Friday, October 10, 2008

Obama's New Party in Wisconsin

Although I recalled the "New Party" vaguely, (and suspected that Obama was involved in it about 10 days ago), some don't know what it is, and what it did.

It was quite active in Wisconsin. Here are a few items from their 1996 report:

--After an aggressive grassroots campaign by Progressive Milwaukee/NP, the Milwaukee school board recently voted to raise the minimum wage for school employees and employees of school board contractors to $7.70 an hour -- liberating 3,000 low-wage service workers from perpetual poverty...

...The New Party continues to roll through Wisconsin, with victories this month in municipal and county primaries in Milwaukee and Madison. Progressive Milwaukee is backing three county board, one city council, and one school board candidate. Progressive Dane (Madison) is endorsing nine county board candidates. All NP-backed candidates won their primaries [see below on names of Milwaukee-area NP candidates.]

...Last Spring, Progressive Dane swept the Madison City Council elections, winning 8 of 8 races in the face of heavy opposition from landlords opposed to PD/NP tenant rights proposals. The elections bore fruit this fall, as the City Council passed several key measures to outlaw discrimination against low-income tenants. The first was a "Minimum Income Standard" ordinance that prevents landlords from denying tenants simply on the basis of an income standard (i.e. needing an income equivalent to 3x the rent). Tenant advocates won a second victory when the Council strengthened an ordinance protecting tenants against discrimination based on prior convictions

...In addition to the four Progressive Milwaukee-backed candidates running for state office (Spencer Coggs, Dale Dulberger, Gwendolynne Moore, Johnnie Morris-Tatum, see Sept Update), two New Party members in Fox Valley are running for the state assembly. Progressive Fox Valley founder and chair Tony Palmeri is in a surprisingly close race against an four-term incumbent conservative Republican in Oshkosh. New Party and AFSCME (American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees) member Corky Van Handel is also running for the state assembly in a nearby district. Both are running as Democrats.

It seems to me that Norquist was also involved with this bunch, but I'm not certain of that.

HT: Confederate Yankee

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