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On May 10th David Sirota, PLAN, and DMI held a conversation about why our middle class is disappearing and who is responsible.
Author David Sirota, a veteran political strategist and Capitol Hill operative, has released a new book called "Hostile Takeover" showing how political corruption is creating policies that are intensifying America's middle-class squeeze. Now, with corruption scandals dominating the news and with wages stagnating, pensions being slashed, and health care costs skyrocketing, America is at a boiling point - just in time for the 2006 elections. Will the hostile takeover of America's government by Big Money interests take center stage in the upcoming campaign season? And what are the particularly odious policies that could be economic wedge issues in the upcoming campaign?
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Panelist Biographies
DAVID SIROTA is a veteran campaign strategist, political operative and writer living in Helena, Montana. He is the founder and co-chair of the Progressive Legislative Action Network (PLAN) – an organization created to support progressive state legislators and fight back against the right-wing's extremist campaigns at the state level. He is widely known for his tenacious focus on working class economic issues that are often ignored by America's political elites. As Newsweek wrote in its 2003 profile of him, Sirota is "intense, driven, even obsessive [as he] fills the gap left by a timid Democratic establishment."
Sirota began his political career as a fundraiser on Joe Hoeffel's (D) first successful run for Congress – a run in which Hoeffel defeated a Republican incumbent in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, which is one of America's most evenly-divided congressional districts. Soon after, Sirota moved to Washington where he became the press secretary to Vermont U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders, the longest-serving independent in congressional history. In 2000, Sirota took a leave of absence from Sanders' office to serve as a press aide to Brian Schweitzer (D), a farmer and first-time candidate who came within 4 percentage points of defeating Montana's second-term U.S. Senator, Conrad Burns (R). Sirota then returned to Washington to serve as the chief spokesman for Democrats on the U.S. House Appropriations Committee – the panel that oversees all federal discretionary spending.
Moving off Capitol Hill in 2003, Sirota accepted a position as one of the first employees of the Center for American Progress – a national progressive think tank headed by former White House Chief of Staff John Podesta. As CAP's Director of Strategic Communications, Sirota created the organization's main daily publication, The Progress Report, which the National Review called “the most aggressive, most energetic opposition research in politics.” Sirota was also the principal author of Moveon.org’s Misleader (www.misleader.org), a daily publication that had 200,000 subscribers in the lead up to the 2004 presidential election. During the fall of 2004, Sirota returned to Montana to serve as a senior strategist to Brian Schweitzer in his successful run for governor. Schweitzer became the first Democrat elected to the governorship of Montana in 16 years.
HOWARD WOLFSON serves as a Partner at The Glover Park Group and heads the firm's New York office. He joined GPG after serving as Executive Director at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) for two years. At the DCCC, he oversaw advertising in over 40 media markets and was responsible for a $50 million budget. He also provided strategic, political and campaign advice on a daily basis to all Democratic House members.
Prior to the DCCC, Wolfson served as Communications Director for the campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2000. He traveled extensively with Clinton throughout New York State and managed the campaign's research, policy and communications departments. During the campaign he made numerous television appearances on shows including Meet the Press, This Week and Larry King Live.
Wolfson was Communications Director for then Representative Charles Schumer's 1998 Senate campaign, developing and implementing extensive political, advertising and press strategies. He had previously served as Chief of Staff and Press Secretary to Representative Nita Lowey.
Wolfson graduated from the University of Chicago and subsequently earned a Masters in US History from Duke University. A New York native, he now splits his time between New York and Washington, DC, with his wife Terri.
Professor ELIZABETH WARREN joined the faculty of Harvard Law School in 1992 as the Robert Braucher Visiting Professor of Commercial Law and became the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law in 1995. She is the coauthor of All Your Worth, just published in March and on the best-seller list. Her earlier book, The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle Class Mothers and Fathers are Going Broke has been cited by senators and presidential candidates, and her earlier award-winning books include As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Law in America, The Fragile Middle Class, Business Bankruptcy, and three leading casebooks.
Warren is the Vice-President of the American Law Institute and is on the Executive Committee of the National Bankruptcy Conference. She directed the National Bankruptcy Review Commissions study of federal bankruptcy laws and drafted its report to Congress. Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Professor Warren to the Judicial Education Committee of the Federal Judicial Center from 1990 to 1999. The National Law Journal named her one of the Fifty Most Influential Women Lawyers in America. Harvard students voted her the Sacks and Freund Award for teaching excellence.
Prior to teaching at Harvard, Professor Warren was the William A. Schnader Professor of Commercial Law at University of Pennsylvania School of Law and also taught at the University of Texas School of Law, University of Houston Law Center, University of Michigan and Rutgers Law School.
In 1996, ADRIANO ESPAILLAT became the first Dominican-American elected to a State House in the United States. He represents the 72nd Assembly District, which encompasses Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill in Upper Manhattan. He is a member of the following Committees: Alcoholism and Drug Abuse; Children & Families; Corporations, Authorities & Commissions; Insurance; and Real Property Taxation. He is also first Vice-Chair of the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus and a member of the Puerto Rican & Hispanic Task Force. He was recently appointed by New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to Chair of the New York State Task Force on New Americans.
During his first term in office, Assemblyman Espaillat introduced and voted on numerous legislative initiatives on education, public safety, tenants' rights and the environment. He supported successful passage of legislation that extended the J-51 Housing Program, which prevents landlords from hiking tenants' rents for major capital improvements to their buildings. Assemblyman Espaillat's voting record on environmental issues has been rated as excellent by the group Environmental Advocates in New York State. Perhaps his most important legislative initiative to date was his vote to reaffirm tenants' rights by supporting the extension of the rent control and stabilization laws of New York State to the year 2000.
Espaillat has an outstanding record as a community activist and supporter of issues that affect the disadvantaged, working people, families, and that protect economic development and neighborhood revitalization. In 1994, Espaillat became the Director of Project Right Start, a national initiative funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to combat substance abuse by educating the parents of pre-school children. This pilot program has now been implemented in six cities throughout the country and in the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. In 1991, Espaillat was chosen as a member of Governor Mario Cuomo's Dominican Advisory Board, where he served for two years. The following year, he was elected Democratic District Leader for the 72nd Assembly District part A and was reelected in 1995. From 1992 to 1994, Espaillat served as Director of the Washington Heights Victims Services Community Office. This organization offered bilingual support groups for battered women, and provided relief, compensation, counseling and therapeutic services for families of homicide victims and other crime victims.
Since 1986, Espaillat has actively served on Community Planning Board 12 as a member of the Executive Board. Espaillat became a strong voice in the community by organizing tenants and advocating for their rights. He successfully petitioned for greater police services in the community. His tireless efforts resulted in increased foot patrol, block watches, the creation of the new 33rd Police Precinct and other successful crime prevention initiatives in Northern Manhattan. Espaillat, however, consistently attributes all accolades to the community by stating: "It was the community's passion for public safety that allowed the changes to take place." He actively opposed budget cuts that devastated services to senior citizens and fought for more programs for local youth.