"We Are Living in the World Occupy Made": New York City Voters Elect Mayor Who Vows to Tax the Rich
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Dan Cantor, a former community and union organizer who is now executive director of the Working Families Party, a third party that began in New York and has now spread to five others states.
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Tuesday’s election signaled a political sea change in New York City as voters chose a candidate who repeatedly emphasized his progressive vision. The city’s public advocate, Bill de Blasio, crushed Republican Joe Lhota in the mayoral race to replace billionaire mayor Mike Bloomberg. De Blasio is set to become the first Democrat to lead the city in two decades. During his campaign, de Blasio’s signature message focused on what he called a "tale of two cities" and challenge the police department’s controversial "stop-and-frisk" program. Mayor-elect de Blasio rose to power with the help of the Working Families Party, an independent political coalition sponsored by labor unions and focused on reducing social and political inequality. The party’s grassroots organizing efforts are not limited to New York. It recently won landmark legislation to tackle the student debt crisis in Oregon; fought the corporate education reform agenda in Bridgeport, Connecticut; and won paid sick days in Jersey City, New Jersey. Voters in New Jersey also approved a constitutional amendment to raise the minimum wage by a dollar to $8.25 an hour and add automatic cost-of-living increases each year. "We are living in the world Occupy made," says Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party. "We are the beneficiaries of what they did in terms of making this [about] inequality, which is from our point of view the core issue of our time."
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We begin today with a look at how Tuesday’s election signaled a sea change in New York City as voters chose a candidate who repeatedly emphasized his progressive vision. The city’s public advocate, Bill de Blasio, crushed Republican Joe Lhota in the mayoral race to replace billionaire mayor, Mike Bloomberg. De Blasio is set to become the first Democrat to lead New York City in two decades.
During his campaign, De Blasio’s signature message focused on what he called a "tale of two cities." Last year, the poorest 20 percent of New York’s households earned about $9,000, and the richest 5 percent earned an average of nearly $437,000. During his victory speech in Brooklyn, de Blasio vowed to tax the rich to pay for universal pre-kindergarten classes.
MAYRO-ELECT BILL DE BLASIO: The best and the brightest are born in every neighborhood. We all have a shared responsibility and a shared stake in making sure their destiny is defined by how hard they work and how big they dream, and not by their zip code. So, when we call on the wealthiest among us to pay just a little bit more in taxes to fund universal pre-K and after-school programs, we aren’t threatening anyone’s success. We are asking those who have done very well to ensure that every child has the same opportunity to do just as well as they have. That’s how we all rise together.
Public safety is a prerequisite for the thriving neighborhoods that create opportunity in this city, and so is respect for civil liberties. The two are not mutually exclusive. In fact, we must have both. We must work to promote a real partnership between the best police force in the world and the communities they protect from danger, be it local or global. New Yorkers on both sides of the badge understand this. We are all hungry for an approach that acknowledges we are stronger and safer as a city when police and residents work hand in hand.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: From taxing the rich to challenging stop-and-frisk, Mayor-elect de Blasio rose to power with the help of the Working Families Party, an independent political coalition sponsored by labor unions and focused on reducing social and political inequality. Since it launched 15 years ago, the party helped elect progressive candidates throughout the state and worked to increase the minimum wage and raise taxes on the rich. Of 21 new City Council members elected this week, more than half were backed by the Working Families Party.
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