Author: Greenwich Indivisible

Town of Greenwich

Democrat Party Caucus

The Democrat Party Caucus for the Town of Greenwich will be held at the Greenwich Town Office Building, 2 Academy Street, Greenwich on Tuesday, August 15th, 2017 beginning at 7:PM and ending at 8:00PM.

The purpose of the caucus is to nominate candidates for the following offices:

Supervisor                               Term 2 Years

Council (2)                               Term 4 Years

Town Clerk                              Term 4 Years

Superintendent of Highways  Term 4 Years

Only enrolled democrats are entitled to vote at the caucus. No write-in or floor nominations will be accepted at the caucus.

Those wishing to seek any of the above offices should submit a letter of intent to the Democrat Town Chairman, James Nolan, 20 Sloan Drive, Greenwich, NY 12834.

The letter must be postmarked no later than August 10, 2017.

By Order of the Town of Greenwich

Democratic Committee Chairman                James Nolan                July 28, 2017

For additional information, call 518-531-4039

Thirteen members attended our meeting at the Cossayuna Fire House.  Topics included:

• Young Democrats of Washington County – GINY is working closely with the Town of Greenwich Democratic Committee and two chapters of Young Democrats of NY to establish a chapter in WC. Jim Nolan and Alan Stern are working with volunteers to complete the chartering process that will formally form the chapter and plan an event to encourage participation from young Democrats in Greenwich and other parts of WC.
• Climate Conversations Group; Local Initiatives; Presentation 8/8; Fair Booth –GINY is actively engaged with the Climate Conversations Group, a collaboration of climate experts and activists. On August 30 there will be an important presentation from the Citizens Climate Lobby on their lobbying on the Carbon Fee and Dividend.
• MaryLou Stern is working with Sara Idleman and Rachel Kish on a presentation August 8 to the Greenwich Town Board on DEC’s programs supporting and providing grants to local communities for clean energy and climate smart initiatives. Pam Fuller is also pursuing certification from DEC as a Clean Energy Community for the Village of Greenwich.  These efforts make Greenwich a leader on this front in Washington County.
• There is an open comment period ending September 1 on the issue of GE’s cleanup of PCBs in the Hudson. The EPA estimates that GE has removed 72% of PCBs and has allowed them to shut down its plant and de-watering facility. Written comments can be sent to EPA no later than September 1, 2017. Comments can be sent by mail or email to:  Gary Klawinski, Director EPA Region 2, Hudson River Office 187 Wolf Road, Suite 303 Albany, NY 12205  Email: epahrfo@outlook.com
• Jill Nadolski is working with North Country Climate to set up a booth at the WC Fair to bring attention to climate issues. It is planned to be an informative and fun experience with an opportunity for booth visitors to create “green” leaves – and take selfies – to place on a “tree” that Herb Perkins is helping to get set up.  Volunteers for the booth are needed so contact Jill at nadolski@hotmail.com to sign up.
• Immigration – There will be an important and informative presentation in Fort Edward on July 27 on what’s happening locally impacting our neighbors from Mexico who are living and working in our area.
• NY 19 Leadership Conference Take Aways – GINY members attended the Resistance Leadership Summit our friends in CD 19 held in July. Several of the strategies they are employing to win that Congressional District can be models for the elections in CD 21 –
• Countering the tactics of Re-Claim New York. This is an organization founded in 2013 by Steve Bannon and Rebekah Mercer (daughter of Robert Mercer).  In the name of government transparency this group has weaponized the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) to swamp local school districts, villages, towns and cities with a series of requests that defer them from other work.  They then justify their claim that government does not work.
• Re-Claim New York is in strong support of the Constitutional Convention Referendum on the ballot November 7. This is of great concern as it is feared they will use their vast resources to have enough delegates to dominate a convention and deconstruct the State Constitution, removing many protections including the environment (such as in the ban on fracking and the Adirondack Blue Line).  GINY is working with Mike Kink, Esq, who heads up the Strong Economy for All Coalition and is leading efforts to counter Re-Claim, to do a presentation here in Washington County.
• 2^nd Homeowner Registration – CD 19 is having good success partnering with downstate and NY City districts that are considered “safe” Democratic districts. They are cross referencing voter and tax rolls to identify voters with 2^nd homes in CD 19 and contacting them asking them to consider changing their registration to be able to vote in local and CD elections.  GINY is working with our Town and County Democratic Committees to investigate this for our area.
• “War Room” – Intelligence expert and resident of CD 19 Malcolm Nance presented on a web presence he is leading up to coordinate information and activities across the district. He stressed the importance of “keeping our eyes in the boat” or focusing on what is most immediate.  This translates to grass roots activity and winning local elections.  The “War Room” is modeled on the intelligence community’s approach to managing and winning the information war.  It provides a mechanism for localities all over the district (an especially important thing in a district as large as CD 21) to share and coordinate.  We have requested and will be receiving the code for this web presence and are working with the WCDC to set it up in our county and then share it with the other counties in CD 21.
• Winning NY 21- We were fortunate to have Emily Martz, one of the announced candidates for CD 21, attend our meeting. She shared her background as well as her reasons for running.  We had ample opportunity for questions and dialogue.  This was a great opportunity and an informal way to get to know one of our candidates.  We will be setting up this opportunity for all the candidates as the campaign continues.
• Other – We heard a strong request from a member to look at Senate Bill S.720, The Israel Anti-Boycott Act and contact Senators Schumer and Gillibrand with your opinion.  This is a controversial measure which some, including the ACLU, see as a severe limitation on individual rights and potentially anti-Israel and others see as having little impact as there has been law on the books since 1977 making it illegal to join in a boycott of Israel led by a foreign country.  This bill would add UN led boycotts to those led by other countries.

