Latinos for Norman Siegel Party on the eve of Three Kings Day
Monday, January 5th
6:30 to 9:30 PM

at Camaradas el Barrio Bar & Restaurant
2241 First Avenue at 115th Street

Norm Siegel is running for Public Advocate. Well known for his work on behalf of 9/11 widows and firefighters, Norman Siegel is also fighting the Bloomberg term limits coup. But his advocacy for the people of NYC goes back decades to his years with the ACLU’s Southern Justice & Voting Law Project and later as the Executive Director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. You can read more about his decades of service to NYC here.

Latinos y Latinas por Norman Siegel is holding their kick-off event for Norman on Jan 5th. This is the first of a series events geared to the Latino community to raise awareness and support for Norman’s campaign for Public Advocate.

Public Transportation:
By public transportation, you can take the No. 6 subway to 116 Street, or any local bus traveling on the East Side of Manhattan (116 Street is a Limited Stop).

From the Norm Siegel Campaign:

New Yorkers for Norman Siegel will be holding a birthday bash for civil rights attorney Norman Siegel as we rev up the campaign to elect him NYC Public Advocate in 2009. The celebration will take place at Azza Restaurant & Lounge on 137 East 55th Street (between Lexington and Third Ave) from 6:00-8:30 PM on Monday, December 1st.

The program for the evening features guest speakers State Senator Eric Adams, former ACLU Director Ira Glasser, Vanessa Ramos, Deputy Director for Policy at the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families, and Connie Steensma, Chair Emerita of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. There will also be a performance by the New York Granny Chicks of the Granny Peace Brigade. The event has already attracted a wide array of hosts and sponsors from all five boroughs, reflecting the diverse, grassroots, citywide campaign that New Yorkers for Norman Siegel is ready to wage.

Devin Cohen, candidate for Broklyn's 1st Civil Court in the September 9th primary, has announced two new endorsements: Congresswoman Yvette Clarke and City Councilman David Yassky. All he needs is a Chris Owens endorsement and Devin will have three-of-a-kind from the 2006 CD-11 Congressional race that divided the district so much. Since Devin already got the endorsement of CBID, the club that Chris is now the president of, in some ways Devin already has unified the CD-11 candidates behind him. This brings Devin's endorsement list to the following:

# Congresswoman Yvette Clarke
# Assemblymember Joan Millman
# Assemblymember Jim Brennan
# State Senator Velmanette Montgomery
# State Senator Martin Connor
# Councilmember Letitia James
# Councilmember David Yassky
# District Leader Alan Fleishman
# District Leader JoAnne Simon
# District Leader William Saunders
# Independent Neighborhood Democrats
# Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats
# Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn
# 57th A.D. Regular Democratic
Organization

Norm Siegel, candidate for Public Advocate, has a new website and a new Youtube video:

For those who aren't familiar with Norman Siegel, he has been defending the Civil Liberties of Americans decades. From his website:

Norman Siegel, raised in Brooklyn, has been an advocate for New Yorkers throughout his 40 year career. He has been a leader in the fight for freedom, justice, and equality for all, issues that have pulled at our city’s fabric for too many generations.

Big Kick Off Fundraiser for Norm Siegel for Public Advocate

Monday, February 25th, 2008, 6pm to 8:30pm

Cafe Deville
103 Third Avenue (at 13th Street)
NYC

Let me just preface this with the comment that Joy Romanski, Marjorie Gersten and myself have already held a fundraiser for Norm Siegel...so maybe we should claim the Kick off fundraiser

Norman Siegel is the ideal candidate for NYC Public Advocate. In essence he has been our public advocate for decades, having been head of the NY Civil Liberties Union, defending the rights of NYC protestors against the 2004 Republican Convention, defending the rights of Critical Mass bicyclists, fighting destruction of Harlem neighborhoods, etc.

You can read more about my impressions of Norman Siegel here.

And you can attend this big, big fundraiser and meet the man himself:

This month there are four fundraisers I am pushing. One I am on the host committee of, two I am full on co-host (one of which is at my apartment) and one I am merely plugging for friends.

