Quinn Campaign Reaches New Level of Desperation with Plummeting Poll Numbers and Onslaught of Social Media Campaign

The New York Daily News published an article on Page 2 today about the growing online movement against Speaker Christine Quinn's mayoral campaign.

In the last week, it was announced that Speaker Quinn's campaign has been losing public support for her bid to replace Michael Bloomberg as mayor in this year's election. Now, comes word that Speaker Quinn's campaign operatives are beginning to openly disparage LGBTQS members of Queers Against Christine Quinn as "crazies." Queers Against Christine Quinn is a Facebook page of autonomous LGBTQS New Yorkers, who, among other issues, have been critical about how the NYPD unfairly target and falsely arrest LGBT New Yorkers in both the police department's unconstitutional stop-and-frisk program and as part of its effort to criminalise the possession of condoms. * Christine Quinn pressed on stop-and-frisk (NYPost)

Why would campaign operatives defend Speaker Quinn's inaction in the face of the NYPD's discrimination of our own LGBT community ? This must be one measure of how desperate Speaker Quinn's mayoral campaign must find itself, after weeks and weeks of stining criticism over first opposing paid sick leave only to water it down, over the slush fund-related federal corruption arrest of Councilmember Dan Halloran, and over her controversial attack on the First Amendment following the critical New York City Is Not For Sale TV commercial.

If Speaker Quinn is able to find operatives to defend her failure to stand up to the NYPD's record of discrimination, then it means that her supporters are willing to go to any length, including publicly throwing the LGBTQS community under the bus, in order for her to become mayor. Now we know how much the issue of LGBT equality factors into her mayoral platform : in her campaign's mind, we are expendable.

For more information, please read Chapter 1 of the unauthorised political biography of Christine Quinn.

2013-04-01 Roots of Betrayal © 2013 by Louis Flores - Uncorrected Proof Not For Sale Chapter I Excerpt by Connaissable

Christine Quinn Takes More Heat Over Blocking Of Paid Sick Leave

Christine Quinn takes heat at mayoral forum for blocking vote on paid-sick-leave bill; Controller John Liu was consistently applauded by Harlem crowd.

From The New York Daily News :

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, seated next to Quinn during a lively forum in Harlem on poverty issues, also ripped into the Council Speaker for helping pass a “watered-down” living-wage bill.

Controller John Liu consistently drew the loudest cheers from the largely minority audience, as he went further on several issues than his Democratic rivals – Quinn, de Blasio, ex-City Controller William Thompson and former Councilman Sal Albanese. For one, he called for the minimum wage to be raised to $11.50 — the current rate is $7.25 in New York — while his opponents said they favored President Obama’s preferred figure of $9.

Liu also repeated a previous demand to have the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk policy halted. “It makes everybody less safe,” he said. The other candidates argued to keep the practice but reform the way it is applied.

Publisher Tom Allon was the only GOP candidate to attend ; three others, including former MTA boss Joe Lhota, declined invitations.

Voter Anger Revealed In Daily News Letters To The Editor

Two very insightful letters published by The New York Daily News, which continues to reveal voter anger toward the corruption by New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has lost tough with reality of the challenges facing average New Yorkers :

Chris cross I

Brooklyn: Re “Begin the Quinn spin” (Feb. 12): Middle-class housing for a family of four with an income of $103,000 to $142,000. If that is middle class, where are my food stamps, Medicaid card and free housing? Those amounts are not the middle class that I know. Christine Quinn must have been making a joke in her State of the City speech, right? Clifford F. Zeman

Chris cross II

Richmond Hill: Has City Council Speaker Christine Quinn convinced herself that she is a fair, honest and ethical leader who is worthy to hold the office of mayor? In 2006, she approved a generous pay raise for herself and the entire Council. Then, she extended her own patronage-appointed, cradle-to-grave city career by changing the laws of term limits for dictator Bloomberg. The final betrayal was her denying a vote on paid sick time for the working poor. Clean up your act, Empress Quinn, and withdraw your deeply flawed candidacy. Adele DeLeva

99 Pickets Demands Christine Quinn Allow A Vote On Paid Sick Days

99 Pickets Launches Working Group To Confront Christine Quinn Over Paid Sick Days

83% of New Yorkers support a Paid Sick Leave bill mandating that employers provide a small number of paid sick days to their workers. Though Mayor Michael Bloomberg would likely veto such a bill, support on the City Council is deep—there are enough votes to override his veto.

That’s great news for the workers of New York. Unfortunately, the Speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, doesn’t personally support the bill. And rather than simply voting against it, she’s using her power as speaker to stop the City Council from even voting on it.

