Has the Working Family Party been ringing your doorbell here in Carroll Gardens lately?
Reader Jackie wants to know:
"My quiet evening with company was interrupted last Wednesday night at 9:00 pm by two young ladies who said they were with Working Families Party. I was not pleased to have unexpected visitors so late in the evening and told them I wasn't interested. Am curious now - does anyone know why they were doorbelling? Thanks!"
I am curious to know, myself. The Working Families Party is currently being investigated by the Federal Government for possibly having transgressed the campaign finance rules. Just last month, the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan issued subpoenas seeking campaign documents from the WFP. Newly elected Councilman Brad Lander and City Advocate, Bill De Blasio, who both contracted with W.F.P.'s for-profit arm, Data and Field Services, during this last election, have also been subpoenaed.
Related Reading:
As Clout Grows, Working Families Party Faces a Question: Has It Reached Too Far? (New York Times 1/5/2010)
Inner workings of secretive WFP for-profit company and multiple candidates' operations revealed(City Hall News 10/9/2009)
For Home Page, click Pardon Me For Asking
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14 comments:
I also am a bit bothered by folks (not just WFP) ringing my bell...however I think you may also be interested in a more balanced view of them by Tom Robbins in the Voice: http://bit.ly/8gazVV
Hi Anon,
Good article. It will certainly be interesting to see what charges, if any, are going to stick.
I agree with much of what the WFP is trying to do, but think they should truly become a third party and put forward their own candidates.
Instead of asking us after the fact, maybe Jackie should have asked the WFP workers themselves why they were at her door.
WFP could have been doing data and field services - you know colleting intel that they can later to sell to their hand picked candidate du jour. Or they were stumping for a candidate. Maybe Clarke/Gillibrand?
Dear Anon 4:30 pm:
There is no social contract that requires me speaking to anyone who rings my doorbell at 9:00 pm. Since you've said you're the "us", what did you or the WFP workers want to talk to me and my neighbors about?
Jackie
Hmmmm. NY Post had an article that the Brooklyn Democratic Party machine is considering backing Harold Ford, Jr. Perhaps the WFP want to do some ground work to see if he is viable since both parties worked so well together during the primaries to the detriment of NYers.
The WFP has certainly come up with a unique way of moving their agenda forward in this one-party-town but they seem to have done this by inventing their own rules. Rules need to be changed by a common consensus otherwise it leads to distrust. It is hard to trust the WFP, even if their objectives are good, given that they are nothing more than a party that manipulated the outcomes within the Democratic party. What a way to generate more distrust among the people!
The Working Families Party is a ACORN affiliate group. You remember them - the ones who Jon Stewart thought did such a good job of advising those down-on-their luck young people?
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-september-15-2009/the-audacity-of-hos
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6965
Dear Us (WFP),
We obviously are interested. What would you like to know or share with Us Carroll Gardeners?
Fundraising. The WFP does fundraising during this time (off-elections). They were just canvassing you for a donation, same way NYPIRG, Green Peace, and other organizations do.
Diego. That sounds too rational a reason.
More likely that it was WFP activists coming on behalf of Vito Lopez and ACORN in order to advocate for Harold Ford and Barack Obama's socialist agenda.
And in order to subsidize this work, they were selling the information gained from knocking on doors in Carroll Gardens to various interested buyers.
And then they went and smoked crack and burned some US flags and continued to ruin America.
I hate 3rd parties, especially 3rd parties who don't act they way I think 3rd parties should. They should lay down and stop ringing doorbells after 8:30pm.
No decent conversation can be had with a stranger after 8:30 and the entire WFP should be held responsible for when these two jerks rang that poor scared lady's doorbell.
I mean it'd be great if we were able to turn this country around and organize on behalf of working people, equality, and justice. But it's probably best if folks only do that b/w 9-5.
Two neighbors (on different blocks) have said the WFP was asking for MONEY -- because their local, recently elected officials are "operating in the red" due to Federal subpoenas, and defense lawyers fees. (They didn't give.)
That's what I suspected.
At least the WFP is being honest as to why they are trying to collect money.
But why we should bail out the candidates who got themselves entangled into this WFP mess is beyond me.
Wow, this is huge if true. Would journalists who read this blog please investigate? Should the Attorney General look into this? Quote below. Is money being collected for legal defense for our elected officials? What does "operating in the red" mean? Operating funds should be tax dollars and cannot be mixed with private legal defense funds. Who are the electeds? Brad Lander and Bill deBlasio are the most obvious choices for Carroll Gardens. Brad and Bill, please comment, is WFP collecting money on your behalf?
"Two neighbors (on different blocks) have said the WFP was asking for MONEY -- because their local, recently elected officials are "operating in the red" due to Federal subpoenas, and defense lawyers fees."
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