Category Archives: Vote

9/12: NYS Senate District 46 Democratic Candidate Forum in Kingston

Hello, AAUW Kingston and friends! Please join our branch, which is sponsoring this forum, this Wednesday evening:

NYS Senate District 46 Democratic Candidate Forum
Wednesday, September 12
6 PM to 8 PM
Kingston High School Auditorium
403 Broadway, Kingston, NY

All three Democratic Senatorial candidates — Thomas Dolan, Monica Arias
Miranda, and Cecilia Tkaczyk — have been invited to, and plan to participate
in, the forum.

The Democratic Primary will take place the following day, Thursday, September
13, from noon to 9 PM.

The purpose of this forum is to give the residents of Ulster County, and beyond, an opportunity to ask questions and get answers about issues that are important to them, so they can make an informed choice at the polls on Thursday, and then again in November. These issues include a broad range of topics related to economic development, education, the environment, government spending, health care, and much more.

The moderator, branch member Irene Miller, will ask each candidate the same opening question, followed by a series of questions. Members of the audience and the news media will be invited to submit their questions, which will be presented by the moderator to the candidates.

NYS SD 46 map:
http://www.latfor.state.ny.us/maps/2012s/fs46.pdf

Facebook event link:
http://www.facebook.com/events/256038337833058/

Women’s Equality Day Protest, August 26, 2012

HUDSON VALLEY PROTEST TO DEFEND WOMEN’S RIGHTS

On Sunday Aug. 26, Women’s Equality Day in America,  AAUW Kingston joins with other Hudson Valley advocates of women’s rights in New Paltz, N.Y., to march and rally in opposition to what is being called the ongoing “War on Women.”

Women’s Equality Day commemorates the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote after a 100-year struggle for basic rights including suffrage for women. Congress in 1971 designated Aug. 26 a perpetual “Women’s Equality Day” after New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug introduced the  legislation.

Protests in support of women’s rights will take place in a number of cities, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Chicago on Aug. 26, the day before the Republican Party Convention in Tampa, in opposition to legislative and rhetorical attacks on women and women’s rights taking place across the nation.

These attacks, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, “include a wide range of policy efforts designed to place restrictions on women’s health care and erode protections for women and their families. Examples at the state and federal level have included restricting contraception; cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood; state-mandated, medically unnecessary ultrasounds; abortion taxes; abortion waiting periods; forcing women to tell their employers why they want birth control, and prohibiting insurance companies from including abortion coverage in their policies.”

According to Donna Goodman of New Paltz, an organizer of the local demonstration: “Women have always known that winning the right to vote ‹ as important as it was ‹ still left many rights yet to be gained. Some additional advances have been obtained in recent decades, but political attacks on women’s rights from the right wing have been sharply increasing in the last couple of years. Last year alone, 26 different states enacted new anti-choice laws. The Women’s Equality Day protests in the mid-Hudson region and elsewhere are part of the fightback. We demand full equality!”

The Hudson Valley demonstration begins with a 1 p.m. rally in Peace Park next to New Paltz Village Hall (25 Plattekill Ave.). This will be followed by a march with signs through the downtown village district, returning to the park for a brief final rally. (In event of inclement weather, the rally will be inside the hall.)

The various actions in the U.S. Aug. 26 are in response to a call for protests by a new activist/feminist organization titled Women Organized to Resist and Defend (WORD), which “is dedicated to building the struggle for  women’s rights and equality for all.” The organizers emphasize “Women and  men of all ages, nationalities and sexual orientations are invited to join in this campaign.”

An endorser list for the New Paltz event is in formation, but so far includes: the American Association of University Women (Kingston), Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter, NAACP (Ellenville), Occupy New Paltz, Peace and Social Progress Now, Women in Black (New Paltz), Middle East Crisis Response, End New Jim Crow Action Network, Real Majority Project. A partial list of those endorsing the national events Aug. 26, including the New Paltz rally, include: Roseanne Barr, actor; Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild; Leah Bolger, President, Veterans for Peace;  Farheen Hakeem, National Co-Chair, Green Party of the United States; Sarah Sloan and Peta Lindsay, ANSWER Coalition.

The Aug. 26 demonstration is being organized by the Hudson Valley Activist Newsletter on behalf of nine Mid-Hudson women activists: Ariana Basco, Donna Goodman, Elizabeth Gross, Margaret Human, Judith Karpova, Terry Leroy, Helaine Meisler, Joanne Steele, Barbara Upton: For information about the New Paltz event contact donna0726@earthlink.net, or   (845) 255-5779.

Details about the national events are at http://www.defendwomensrights.org/

 

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Breaking Through Barriers

Some call this a War on Women and many days it feels like there are more barriers being erected than torn down. AAUW is nonpartisan. That means we don’t support specific candidates, but we do take positions on specific issues that impact equity for women and girls. Here are some of our recent and upcoming activities.

  • Lobby Day in Albany: we met with our elected representatives about pay equity. In NYS women earn 83 cents for every dollar a man in a comparable job earns. While the Assembly passed pay equity, the Senate never brought the bills to the floor for debate or a vote.  AAUW branches state-wide will be pursuing moving the Pay Equity bills onto the Senate floor next spring.
  • Unhappy Hour: the branch met at Keegan Ales on Pay Equity Day, April 17, to spread the word about our unhappiness that women still earn less than men for the same job. We continue to be unhappy as both the State Senate and the Federal Congress resist even talking about pay equity. Make your elected representatives aware of your position.
  • Miss Representation Screening: The branch screened Miss Representation at the Rosendale Theatre to increase awareness of the many ways that girls and young women are unfairly portrayed in the media. The proceeds help provide local scholarships.  Now we have a project underway to promote media literacy and awareness regarding the misrepresentation of women and girls in the media. If you’d like to participate in this project, contact Adele Calcavecchio.
  • Cancelled … Candidate Forums starting with a June 23 forum before the Congressional primary June 26. Invited candidates: Joel Tyner, Julian Schreibman, and Chris Gibson. Additional forums for state candidates will be scheduled before the state and local primaries September 11 and the general election November 8.
  • Get Out the Vote activities: Help us manage voter registration and voter education, especially focused on young adults who support equity issues. Interested? Contact Susan Holland.

Stay up to date on these and other issues and events by subscribing to our enewsletter.

The Good Guys and the Bad Guys: the Pay Equity Vote

Top Row Good Guys: Didi Barrett, Kevin Cahill
Bottom Row Bad Guys: Clifford Crouch, Peter Lopez

The Good Guys

Kudos to Assemblyman Kevin Cahill who not only voted for A06130, the NYS pay equity bill, he co-sponsored it. And, to new Red Hook-based Assemblywoman Didi Barrett. They support equal pay for equal work. Thank you.

The Bad Guys

You should know, however, that Assemblypeople Peter Lopez (Saugerties and Greene Cty) and Clifford Crouch (western Ulster) both voted against the pay equity bill last week.

Senator Bonacic didn’t have to vote. The NYS Senate didn’t even bother to bring a pay equity bill out of committee. It was clear, however, when we visited his office in Albany on Pay Equity Day, that the Senator is opposed to the pay equity bill.

The Kingston AAUW wants our elected representatives to know that
how they vote effects how we vote.