Quinn is harming millions of workers, simply to please her allies in the 1%. It’s time to put a stop to this. It’s time to hold Christine Quinn accountable.

99 Pickets is planning a campaign of creative direct action, to highlight Quinn’s embrace of the 1% and rejection of the democratic process. If you’re interested in getting involved, please use the form below to sign up.

Sign up : Working Group: Quinn/Paid Sick Days Campaign

#FastFoodFWD #LivingWage Bill #RealtyCheck

RT @stopchrisquinn: #FastFoodFWD workers : "We're hungry." @chriscquinn : "Eat some fried chicken." #livingwage #RealTalk

— Occupy Wall Street (@OccupyWallStNYC) November 29, 2012

Read more : Christine Quinn, Living Wage, and Corporate Backing

Family and Friends Hold City Hall Vigil For Man Who Died Without Paid Sick Leave

Supporters of sick-leave bill say Council Speaker Christine Quinn is partially to blame for death of Brooklyn grocery store worker

Supporters of a paid sick-leave bill suggested Wednesday that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is partially to blame for the tragic death last month of Felix Trinidad, a Brooklyn grocery worker.

Healthcare and other activists organised a memorial vigil in tribute to Mr. Trinidad, 34, who died of stomach cancer after "putting in 12-hour days, six days a week, at the Golden Farm supermarket in Kensington, which does not offer sick days," reported The New York Daily News. The vigil was organised outside City Hall. “He would have been better if the bill had been passed because he wouldn’t have had to worry so much about having to miss work,” his widow, Anastacia Gonzalez, 31, told The New York Daily News.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to that entire family,” Speaker Quinn said. “That said, my position on paid sick leave legislation has not changed.”

Speaker Quinn has repeatedly said that she does not support giving paid sick leave days for people, who are sick and may be dying.

According to The New York Daily News report, Speaker Quinn has "refused to allow a Council vote on a bill requiring most employers to offer at least five paid sick days a year[,] and advocates of the bill have been pressuring her to change her mind as she prepares to run for mayor next year."

David Seifman Examines Christine Quinn's Campaign

Political journalist and author, Dominic Carter, talks with The New York Post City Hall Bureau Chief, David Seifman, in this interview on Richard French Live.

Mr. Seifman spoke to Christine Quinn's campaign to be mayor, Bill Thompson's candidacy, the possibility of a run-off, and investigation of John Liu's campaign, and other political issues.

Paid Sick Leave, Death, And Taxes

Christine Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg blockading vote on NYC’s paid sick days bill

From Death And Taxes :

New York City’s paid sick days bill would provide those individuals and families who risk their health to attend work, lest they be fired, to have the health and financial security they need. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, however, are blockading the measure. Apparently Bloomberg is more interested in battling 32-ounce Big Gulps than insuring the health and financial wellbeing of his city’s poor and disadvantaged. ...

Working While Sick - NYT Editorial

From The New York Times : Working While Sick

More than 40 million American workers get no paid sick leave. They have to work when ill or take unpaid sick days, which can lead to financial hardship, or, worse, dismissal. The best way to address this workplace and public health problem is with a national law requiring businesses to provide paid sick leave — a normal benefit for workers in at least 145 countries.

But since there is little hope for such progress anytime soon in Washington, New York City Council members are taking up the cause. At least 36 of 50 council members support a proposed city law that would require sick leave for more than 1.2 million workers. Christine Quinn, the City Council speaker, has refused to bring a bill to the floor, however.

She argues that the timing is bad given the weak economy and that the benefit could increase compensation costs for businesses by an average of 1.5 percent, which in her view would hurt smaller companies to the point of driving them out of business or out of the city. Some business leaders say that companies will cut jobs if even a few days of sick leave are required.

Little evidence to support such fears has been seen in San Francisco, the District of Columbia and the state of Connecticut, which require many businesses to provide the benefit. There are also economic benefits — lower turnover, higher productivity and morale, and reduced job loss for workers. But Ms. Quinn, who says she supports paid sick days in principle, does not want to consider a citywide sick-leave law until the economy is stronger.

The current council proposal would require firms with 5 to 19 employees to provide workers five paid sick days a year, which could also be used to care for sick family members. Businesses with 20 or more employees would have to provide nine days a year of any type of paid leave. The proposal would not cover independent contractors, interns or most union workers. There would be a one-year grace period for new businesses with fewer than 20 employees.

