8/8/2019 This Tuesday: VOTE BARRON!

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On Tuesday

VOTE BARRON!For governor, the NY/NJ District ofFreedom Road is endorsing NY CityCouncil member Charles Barron. His

lifelong dedication to serving the peo-ple is enough to win this Black leader

our support. We also note that Barronruns as candidate of the Freedom

Party, whose platform is the most pro-working class of any this time out, and

whose name evokes Civil Rightsleader Fannie Lou Hamerand the struggle against

racist disenfranchise-

ment. We also applaudBarron's astute choice ofRamn Jimenez, a capa-

ble and effective activistinsufficiently known out-side of the Puerto Rican community,

as candidate for Attorney General.

We know that some of our friendswill be voting for Howie Hawkins andthe Green Party slate. We aren't going

to argue too hard with that. Hawkins isa worthy candidate and the Greens

are admirably consistent in their effortsto build a viable people's party in New

York State.

There is one election option we do

want to argue against strongly.

In recent elections, thousands ofprogressives statewide have voted forDemocratic Party candidates who

were also running on the WorkingFamilies Party ballot line. This has

kept the WFP on the

ballot without difficulty, and someargue that it has given the party somesay on matters before the state gov-

ernment.

This time, however, Democraticgubernatorial candidate Andrew

Cuomo jacked up Working Familiesby ignoring the offer of the WFP ballotline until the last possible moment,

and the Party's leaders rolled over for

him. They formally accepted as theirown his entire platform, which includes

a cap on tax increases for the rich andbrutal budget cuts that will cost theunionized city work force dearly in

jobs, pay and benefits.

Why grovel to someone who haspublicly promised to shaft you? WFPinsiders say it's to keep the ballot line,

which requires 50,000 votes be castfor governor in each election. Skeptics

say that union leaders close to theWFP are worried lest their locals take

a disproportionate hit in the comingcuts.

We say neither excuse cuts any ice.The ballot line, if lost, can be regained

the way it was won in the first place,

by going among the people and col-lecting signatures on a petition. Build-ing union cooperation to resist cuts

together, starting now, will producebetter results than a bunch of scat-

tered locals all whimpering, "Don't pickon us, cut somebody else"

The Working Families Party playedan important role in winning the 2005

state minimum wage hikeprotecting rent regulation,

and other struggles.

That's why they're hated,investigated and attackedby landlords and corpo-rate types.

A union-backed, com-

munity-based Working Families Partypromises to be one tool for exercisinga significant degree of working class

pressure on what happens in the gov-ernment of this city and state, and one

stepping stone toward working classrule in this country. But, right now, in

November, 2010, voting for a candi-date and a platform designed to makeworking people pay for the crisis that

the bankers have caused is a big stepaway from that vision.

- New York/New Jersey DistrictFreedom RoadSocialist Organization

Organizacin Socialistadel Camino para la Libertad

Why grovel to someone

who has publicly promisedto shaft you?

A message from the NY/NJ District of

Freedom RoadSocialist Organization /Organizacin Socialista del

Camino para la Libertad