Darrel Aubertine, Democratic state senator representing northwestern upstate, New York, was one of 8 anti-gay legislators to vote to deny gays civil rights last week. He is the second one I am targeting, as I make a case against them, one-by-one.
Senator Aubertine, pictured above, apparently is willing to vote against Democrats in many venues. In fact, today, an editorial in the New York Daily News is taking him to task for refusing to allow farm worker's rights in New York to even come up for a vote.
That bill, supported by 90% of Democrats, and enough Republicans to pass, would have remedied some appalling working conditions, as the editorial stated,
New York farmhands work without the right to form unions or bargain for better conditions. Or take a day off. Or collect overtime or qualify for disability or unemployment insurance.
As it happens...Aubertine is a farmer, albeit a homophobic farmer. He does not want those who work for him to have those rights, so he has singlehandedly prevented the bill from even coming up for a vote. Not only that, he would not even allow, as the Daily News put it, "a watered-down compromise," to come up for discussion. And his fellow Democrats let it happen.
Gays are not the only Democratic constituency this man betrays. His blocking of union-building legislation should allow us to align with organized labor to plan a primary defeat.
And how telling is it that the Dems want him in Congress. This man was actually the leading choice to run against Dede Scozzafava, in NY's 23rd district (which was won by another right-wing Democrat). He declined. According to Politico:
Aubertine's decision is a blow to Democrats, who viewed him as a particularly strong candidate who could flip McHugh's ancestrally Republican seat to the Democrats. Because of his conservative views on social issues, he had cross-over appeal in a state legislative district that was solidly Republican.
Do we need any more reminders about why our money should not be going to the DNC and the DLC? Scozzafava was far better on glbt issues than the Dems, in this case. It is why our money and support should be apportioned on a case-by-case basis only.
This is a Democrat who sorely needs to go down to defeat come re-election.
He represents a rather conservative area, bordering Lake Ontario, which includes the cities of Oswego, Watertown and Ogdensburg. He is also chairman of several state senate committees, including Agriculture and Energy & Telecommunications.
To contact Senator Aubertine, via an online form, point your browser here.
His generic page on the New York Senate website is here.
Oswego's main paper is the Palladium-Times. You can access their contact page here. One needs to register to make comments on their site, and this is one of those registration processes that is far more intrusive than most, but it may be worth it to do so. Just go to their opinion section and you'll get to the registration link.
Watertown's daily paper is the Watertown Daily Times and is accessible here. The paper's contact information is here. You can respond to columns and editorials in their online edition after a simple registration process.
The Ogdensburg Journal has been referred to as one of the worst American media outlets by members of the Mondo Times, and you can't submit letters online, but here is the link to where you can send letters the old-fashioned way.
No comments:
Post a Comment