Ms. Quinn and Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who is the lead sponsor of the bill, should be able to find a workable compromise. The requirement could be phased in slowly, especially for new companies and the smallest businesses. If done wisely, New York City’s version could be the sensible model for federal legislation.

Ms. Brewer, Ms. Quinn and other New York City political leaders should also put more pressure on Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the Legislature to pass a state measure on paid sick leave.

Connecticut’s law, enacted last year, requires sick leave for most businesses with 50 or more employees. That still leaves far too many employees without paid sick days, but it is a start. Gov. Dannel Malloy said recently that the law had not led to more small business failures and that the state had gained jobs since it took effect.

This benefit is also good for public health. A recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that workers who could take sick leave instead of working while unwell were less likely to be hurt on the job.

American workers should have paid sick leave, and New York City could set a standard for the rest of the nation. Workers in the city deserve a sensible and humane sick-leave benefit now.

Related : Gloria Steinem Presses Quinn to Back Sick-Leave Bill (July 18, 2012)

Paid Sick Leave Controversy

Why would candidates oppose the Paid Sick Leave Bill ?

Feminist Gloria Steineim has been pressuring New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to allow a vote on the Paid Sick Leave bill.

For an employee to have paid sick leave is only a humane policy. Candidates for mayor, who oppose Paid Sick Leave bill, risk being identified as the heartless 1% bringing back unsafe and unjust labour practices from an era, which we thought had put passed us.

"If you have paid sick days it's easy enough to take them for granted. If you or your child gets sick, you stay home to recover or go to the doctor. You are not punished financially for taking care of your health or your children. It's time to ensure all working women—and men—have the same economic security," wrote Ms. Steinem.

It's difficult to believe that there are candidates, who would stall, squash, or oppose the Paid Sick Leave bill.

MoveOn.org Challenges Christine Quinn Over Paid Sick Leave

Below is an excerpt of an e-mail I received yesterday from MoveOn.org :

---

Below is an email from Cari Jackson, a MoveOn member in New York who created a petition at SignOn.org that is getting a lot of attention and may be of interest to people in your area.

---

Dear New York City MoveOn member,

An estimated 1.3 million workers in New York City lack a single day of paid sick leave. When they or their children get sick, they have two choices: Risk losing their job, or go to work sick and spread whatever they have to everyone else.

The Paid Sick Time Act, which would guarantee all New Yorkers 5 to 9 paid sick days and would allow all workers to use their days when a child is ill, has the support of 80% of New Yorkers and a majority of the city council.

But New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has single-handedly blocked this bill from even coming up for a vote. That's why I created a petition to Speaker Quinn on SignOn.org, which says:

Stop blocking the Paid Sick Time Act. New Yorkers need time off when they or or their children are sick.

Will you sign the Paid Sick Leave petition? Click here to add your name, and then pass it along to your friends:

Thanks!

–Cari Jackson

The text above was written by Cari Jackson, not by MoveOn staff, and MoveOn is not responsible for the content. 

Christine Quinn Expected to ''Kill'' the Living Wage Bill

Christine Quinn Is Expected to Kill the Hopes of the Middle Class to Earn a Living Wage in New York City.

The proposed living wage bill is supported by 30 out of the 51 members of the New York City Council, but it is opposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, reported The New York Times.

And because City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is a puppet of Mayor Bloomberg, everybody is expecting that Speaker Quinn will go through backroom machinations to kill the proposed living wage bill, similar to how Speaker Quinn killed the paid sick leave bill last year.

''Supporters say that recently released poverty statistics, which showed one in five New Yorkers living below the poverty line, provide evidence that the bill is needed. The city 'has not done enough to advance policies that will strengthen working families,' Councilwoman Letitia James of Brooklyn'' told The NYTimes.

The NYTimes added :

''Ms. Quinn, who is expected to run for mayor in 2013, can kill a bill by not bringing it to a vote. Last year, she shelved a bill that would have required employers to provide paid sick days to their workers; it had the support of a veto-proof majority in the Council but was opposed by business interests.''

Quinn NYT Infomercial Fluff

To find out how real journalists assess City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's record, one needs to look no further than the sensibility expressed in this blog post on True News From Change : NYT Sets the Definition on How To Judge and Pick the Next Mayor and It Fits Quinn

In his blog post, the journalist Gary Tilzer makes many astute observations about David W. Chen's infomercial fluff piece about Speaker Quinn, and perhaps this is the most sharpest of Mr. Tilzer's criticisms : ''It was the publisher of the NYT, along with the NYP and Daily News, that used their papers to support changing the term limits law to allow Bloomberg and Quinn to run for a third term. Mr. Chen does not challenge Quinn when she brushes off her term limits and other critics as 'naïve' ideologues.''

