The People's Business: Previous Shows

FPI Executive Director Frank Mauro and CSEA Communications Director Steven Madarasz interviewed Professor Richard Pomp of the University of Connecticut School of Law on developments and issues affecting state and local tax systems, and Professor Robert Tuttle of George Washington Law School on legal issues involved in the expanded use of religious organizations to deliver publicly-funded human services.

June 4, 2003

FPI Executive Director Frank Mauro and CSEA Communications Director Steven Madarasz interview Glenn von Nostitz, Senior Policy Analyst for the New York State Trial Lawyers Association; Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, Chairman of the NYS Assembly Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions; and Tamara Draut, Director of the Economic Opportunity Program for Demos.

September 15, 2001

Co-hosts Frank Mauro and Stephen Madarasz spoke with Michael Leo Owens, a Visiting Assistant Professor at Emory University, about President Bush's "faith based" initiative, and with Michael Mazerov of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities about the shortcomings of Governor Pataki's proposals for changing the way that New York State taxes multistate and multinational corporations that do business in New York.

October 19, 2000
FPI Executive Director and The People's Business co-host Frank Mauro spoke with Richard Kirsch, Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York State, Bob McManus, Editorial Page Editor of the New York Post, FPI Senior Economist Trudi Renwick, and SENSES Associate Director Christine McKenna.

Richard Kirsch, Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York State discussed the policy changes that he sees as necessary to address the economic "squeeze" that is documented in the newly published report,"Impossible Choices: Food and Housing or Prescription Drugs," that the Fiscal Policy Institute prepared for USAction.  Citizen Action on New York State is one of the 30+ state and regional affiliates of US Action.

Frank Mauro and BobMcManus presented their very different thoughts on the recent announcement by Governor Pataki that New York State and several local governments will be subsidizing, to the tune of over $600 million, the IBM Corporation's construction of a new microchip manufacturing facility in East Fishkill, New York. 

Trudi Renwick of the Fiscal Policy Institute and Christine McKenna of SENSES, two of the key members of the New York State Self-Sufficiency Steering Committee, discussed that Committee's new report that estimates the actual cost of living and working in each county of New York State. This report estimates how much each of 70 different kinds of families must earn in order to pay for housing, food, childcare, taxes, health care and other basic necessities. The 70 family types vary in terms of the number of adults, the number of workers, and the ages and number of children in each household.

September 21, 2000
FPI Executive Director and The People's Business co-host Frank Mauro discussed the implications of the 2000 elections for the future of Social Security and Medicare.   His comments were based on the analysis in Strengthening Social Security and
Medicare --- Rhetoric and Reality in
the 2000 Election which he originally presented to a meeting of United University Professions (UUP) retirees on September 13, 2000.

During the second half of the September 21st program, Betsey Swan of the League of Women Voters and Ed Bloch of The Interfaith Alliance of New York State, will discussed the Fair Campaign Practices Committee of the Capital Region which is now up and running after 18 months of careful preparation.  The Committee was established by the Leagues of Women Voters of Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, and Schenectady Counties and the Capital Region Chapter of The Interfaith Alliance of New York State.The purpose of this project is to promote a climate in which candidates conduct campaigns openly and fairly, discuss issues, and refrain from defamatory or misleading attacks on their opponents and the use of campaign materials taht distort the facts.  These standards of fairness are contained in the Committee's Fair Campaign Pledge, a copy of is available (in .pdf format) on the web site of the League of Women Voters of Albany. County.  For a copy of the pledge and for more information on the Committee and its operating procedures, go to www.crisny.org/not-for-profit/lwvac/ and click on the listing for the October 2000 edition of the Albany County League's Monthly Bulletin.

September 12, 2000
FPI Executive Director and The People's Business co-host Frank Mauro discussed the tax proposals being bandied about during this year's election campaigns.  Mauro also spoke with Bob Gangi, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York and chair of City Project's board of directors, about Gangi's recent report on the geographic distribution of New York State's prison expenditures.  For more information, go to www.corrassoc.org.

September 5, 2000
Frank Mauro and Steve Madarasz spoke with spoke with software entrepreneur Martin
Rothenberg of DeWitt, NY (a suburb of
Syracuse) about his opposition to the repeal of the federal estate tax. Rothenberg is a member of an organization called Responsible Wealth
and spoke at the August 31st White House press briefing at which President Clinton announced his veto of the estate tax repeal. Rothenberg was the founder and CEO of Syracuse Language Systems which was sold for $30 million in 1996, five years after it was formed by Rothenberg with his son, Larry, and
some graduate students. Rothenberg is currently the founder and President of Glottal Enterprises, a manufacturer of computer-based systems for the remediation of speech communication disorders. He appeared at the White House press briefing with his daughter,
Sandra Rothenberg, a Rochester Institute of Technology management professor, who manages the family’s foundation with her father and siblings.  For more information on this issue and on Responsible Wealth's work, go to www.responsiblewealth.org.