Our next meeting will be 7:00 pm, Thursday, August 17 at the Fire House.

Ten GINY members attended our meeting on June 22.  True to our focus on action, our discussions resulted in some concrete next steps that will move us forward to win 21 and benefit our community.

We got a live preview of our new website.  Those who were at the meeting please note that we were able to get our calendar of events on the site without the aid of a twelve year old!

Jill Nadolski led our discussion of what’s happening in Health Care.  The showing of Fix It at the Greenwich Free Library on June 19 attracted about 30 people.  The film was followed by a presentation and discussion led by Dr. Andy Coates, Past President of Physicians for a National Health Program.  Andy provided some solid data including that about 58% of doctors nationally support single payer.

We viewed the trailer for another film, Now is the Time that also supports single payer.  The focus here is on HR 676, Expanded & Improved Medicare For All Act a bill in the House introduced by Rep John Conyers to extend Medicare coverage to all Americans. We agreed to arrange a showing of the actual film and have a panel of physicians to lead a discussion.  We also plan to use it in presentations to local government entities, along with data on cost savings, to urge them to pass resolutions supporting single payer. Sara Idleman and Alan Stern will follow up.

Jim Reid led our discussion with Stacie Dina of Elise Stefanik’s staff at her  Mobile Office in Greenwich.  GINY was well represented with 4 of the 15 or so constituents who attended.  The main focus was on health care (about 1 hr 40 min of the 2 hour session). We also discussed immigration and its impact on Washington Co agriculture and expressed concern over Stefanik’s House Resolution on the environment, noting the glaring loophole left open in its statement about “economically feasible.”  There was a lot of concern about her inability or unwillingness to provide any data on what her constituents are telling her (supporting or opposing legislation).  There is still a strong feeling that she needs to do town halls.

We made three specific asks of the Representative: 1. Take a public stance on the issue of immigration/economic impact in the North Country. 2. Make a strong public statement along with Sen Rubio denouncing the secrecy of the Republican Senate Health Care Bill and 3. Hold public forums.

We will watch for these and keep the pressure on.