It's already been documented how Christine Quinn bluffs her way through important social issues.

What Speaker Quinn is doing by making her ''unapologetic'' ''move to the middle'' is selling out the working class families of New York City. Her policies favour real estate developers -- and come to the detriment, suffering, and mass displacement of working class New Yorkers. Speaker Quinn's vision of New York City is a continuation of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's vision : more glass and steel luxury condos and less hospitals, firehouses, public schools, and senior centers. Speaker Quinn wants to make life so unbearable to the average wage-earning New Yorker that we all pick up and leave town.

How do we know that Christine Quinn has sold out her values and beliefs and still find herself to be in a place of denial about it, so much so that she accuses her critics of being “naïve” ideologues ?

Speaker Quinn's ideas about leadership in New York, by supporting the luxury condo conversion of St. Vincent's Hospital, which used to be the only full-service hospital with a Level 1 Trauma Center below 14th Street, is like GLAAD publicly supporting the proposed AT&T/T-Mobile merger. Not only would AT&T be in an even stronger position to undo net neutrality, but what is GLAAD doing by meddling in a telecom merger approval process with the FCC ? Likewise, why is a ''supposedly!! celebrated LGBT third-term politician like Christine Quinn rushing toward the ''middle'' of the political spectrum, if it means that she has to abandon her idealistic beginnings and instead now oppose paid sick leave and a living wage bill ?

"AT&T was one of the companies whose local representatives sits on the board of directors of the Tennessee chamber of commerce," wrote John Aravosis at Americablog. "You remember them, the group that endorsed and actively lobbied for the measure repealing gay and trans rights ordinances in the state, mandating it so that no trans person can ever change their birth certificate gender in the future, and banning any future civil rights ordinances for anyone in the future. That AT&T."

What does the intersection of St. Vincent's Hospital/Rudin Family Luxury Condo Conversion and the GLAAD/AT&T T-Mobile mega deals have to do with Christine Quinn and New York City politics ?

In each case, you see the erosion of core values of fighting for an activist's central reason for being : serving their constituency. But once you get to be so big, you can blow off you constituency as “naïve” ideologues (or drop the F-bomb on them, the way that one of her administrative assistants did).

If, throughout our nation's history, our goal has been to distribute power and authority equally among voters, then the voters, who have less choices on election day, get their voices muffled. Who is going to challenge GLAAD to focus once again on its original intention ? Who is going to put pressure on Christine Quinn to deliver on the community’s demands to stop all the hospital closings that are happening across New York City ?

It is not too much to expect that the people, who you elect to City Council, start to deliver something tangible for New York City voters.

• If you disliked how City Council members extended term limits without a voter referendum, then let her know : quinn@council.nyc.ny.us
• If you agree, that Speaker Quinn needs to hear the voices of communities, who are demanding that hospitals stop closing all across the five boroughs, then let her know : quinn@council.nyc.ny.us
• If you can no longer accept a weekly threat by Mayor Bloomberg to layoff teachers and firefighters, and to close schools and firehouses, then let her know : quinn@council.nyc.ny.us
• If you want Speaker Quinn to shut down her $50 million slush fund, then let her know : quinn@council.nyc.ny.us
• If you refuse to settle for City Council members, who take tens of thousands of campaign donations from real estate developers in exchange for what seems like pay-to-play real estate development deal approvals, then let her know : quinn@council.nyc.ny.us
• If you believe that Speaker Quinn betrays the LGBT community, then let her know : quinn@council.nyc.ny.us
• If you have your own issue, that you'd like to bring to Speaker Quinn's attention, then let her know : quinn@council.nyc.ny.us

Speak now, or forever hold your peace.

Everybody Is Worried That Christine Quinn Will Probably Defeat The Living Wage Bill

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn refuses to support the Living Wage Bill, just like she squashed the Paid Sick Leave Bill, because she is in bed with special interest groups that oppose the middle class.

The Poverty in America blog has exposed the reason why Speaker Christine Quinn would not endorse the Paid Sick Leave Bill and why Speaker Quinn also opposes the Living Wage Bill : both laws are being targeted for defeat by a shady anti-middle class group calling itself the 5 Boro Chamber Alliance.

The 5 Boro Chamber Alliance was formed in 2009 to take down the Paid Sick Leave Bill, and now it is reportedly organising a political campaign to defeat the Living Wage Bill.