Mauro and Madarasz also interviewed Lawrence Mishel, Vice President of the Economic Policy Institute and one of the co-authors of The State of Working America 2000-2001, which was released on Labor Day 2000, about how America's working men and women are doing as the nation experiences the longest expansion in its history. For more information, including the executive summary and the first chapter of The State of Working America 2000-2001, go to www.epinet.org.

August 29, 2000
Frank Mauro spoke with economist Kent Gardner of the Rochester-based Center for Governmental Research about the operations and activities of New York State's local Industrial Development Agencies (IDAs) and with Schenectady County resident Elmer Bertsch about a lawsuit that was recently filed against the Schenectady City IDA to stop it from proceeding with a project that the plaintiffs see as out of compliance with both the State Environmental Quality Review Act and a state law that prohibits IDAs from financing the relocation of jobs within New York State unless certain safeguards are met.

August 22, 2000
Frank Mauro spoke with two officials of the State University of New York's Uganda Parliamentary Technical Assistance Project: Chief of Party Marc Cassidy and Betty Byanyima, the Project's Legislative and Civil Society Coordinator.  The discussion dealt generally with SUNY's work in supporting the development of democratic institutions, particularly democratically elected legislative bodies, and specifically with SUNY's work in Uganda where the first democratically elected parliament in almost three decades is completing its five year term and preparing for new elections next Spring.  Cassidy and Byanyima also discussed the challenges that Uganda faces in strengthening its democratic institutions.

August 8, 2000
Chuck Collins, the co-founder and co-director of United for a Fair Economy (UFE), discussed the new book Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity (The New Press: 2000) that he co-authored with UFE co-director Felice Yeskel.  After examining recent changes in income and wealth distribution, Collins and Yaskel review the economic policies and shifts in power that have fueled the growing divide.  Focusing on the decline of organized labor and other civic institutions, Economic Apartheid in America argues that with wealth and power in the hands of a select few, the majority of people in this country will be shut out of the discussion about the rules governing our shared economic lives. 

Citizens Budget Commission (CBC) President Diana Fortuna discussed her organization's recent report Making More Effective Use of New York State's Prisons which argues that the State of New York could save nearly $100 million annually by avoiding unnecessary and sometimes counterproductive imprisonment without placing the public in greater jeopardy.

July 25, 2000
Juan Vargas and Phoebe McDowell of the Albany for Vieques Committee.  To learn more about the Vieques issue or to get involved in the work of Albany for Vieques, contact albanyforvieques@hotmail.com.

Bernie Mulligan of CSEA discussed the efforts of the Long Beach Medical Center's management to stop its service employees, who voted to unionize over management's strong opposition, from negotiating a first contract.

July 18, 2000
Thomas Carroll, the President of the
conservative think tank Change-NY, discussed his work on charter schools.  Carroll has been one of the leading forces in New York's adoption and implementation of a law authorizing the creation and public funding of charter schools. While for-profit corporations
are not eligible to apply for charters in New York State, the nonprofit organizations that receive charters can contract out the operations of their school(s) to such for-profit businesses, and almost all charter holders have done so.

Brooklyn College Economics Professor Robert Cherry discussed the plan for expanding the EITC into a Universal Unified Child Credit that he developed with Economic Policy Institute economist Max Sawicky.  In their report, Giving Tax Credit Where Credit Is Due: A Universal Unified Child Credit, Cherry and Sawicky argue that the EITC must undergo a major expansion in order to make serious headway in correcting the fact that nearly one in five American children live in families whose income is below the poverty line despite a record economic recovery.  They propose that the EITC - which has lifted more children out of poverty than any other government program - needs to be expanded so that a greater number of families can be lifted above the poverty line, or further above it than they are presently.

July 4, 2000
Dr. Michael G. Lehan, a management consultant who works with small businesses, small nonprofits and microenterprises discussed the challenges that the owners, founders and executives of these organizations face in marrying their substantive expertise and ideas with the nuts and bolts of basic financial management, marketing research and development, and the challenges of managing organizational growth and development. Lehan, the head of the Berkshire Technology Group, is the author of a forthcoming book ("The Right End of the Telescope: Using Your Cash Flow to Grow Your Business") on the number one challenge facing small, growing enterprises: cash flow management.   For more information about the book or the Berkshire Technology Group, listen to The People's Business on Independence Day and then contact Dr. Lehan at 413-268-0077 or berkpub@erols.com

June 27, 2000
This edition of The People's Business featured a recorded version of a speech by Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor and a founder of The American Prospect on "The Changing Social Contract Between Government, Nonprofits and Communities." Secretary Reich spoke at a forum sponsored by the Nonprofit Management Program of the Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at New School University.  Commenting on Secretary Reich's remarks were Lee Saunders, Administrator of AFSCME District Council 37; David Jones, President of the Community Service Society of New York; and Aida Rodriguez, Chair of the Milano Graduate School's Nonprofit Management Program.  The discussion that followed these presentations was broadcast during the second half of the July 4th edition of The People's Business.

