Who Killed Fair Share? Friday Update
The Working Families Party announced -- http://wfpjournal.blogspot.com/ -- yesterday the death of its Fair Share bill. It blamed the State Senate for the defeat. It made no mention of the opposition to Fair Share of Elliot Spitzer, its candidate for Gov.
Empire Zone ( http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=238 ) asked, this morning (reasonably, in my view) whether this would end WFP support for Senator Nick Spano, the Yonkers Republican whose re-election was delivered by the WFP two years ago. Spano has been active in favor progressive issues including Fair Share and Emergency Contraception during the last two years. He faces Andrea Stuart-Cousins (his opponent of two years ago) this time. Jennifer Medina quotes Dan Cantor to the effect that WFP is keeeping its options on Spano open.
UPDATE: Friday. The Capital Confidential blog of the Albany Times Union echoes the possibility the the Working Families Party may walk away from Senator Spano tied to the defeat of Fair Share. But... It reports on a meeting between WFP Director Cantor and a Bruno aide. The subject, it appears is possible Bruno support for a bill vetoed by Gov. Pataki which would categorize home day care workers as state employees for collective bargaining purposes. These workers are not, of course, actually employed by the state but their rates of pay are effectively controlled by state money. Public employee unions would end up with 50,000 or so addtional members. Would a veto override cause WFP to stick with Senator Spano?
Yo bro, see what Josh Benson
Yo bro, see what Josh Benson has to say:
http://thepoliticker.observer.com/2006/06/no-longer-labors-favorite-republican.html
No Longer Labor's Favorite Republican
FILE UNDER: Albany
It seems odd to think that a Republican would ever some to rely on the support of the Working Families Party.
Yet it must be considered bad news for Nick Spano that the WFP has apparently ruled him out this year. Party members are now deciding between remaining neutral in his State Senate re-election battle and endorsing his Democratic opponent, Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Spano won by a narrow margin over Stewart-Cousins two years ago, thanks in part to a Working Families Endorsement after he pushed a minimum wage increase through Albany.
The difference this time, a party source explained, isn't that Spano has stopped being an loyal ally. It's just that, in the wake of the collapse of a Wal-Mart "Fair Share" bill -- which Spano supported, as this piece from yesterday's Times-Union explained -- he's no longer viewed as an effective one.
-- Josh Benson