The Poverty in America blog is worried that the Living Wage Bill will be defeated the same way as the Paid Sick Leave Bill was defeated : each were opposed by Speaker Quinn.

''Quinn's silence isn't random; she's declined to take a position on either bill because of pressure from the city's business interests. One of the main business groups that spoke out against paid sick leave was the 5 Boro Chamber Alliance, a group of chambers of congress from around the city,'' reported the Poverty in America blog.

Based on her history, more and more people are worried that we can't count on Speaker Quinn to do the right thing. ''We know what her position was on the paid sick leave bill and how mindful she has been not to cross the business community as she plans a run for mayor in 2013. Let's hope this time the speaker will think first and foremost of the well-being of the great majority of New Yorkers,'' wrote Albor Ruiz from The New York Daily News.

Christine Quinn Killed Sick Leave Bill in 2010

Christine Quinn Backs Mayor Bloomberg,
Kills Paid Sick Leave Bill, Goes For Trolly Ride.

Article from DNAinfo :

By Yepoka Yeebo and Jill Colvin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producers

MANHATTAN — City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has shelved a proposed bill that would have given workers at small businesses paid sick days, effectively killing it.

The controversial bill would have required companies with 20 or more workers to provide nine paid sick days a year. About 1.3 million people in the private sector work without sick leave in the city, notably in the service industry, the Daily News reported.

The controversial bill would have required companies with 20 or more workers to provide nine paid sick days a year. About 1.3 million people in the private sector work without sick leave in the city, notably in the service industry, the Daily News reported.

Quinn said Thursday that she was torn between workers and small business members, who opposed the bill.

"We tried to reach a place of genuine compromise," she said. But "In the end, we were unable to bridge that divide."

"Now is simply not the right time for a measure that threatens the survival of small businesses," Quinn added.

The bill had the support of the influential Working Families Party and many members of the City Council. Quinn, who many suspect will run for mayor in 2013, was criticized for the move by the bill's backers.

"The first possible woman mayor has just turned her back on a critical but modest lifeline that families around the city need – a stunning abandonment of working mothers and parents and the progressive women who have supported her from day one," the NYS Paid Leave Coalition said in a statement.

But Quinn defended her decision.

"I haven’t turned my back on anybody," she said.

Quinn said the bill would cost business owners between $700 and $1,200 per employee and that "at a time like this, those thousands of dollars could be the breaking point for a small business owner who is already stretched too thin."

In a statement, Kenneth Adams, the president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State, commended Quinn's decision, saying the bill would have threatened job growth during tough economic times.

"Our members and businesses across the boroughs say 'thank you,'" it read.
Councilwoman Gale Brewer, who introduced the bill, told reporters following the announcement that she was disappointed with Quinn.

"I believe she should have paid more attention to the compromises we were making. ... I don’t think she listened enough to us," Brewer said.

Still, she said Quinn's decision doesn't mean the bill is dead.

Brewer plans to bring the bill to the floor as soon as she thinks it has enough votes to pass.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg had threatened to veto the bill even if it had passed, but the bill may have had enough support to override a potential veto.

Christine Quinn Protest

New York voters, open your eyes !

Speaker Christine Quinn shows up to gay rights events -- or gay engagement announcements, like the one that took place on the evening that this YouTube was made -- but Speaker Quinn has never introduced any law to establish marriage equality in New York City.

In contrast, Gavin Newson helped to reshape marriage equality for the United States by allowing same-sex couples to receive marriage licenses in San Francisco.

What comparable action has Speaker Quinn taken ?

Besides being a do-nothing gay leader, look at some of the other unacceptable lows in Speaker Quinn's political record :

• Sick Leave. In 2010, Speaker Quinn rejected paid sick leave, hurting working families and low income New Yorkers.
• St. Vincent's. Also in 2010, Speaker Quinn abandoned any care for public health for the entire Lower West Side of Manhattan after she did nothing to save St. Vincent's Hospital.
• Term Limits. In 2008, Speaker Quinn made a shady deal with Mayor Bloomberg to overturn term limits.
• Slush Funds. Moreover, in 2008, The NYTimes reported that Speaker Quinn oversaw the allocation of discretionary funds to fake groups : ‘’… her office had continued a seven-year-old practice of squirreling away money so it could be handed out away from the public eye.’’ Then, last month, The NYTimes exposed the fact that Speaker Quinn continues her practise of using controversial City Council discretionary funds.

See also :

• http://christine-quinn-sold-out.blogspot.com/
• http://christinequinnmbminime.blogspot.com/
• http://www.christinequinn.com/