June 20, 2000
Peter Henner, an attorney and counselor at law from Clarksville, New York, discussed the lawsuit that he filed in U.S. District Count in July 1999 claiming that the Tri-County Private Industry Council (Fulton, Montgomery and Schoharie counties) illegally used federal job training funds to fight efforts by its employees to form a union two years ago.

Greg Speeter, Executive Director of the National Priorities Project discussed their new report, "New York 2000:  Critical Needs, Federal Priorities" which finds that over the past 18 years, after adjusting for inflation, federal spending in New York in five key areas (economic security, education, the environment, health care and housing) has declined by $3.9 billion per year.  The National Priorities Project is a privately funded research and education organization, based in Northampton, Massachusetts, that provides citizen and community groups throughout the country with the tools and resources they need to shape federal budget and policy priorities.  For more information, visit their web site at www.natprior.org. 

June 13, 2000
Brooke Valerino, one of the volunteers who helped to coordinate the Capital District participation in the Million Mom March that was held on Mothers Day (May 14) in support of sensible gun laws, discussed the March, the reactions that it generated and its likely impact.  She also talked about how Million Mom March participants and their supporters are planning to pursue their agenda at both the federal and state levels.  To get involved in the follow up activities in the capital district, send an email to brookevale@hotmail.com.

Bob Master discussed the Working Families Party's campaign for an increase in the NYS minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.75 per hour on January 1, 2001 with annual cost of living adjustments each year thereafter.

June 6, 2000

Bert Pepper, M.D., Executive Director of The Information Exchange discussed "Criminalizing Mental Illness" at the conference on this subject, that was held at the Legislative Office Building on May 17, 2000. The conference was sponsored by the Mental Health Association in New York State in conjunction with the National Association for the Mentally Ill of New York, the Civil Service Employees Association, the New York State Catholic Conference, and Assembly Member James Brennan, Chair of the Assembly Standing Committee on Mental Health.   Catherine Abate, former New York State Senator and former New York City Commissioner of Corrections presented a "Blueprint for Reform" to the same conference. 

May 30, 2000

Sol Wachtler, former Chief Judge of the NYS Court of Appeals discussed "The Courts and Mental Illness on the Inside." Judge Wachtler made this presentation on the basis of his own experiences as a Judge and later as a prison inmate to a conference on the criminalizing of mental illness that was held at the Legislative Office Building on May 17, 2000. The conference was sponsored by the Mental Health Association in New York State in conjunction with the National Association for the Mentally Ill of New York, the Civil Service Employees Association, the New York State Catholic Conference, and Assembly Member James Brennan, Chair of the Assembly Standing Committee on Mental Health.

Daniel Maskin, Executive Director of the NYS  Community Action Association will discuss the roles that local community action agencies, creations of the 1960s' War on Poverty, are playing today in improving the lives of low income New Yorkers, particularly those who live in rural areas.  The NYS Community Action Association provides training, technical assistance and works on public policy initiatives to improve the lives of low income New Yorkers.

Ed Bloch of The Interfaith Alliance of New York State described plans for the May 24 Day of Interfaith Advocacy for Children and Their World including:

• breakfast for clergy and legislators at 9 am, a press conference at 11 am
• youth speakout at the College of St. Rose at 4 pm
• an evening prayer vigil at Temple Israel with a keynote address by Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, Executive Director of the National Interfaith Alliance.  The prayer vigil will also include songs of peace by the Bruderhof Children's Choir. 

For more information contact Ed Bloch at 783-6821.

May 16, 2000

Todd Fabozzi of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission staff continued his discussion of the nature of residential, commercial and industrial land use in the region since the late 1980s.  Todd has documented, in maps and photographs, the nature of industrial, commercial, and residential growth in the   Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metopolitan Area since 1987.  He has put these maps and photographs together into an insightful and enjoyble computer-based briefing that he has been presenting throughout the area.  For anyone interested is seeing and hearing Todd's full presentation, he will be speaking on at 7 pm on Monday evening, June 12, 2000 at the Saratoga Public Library.    For more information go to www.cdrpc.org.

Al Davidoff, New York State Area Director of the AFL-CIO will discuss "New Alliance," a pilot project which will be launched Friday, May 19 by AFL-CIO   President John Sweeney.  New Alliance is an effort to make Central Labor Councils more effective and responsive to their members. 