MaryLou Stern led our discussion on climate issues.  There are two NY State programs, one run by NYDEC and the other by NYSERDA that provide funding to municipalities to work on reducing greenhouse gasses. The programs are similar but focus on slightly different areas.  Some of the grants they provide require matching funds and others do not.  Some make sense for single municipalities and others work well with collaboration among more that one (such as pooling for the purchase of clean energy vehicle which results in discounts in addition to grants).

The map showing the locations of projects reveals that there are zero grants being taken advantage of in Washington County.  We feel there would be tremendous benefit in GINY’s working with municipalities to change this situation.  Sara Idleman indicated that in the past the Town of Greenwich discussed this but there was no implementation.  MaryLou and Sara will work on re-energizing this effort.

Our conversation about Winning NY 21 had three major portions.  First, there will be a canvassing effort on Sunday, June 25.  This is being led by NY 21 Votes, a consortium of groups throughout the district.  We had little time to get this organized for Greenwich but Faith Perkins will canvass with the group in Cambridge.  Washington County Dems are eager to have canvasses happen on a regular basis so we will make sure to be well organized for the next one, including offering training for canvassers.

We then talked about the questions we developed for candidates for 21 at our last meeting to make sure we have not left out anything important.  We will add questions on experience with immigration issues and climate and a question on candidates’ strategy for funding, specifically dealing with Stefanik’s large financial base.

Out of our discussion of candidates’ questions we entered a conversation about poverty.  We feel this must be a central issue in the campaign for 21. The percentage of households in our district who are struggling is alarming.  We discussed a study done by the United Way that paints the picture of households designated Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) – the working poor. In most of these households wage earners make too much to qualify for benefits but, in many, many cases, barely half of what is estimated as a survival budget.  We have the statistics for Washington County and for all the counties in 21.  Here is a link to the Report http://www.unitedwayalice.org/reports.php

We will invite a representative from Washington County EOC to share expertise on ALICE with us at a future GINY meeting.

Our next meeting will be July 20.  We are going to try to arrange a video conference for that meeting to make it accessible to any who may not be able to make it.

If you’d like to download and review the PowerPoint from the meeting, you can get it here GINY 6-22 PowerPointWe

*GINY Editor Note:  This letter is of interest because it highlights two programs of the NY DEC and NYSERDA that provide substantial fiscal assistance to communities for adopting climate friendly practices.

Editor:

I would like to applaud The Post-Star for drawing attention to the important – and nonpartisan – role that community leaders can take with respect to clean energy and climate change mitigation.  I also applaud the town of Queensbury for its willingness to seek “ways to cut the town’s carbon emissions” through the establishment of a committee to pursue climate smart strategies, and through the pursuit of state initiatives, many of which reward communities that are proactive in their efforts to stem the ominous effects of climate change.

That said, however, I was disappointed that the editors did not make mention of the fact that the Glens Falls City Council has already taken several meaningful steps toward becoming a cleaner, greener community, including some of the very steps prescribed in Friday’s editorial.  For instance, the council has been pursuing Clean Energy Community status since November, and has already completed two steps in the certification process:  adoption of the Unified Solar Permit (for which the City received a $2,500 grant) and a resolution to “benchmark” energy use in all municipal buildings in order to identify energy waste in public facilities.  More recently, the city received a $26,000 grant to install six electric vehicle charging stations in the parking garage, and will begin the process of Energy Code Training later this week.  The Council is also considering adoption of Energize NY Finance, a state-supported program that allows property owners to fund repayment of energy efficiency projects and clean energy upgrades through a special charge on their property tax bill.  Completion of only two of these three steps in the near future will earn Glens Falls the same $100,000 award that the town of Queensbury is currently only thinking of pursuing .  Kudos to Queensbury, but let’s give a little credit where due please.