The first one was last Sunday, and I now have results from that. Sunday, Marjorie Gersten, Joy Romanski and I hosted a fundraiser for Norman Siegel, running for NY Public Advocate. You can read about my (3-year old interrupted) comments on the event here. And you can read another participant's obeservations here at the Brooklyn Optimist. But now I would like to add that the fundraiser did quite well for a small scale event put on by people like me who almost never do fundraising. We brought in $1400 for Norman Siegel. Now I am sure many out there see that as small potatoes, but it's damned good in my world!

If you want to add to this, please call his campaign at 212-448-6271. Tell them Marjorie, David and Joy sent you.

Come meet, greet, and support Norman Siegel for Public Advocate.

Marjorie Gersten, Joy Romanski (Corresponding Secretary for Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats), and I will be hosting a fundraiser for former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (1985-2000), Norman Siegel, who is running for NYC Public Advocate. I can think of no one better suited to be our Public Advocate than Norm Siegel.

Essentially, Norm has already been New York's unelected Public Advocate for years, standing up for the protesters against the Republican Convention and standing up for the rights of all New Yorkers when no one else seems willing. Norm Siegel's credentials go WAY back. He even spearheaded the NY State campaign for to impeach Richard Nixon!

Tracked down an old photo from election night 2005 when I was campaigning with my son for Norman Siegel.

In 2005 Norman Siegel started late, only got fundraising going last minute, and was up against and incumbent.

Norman is running again in 2009. And he is starting early and already is fundraising (sent in my donation already!). Guaranteed you will see an update to this photo as Jacob and I campaign again for Norm. You can read my opinion of Norm Siegel for Public Advocate in 2005 here.

If you are interested in electing the former head of the New York Civil Liberties Union as NYC's Public Advocate, contact New Yorkers for Norman Siegel:
212-488-6271

There's a big story in The New York Times today, confirming what many people involved have long suspected: the NYPD's intelligence unit infiltrated and subsequently filed reports on various Progressive left political groups in New York City that were engaged with the 2004 Republican National Convention under the pretext of stopping criminal activity in opposition to that event. This also provides a case study into government dysfunction in New York on several levels.

But potential troublemakers were hardly the only ones to end up in the files. In hundreds of reports stamped “N.Y.P.D. Secret,” the Intelligence Division chronicled the views and plans of people who had no apparent intention of breaking the law, the records show.

These included members of street theater companies, church groups and antiwar organizations, as well as environmentalists and people opposed to the death penalty, globalization and other government policies. Three New York City elected officials were cited in the reports.

In at least some cases, intelligence on what appeared to be lawful activity was shared with police departments in other cities. A police report on an organization of artists called Bands Against Bush noted that the group was planning concerts on Oct. 11, 2003, in New York, Washington, Seattle, San Francisco and Boston. Between musical sets, the report said, there would be political speeches and videos.

“Activists are showing a well-organized network made up of anti-Bush sentiment; the mixing of music and political rhetoric indicates sophisticated organizing skills with a specific agenda,” said the report, dated Oct. 9, 2003. “Police departments in above listed areas have been contacted regarding this event.”

Parents to Begin Telephone Campaign to Seek CFE Money.
Tell NYC's Four Republican State Senators to Fund Our Schools.

Please join AQE, Cynthia Nixon, Public Advocate Betsy
Gotbaum, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer,
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, City
Council Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson and
others to kick off 1-866-KIDS-NYC, a new hotline AQE
is setting up.

The hotline will be available for anyone to call and
will direct calls to the four NYC members of the State
Senate Majority. We will also be launching a new web
campaign on www.ourkidscantwait.org to generate faxes
to these four senators. We hope that calls and faxes
generated over the next week will push the Senate to
build a CFE solution into this year's state budget to
be voted on by April 1st.

Please join us to launch this exciting new campaign!
Thursday, March 23, 11:45 - 12:45 PM (*please note
slight time adjustment)
Steps of City Hall
Take the R/W to City Hall, 4/5/6 to Brooklyn Bridge -
City Hall, 2/3 to Park Place, or A/C/E to Chambers
Street