Greg LeRoy, Executive Director of Good Jobs First, and Frank Mauro, Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, discussed their new joint project, Good Jobs New York, and the approaches being used by states and cities around the country to make business that receive government subsidies more accountable for delivering on their job creation and job retention promises.

Alice Meaker, Project Director of Good Jobs New York, discussed the services and information thatthis project will be making available to government officials, the media, community groups, business leaders and other organizations and individuals who are interested in de-escalating the "economic war among the states" and in makingeconomic subsidy programs asaccountable, as open to public scrutiny and as efficient as possible.

For more information go to Good Jobs First's website at www.goodjobsfirst.org.

Barbara DiTommaso, Director, Commission on Peace and Justice of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Albany discussed Farmworker Advocacy Day 2000 which took place on Tuesday, May 2. For more information contact DiTommaso at barb.ditommaso@rcda.org.

Rev. Dr. Arleon Kelley, Interim Executive Director of Troy Area United Ministries, retired Executive Director of the NYS Community of Churches (formerly the NYS Council of Churches) and a member of the Fiscal Policy Institute's Board of Directors. Dr. Kelley discussed the relationship between local ecumenical programs like the Troy Area United Ministries and efforts to impact on public policy at the federal and state levels. He also described the various programs administered by Troy Area United Ministries including a campus ministry program, a community dispute settlement program, and the Damien Center of Troy (a drop-in center for people affected by HIV or AIDS).

Mark Dunlea, Executive Director of the Hunger Action Network of New York State, discussed the efforts of the Fair Budget campaign to reform New York's state and local Corporate Welfare programs, and the Community Forum on Corporate Welfare to be held in downtown Troy on the evening of May 3rd.

Gerald McEntee, International President of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, spoke to AFSCME/New York's Annual Legislative Conference about the shortcomings of New York's implementation of welfare reform and related issues.

Brooke Valerino, a member of the Million Mom March local coordinating committee in New York's Capital Region and the mother of two young children, discussed the plans for the Mothers Day 2000 (May14, 2000) Million Mom March on Washington, D.C., in support of common sense gun laws.   For more information call the national office of the Million Mom March at 888-989-MOMS.

First Lady Hillary Clinton spoke to AFSCME/New York's Annual Legislative Conference about the shortcomings of New York's implementation of welfare reform and related issues.

Josephine LeBeau, Executive Director of AFSCME District Council 1707,which represents the employees of numerous nonprofit providers of child care, home health care, and other human services.  Ms. LeBeau also serves as the chair of the Fiscal Policy Institute's board of directors.  She discussed AFSCME's legislative priorities for the 2000 session of the New York State legislature.

Todd Fabozzi of the Capital District Regional Planning Commission discussed the work that he has been doing to document in maps and photographs the nature of industrial, commercial, and residential growth in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metopolitan Area over the last 20 years.  For more information go to www.cdrpc.org.

Michael Prokash, coordinator of the global economy program at United for a Fair Economy, will discuss how the WTO and other international trade agreements affect the ability of state and local governments to protect workers, consumers and the environment. United for a Fair Economy (UFE) is an independent, nonpartisan organization concerned about growing income, wage and wealth inequality in the U.S. As part of its effort to understand and explain the relationship between globalization and increasing income, wage and wealth inequality in the United States, UFE is presenting "Globalization for Beginners" workshops around the country, and it has put together a do-it-yourself "Globalization for Beginners" kit that other organizations can use in developing their own programs about the global economy for unions, religious congregations, and other groups. UFE will be presenting its next "Globalization for Beginners" workshop in Philadelphia, PA, on the evening of April 17th. For more information, contact UFE at 617-423-2148 or go to www.ufenet.org.

James Baldwin of the U.S. Census Bureau will discuss the census enumeration process that is currently underway with a special focus on the privacy concerns that have been raised by critics and on the enumeration of college students.  For more information go to www.census.gov/dmd/www/2khome.htm. For an Excel spreadsheet with a list of local census offices in New York State with addresses and telephone numbers, click here. For a pdf version of this list, click here.

Gerald Norlander, Executive Director, Public Utility Law Project of New York on the impact of competition and deregulation on residential customers. For additional information go to www.pulpny.org or www.pulp.tc.

Dan Bucks, Executive Director, Multistate Tax Commission. on why he says "United, State Tax Bases Stand; Divided, They’re Tax Havens!"   For additional information go to www.mtc.gov.

Gene Russianoff, Staff Attorney forthe Straphangers Campaign on the importance of mass transit to the functioning of the New York City Metro Area's economy, the development of a train and bus manufacturing industry in Upstate New York, and the current debate over the size, nature and funding of the MTA's next 5-year Capital Plan. For additional information go to www.straphangers.org.