HELP ELECT JOE ADDABBO TO THE NYS SENATE

On Tuesday, August 12th, the Senate Democrats, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) will be sponsoring the Manhattan kick-off for City Councilman Joe Addabbo's campaign for New York State Senate. Councilman Addabbo is the strongest candidate to unseat Republican Serf Maltese in the 15th Senatorial District in Queens, and his victory will help us to finally achieve the goal of a Democratic Majority in the New...

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ERIC CHAIRS SENATE FORUM ON WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS

On Wednesday, July 2nd, I joined State Senators Velmanette Montgomery and Bill Perkins, Assemblymembers Michael Gianaris, Adriano Espaillat and Ellen Young, and leading criminal justice advocates in participating in a public forum to address wrongful convictions and the creation of an independent “Innocence Commission” in New York State.

At the forum, testimony was presented by exonerees Martin Tankleff and Alan Newton, Steve Saloom of The Innocence Project, which is affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School...

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ERIC ON DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. HELLER DECISION

As the Co-chair of State Legislators Against Illegal Guns (SLAIG), a national organization of state lawmakers working to prevent the proliferation of illegal guns, I believe states have the right to regulate public safety through reasonable gun laws. While I disagree strongly with the court’s reasoning, I am confident that the decision does not contradict that belief.

While the Court struck down the District of Columbia’s total ban on handguns or any operable firearms in...

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END OF SESSION THOUGHTS

This year's legislative session looked more like a Greek tragedy than a year in contemporary American political life. In just six months we saw a governor who was elected with one of the greatest mandates for reform in our state's history fall from grace and power. Our new governor pulled the legislative leaders together to pass a difficult budget in the face of our worst fiscal crisis since the 1970's. Democrats in the state...

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ERIC CALLS FOR REPEAL OF VACANCY DECONTROL

On Tuesday, May 13th, the New York State Assembly passed a package of legislation to protect affordable housing, including a bill sponsored by Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal to repeal high rent vacancy decontrol. We know that vacancy decontrol is responsible for the loss of over 10,000 units of affordable housing each year, and I want to praise Assemblymember Rosenthal and the leaders in the Assembly for taking steps to support the financial health and...

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SOSUA: A REFUGE FOR JEWS IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

A NEW EXHIBITION OPENING FEBRUARY 17TH

In 1938, a time when openings for Jewish refugees were hard to find, the government of the Dominican Republic offered to resettle Jews fleeing Europe. Ultimately Sosúa, an abandoned banana plantation on the north coast of the island, would become a refuge to hundreds of Jews. The settlers were given resources to cultivate the land, and built a thriving town – one that still exists today.

The story of this...

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TRANSFORMING THE LIBERAL CHECKLIST

On February 22nd, an article I authored entitled, “Transforming the Liberal Checklist,” was published in the The Nation magazine. The article describes the need for Democrats to engage in transformational politics as part of our long term progressive strategy. As I argued in the column, the necessity to focus on transformational politics is obvious when we compare the success of the conservative movement over the past thirty years with the collapse of the American...

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April 27, 2007
Time to Reduce Medical Errors with Full Disclosure
"Each year in the United States, there are between 44,000 and 98,000 hospital deaths and..."

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