By Arthur Cheliotes
In his final State of the City address, Mayor Bloomberg boasted about his record of accomplishments. Within minutes, John Liu said that “his selective retelling of history leaves out some troubling facts: near record unemployment, record numbers of homeless, record income disparity, record stop and frisks, record claims against the NYPD, record numbers of school closures, and a failed education record that has only one in five high school students graduating from college.”
Liu has never forgotten his roots and has never been afraid to challenge the fabricated realities put forth by the Bloomberg Administration, Wall Street and corporate media with facts, figures and truth. Read these reports and others at on.nyc.gov/14Ztsfy
John Liu fights for the people of NYC. John recognizes the growing income disparity and looks to the 1% to pay their fair share to ensure that the city can provide tax relief to the middle class and working poor as well as employment, economic and social opportunities for ALL New Yorkers and not just the Wall Street elite and politically connected.
John Liu fights for a living wage. John understands that putting more money into the hands of families that need it the most is good for local communities and economies that benefit when more money is spent at local businesses. John envisions a city where its working men and women can afford to support their families and was the first candidate to push for an increase of the minimum wage to $11.50.
John Liu fights for high quality education. John considers education as the best long-term economic investment for New York. As the father of a seventh grader in public school, when it comes to the quality of his son’s education: it’s personal, and there is no limit for better. John’s fight includes a fairer admissions process, free CUNY tuition for the highest performing high school students and improved college readiness. To learn more about John’s values and strategies go to www.johnliu2013.com.
John Liu speaks truth to power. John’s willingness to confront Mayor Bloomberg and the elite’s rhetoric is what sets him apart in the race for Mayor; it also makes him a target of political foes that fear the truth.
John’s courage to speak truth to power resulted in the longest smear campaign ever endured by a mayoral candidate (which, despite a four-year investigation that included 18 months of wire tapping, not a single charge has been leveled)
Most recently, the five-person Campaign Finance Board (CFB), two of which personally contributed to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s mayoral campaign, cited questionable fund-raising practices to strip the Liu campaign of millions in campaign matching funds after a probe that identified a potential “irregularity” with just a handful of the campaign’s more than 6,500 contributors.
The punitive nature of CFB’s irregular campaign enforcement tactics should make ALL New Yorker’s outraged! While the issues surrounding Liu’s former campaign treasurer may have been reasonable justification to suspect potential campaign fund raising irregularities, it does not support the stripping of Liu’s right to due process.
Where was the CFB when Michael Bloomberg’s 2009 re-election campaign “contravened” the spirit of New York City’s public-disclosure rules by secretly funneling $1.2 million to the Independence Party?
But the CFB’s decision does much more; it denies thousands of New Yorkers of their ability to leverage their own dollars and equally participate in the democratic process! Forget the polls; the only thing that matters is the People’s poll on Primary Election Day!
Vote on Tuesday, Sept. 10th and let everyone know The People of NYC want John Liu for Mayor!
The author is president, Local 1180 Communication Workers of America, AFL-CIO.
