Letter to the Editor: Carlucci and the IDC are Not Progressives

To the Editor:

Last week, the NY State Senate Democrats came out in support of full restoration of the education foundation aid, calling for an increase of $1.8 billion. And once again, where were the members of the IDC? The Independent Democratic Conference as usual was not in the room to support the increase. Instead, they came out with their own proposal, all too similar to the Senate Republicans reducing the aid increase by nearly $600 million.

This is the all too familiar pattern that has defined the IDC, which includes Rockland and part of Westchester’s senator, David Carlucci. The list of progressive legislation that the IDC has helped kill grows longer with each Senate session. These bills pass the Democratic Assembly and then die in the Senate because the IDC members refuse to caucus with their own party.

On Saturday, March 25th at 11 am at the Rockland County Courthouse in New City, we will mourn the death of bills that never saw the light of day because the Senator Carlucci and the IDC, though calling themselves progressives, can’t see fit to support those bills passed by the Assembly.

Among those that shall be mourned:

• Universal Healthcare: would have established guaranteed universal healthcare for residents of NY State
• Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA): would have prohibited the discrimination based on gender identity
• Voting Rights: a series of bills designed to improve New York State’s notoriously dismal voter turnout, by making registration easier and creating early voting.
• DREAM Act to protect New York’s immigrant children

The list could go on.

According to TrueBlue NY, the IDC has been responsible for the death of more than twenty progressive bills that passed the Assembly. Enough is enough. The IDC support of watered down legislation to satisfy their own inflated sense of importance can no longer pass muster. It is time for progressive New Yorkers to call for the disbanding of the IDC and its members support the progressive principles under whose banner they ran or find candidates who will.

Sincerely,
Paul Diamond