Feingold stands as the high-water mark for reform in the post-Watergate era. While McCain himself moved on to other issues of great import and a second run for President, the federal campaign finance system rather quickly reverted to the norm. Under Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court has rolled back many the gains made by Congress under McCain’s leadership.
While the parties are still prohibited from cashing big corporate checks, McCutcheon expanded the parties’ ability to raise big money from wealthy individuals. And Citizens United eviscerated BCRA’s common-sense limits on fundraising for campaign advertising by independent groups. Unlimited funds from corporations, unions, and wealthy individuals are freely available to SuperPACs and political non-profits, many of which can evade even disclosure of their funding sources. With long-time reform opponent Mitch McConnell as majority leader of the Senate, efforts to reclaim that progress seem unlikely.
The rollback of McCain’s victories at the federal level makes it plain that reform is hard work. No lasting reform is a one-and-done effort. Successful reform takes patience, persistence, and constant vigilance. In New York City we have a campaign finance program that is the envy of reformers across the nation because we persist in the work of keeping the program strong. While the matching funds program has long helped candidates from diverse backgrounds run for office without relying on support from big business, unions, or wealthy individuals, questions about the role and impact of bundlers and large contributors in New York City’s system are proof that the work of perfecting reform is never done.
Indeed, the Campaign Finance Board is required to report after each election on the program’s impact on city elections, and issue recommendations to strengthen it. The Board’s report on the 2017 elections is out this week, and I urge you to take a look. The City Council has taken up many of these proposed reforms over the years, and this year’s Charter Revision Commission has advanced proposals that align with some of the Board’s recommendations. It takes many hands, working together, to transcend political divisions and to achieve lasting success.
Perhaps, in his passing and through our remembrances, John McCain can remind all Americans what is possible when our leaders are willing to put their allegiance to city, state, and country before their partisan or personal interest. Achieving reform doesn’t require heroism, but it does require sustained, selfless, and practical leadership.
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Eric Friedman is Assistant Executive Director for Public Affairs, New York City Campaign Finance Board.
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Letitia James, the author (photo: Gotham Gazette)
Wall Street malfeasance has had devastating consequences in New York State. It precipitated the foreclosure crisis, in which tens of thousands of families lost their homes, others faced an unrecovered loss in property values, and many jobs were lost. Ten years later, the Trump Administration and the Republican Congress are weakening oversight by federal agencies by watering down the Dodd-Frank Act and undermining the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB).
Today, Wall Street securities valuations are, by all accounts, exceedingly high, corporate borrowing is excessive, and monetary policy still encourages risk. Fueled by predatory companies, student debt, and institutional greed, United States household debt has now grown to $13.39 trillion. Corporations are issuing debt again with fervor, and dark pools for trading securities still proliferate. We once again see flawed stock research, mortgage backed securities and other collateralized debt with sophisticated and troubling capital tranches. High-speed trading is prominent, and illegal front-running practices are still threats to our markets and society.
In this current booming economy, the Trump Administration has shown unsurprising short-sightedness and a remarkable short-term memory. The economy will inevitably ebb and flow, yet instead of bolstering safeguards, the federal government is rolling back the very protections and regulations established after the Great Recession. In taking aim at the protections--like the Volcker rule--contained in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street and Consumer Protection Act, the Republican Party is once again proving that it cares more about appeasing corporations than it does about protecting Americans from another financial crisis.
Fortunately, in New York, we have the most important prosecutorial power in the nation to stem malfeasance, protect our markets, and hold those who violate the law accountable: the Martin Act. The Martin Act grants investigatory and enforcement powers to the New York Attorney General, who is entrusted to enforce our state’s banking laws. Everyday, many millions of Americans rely on our state’s Attorney General to fully and judiciously use laws like the Martin Act to hold bad actors accountable and to prevent firms from defrauding the public.
As the next New York Attorney General, I will aggressively pursue these cases, and will use the Martin Act to the fullest extent possible.
Using the tools of the office, including subpoena power, I will investigate and watch over Wall Street. I will conduct data-driven investigations. I will bring cases, and seek injunctive relief to protect consumers, seek restitution for New Yorkers who have lost hard-earned money, and fight for wholesale policy changes.
I will stand up to the Trump Administration that seeks to pre-empt the Martin Act, protecting a critical power that fights Wall Street malfeasance. I will work collaboratively with the state Legislature to re-establish a six-year statute of limitations that recently was limited by the New York State Court of Appeals, ensuring that bad actors don’t go unpunished simply because the clock runs out. I will also work to increase criminal penalties for violations of the Martin Act, to mandate sentencing of perpetrators as larcenies of up to 25 years in prison. I will ensure that the Investor Protection Bureau has the necessary resources and support to expand.
Not since the time of Attorney General Jacob Javits in 1955, when criminal penalties were added by the Legislature, will there be a more committed champion of change. I will be the Attorney General conceived of in law, not just rhetoric.
For everyone on Wall Street to Main Street, let me be clear: as New York State Attorney General, I will use the considerable power of New York state laws to scrutinize those practices and industries that have benefited from deregulation under Trump, and those that are currently posing a significant threat to our economy. Unfettered greed that results in foreseeable losses that devastate the lives of ordinary and sometimes unwitting investors is actionable, and New Yorkers can count on me to take legal action.
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Letitia “Tish” James is the New York City Public Advocate and a Democratic candidate for New York Attorney General. On Twitter @TishJames.
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