Jeffrey B. Flagg, Glens Falls

I wrote to Rep Elise Stefanik urging her to support HR 676 – essentially Medicare for all. Got a reply today that reveals she DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THIS PROPOSAL. Here’s the essence of her reply:

“While I understand this is a passionate issue for many, I do not support a nationwide Medicare for all Program. I often hear from North Country Veterans who struggle with excessive wait times, unsatisfactory care, and increased bureaucracy at the VA Health Centers. Increasing government’s role in our healthcare system will exacerbate these deficiencies.”

This is a common and distorting mis-statement from opponents of single payer health coverage. What is proposed is not a VA model. Under the existing VA model, Medicare pays for veterans’ care while the VA delivers those services. The proposal under HR 676 is not at all about the delivery of medical services but about PAYING for medical services, the only role the government would have.

It will work as Medicare does. It will be funded and administered in the same manner.  Under Medicare, patients actually have a wider choice of providers than the tightly controlled networks set up by insurance companies. There are tests and procedures like enhanced imaging for breast cancer that private insurance will not cover while Medicare does.

Insurance companies currently rake in approximately 30 cents of every health care dollar we spend and for that we get no benefit. Meanwhile the costs to medical practices of dealing with insurance companies continues to spiral out of control. This is one of the chief drawbacks of the ACA. While it did address many inequalities in our health care, it leaves much to be desired in terms of the economic burden on individuals and businesses for coverage and deductibles.

Meanwhile, the Republican AHCA model Stefank supports does nothing to change this situation. It only shuffles around how usurious healthcare insurance will work and leaves insurance companies in charge of our medical care. Regardless of what the secret Republican plan finally looks like, there is no reason to expect any change in the insurance industry’s long track record of denying coverage, denying some services while requiring others that patients and doctors don’t want or need, placing caps on coverage or imposing mountains of paperwork on medical practitioners.

Rep Stafanik’s reply to me can only be interpreted in two ways.  She is willing to legislate the insurance industry’s control of our health care through either ignorance or loyalty to the powerful lobby.  Either is unacceptable.

Post Star – Letter to the editor: Stefanik chose not to Fight for district

Jun 6, 2017

Editor:

Representative Stefanik sold out her upstate constituents. She tries to defend her vote on the American Health Care Act (AHCA), but it’s undeniable; this bill will deeply hurt our communities. Besides failing as a health care policy (which it does), the bill serves as payback for Rep. Stefanik’s donors.

At its core, this legislation is not a health care law at all. It is a tax cut. It’s not even a tax cut for the middle class. It is nothing more than a tool for congressional Republicans to provide tax benefits to their core constituency — the wealthiest 1 percent.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the bill transfers $275 billion from public health spending to the wealthy by repealing the 3.8 percent tax on capital gains for couples making over $250,000 (singles over $200,000) and the .9 percent wage surtax on the same groups. According to the Tax Policy Center, the top 1 percent would receive 40 percent of the tax savings.

Why would Rep. Stefanik provide a tax cut for the wealthiest of Americans, many of whom do not even live in her district, while at the same time cutting health care coverage and support for the sick, the poor, and the elderly?

Rep. Stefanik’s list of donors shows that most of her money comes from outside the district and from financial institutions. These groups will benefit from these tax cuts. Her district, her constituents, the vulnerable will not. What do they get? Worse care, worse coverage and more expense.

Brian Harrington, Cambridge

GINY will be meeting Thursday, June 22.

Date/Time: Thursday, June 22, 2017. 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: Cossayuna Fire Department
21 Bunker Hill Rd, Cossayuna, NY 12823Opics will 
Phone: (Should anyone without a cell phone need to
leave a contact number) – 692-7155
Parking: Please remember to park on the right side of the building
(follow the drive around the firehouse)

Topics for discussion will include:

• participation in the NY 21 Votes canvassing effort, one of the most effective get out the vote activities we can run.
• connecting with the Young Democrats of NY
• sponsoring community activities
• participating in the nationwide Indivisible/Suffragist March being planned for August
• continuing our conversations about meeting with candidates for NY 21