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Suffolk County Legislative Scorecard on Immigration and Other Middle Class Issues

Posted August 3, 2010 by Ted Hesson

Long Island Wins, using research compiled by the Drum Major Institute, today unveiled its first Suffolk County legislative scorecard, tracking legislators’ votes on immigration and a range of other issues important to the middle class.

For a copy of the report, click here. For an easy-to-read chart that rates Suffolk legislators, click here.

See the official press release below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Press Contacts:
Maryann Slutsky
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Dan Morris
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Ted Hesson
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Long Island Wins and Drum Major Institute Unveil Suffolk County Legislative Scorecard on Immigration and Other Middle Class Issues

Hauppauge, NY—Long Island Wins, using research compiled by the Drum Major Institute, today unveiled its first Suffolk County legislative scorecard, tracking legislators’ votes on immigration and a range of other issues important to the middle class.

Research for the scorecard was provided by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI), a non-partisan, non-profit national think tank based in New York City. In recent years, DMI has released several national pro-middle class reports and studies on immigration; this is their first immigration report to focus on Long Island.

For too long, too many Suffolk legislators have pushed irresponsible legislation and trafficked on hateful rhetoric on immigration issues. This scorecard provides a record those legislative failures. In particular, legislators often dropped the ball on immigration votes, where they missed the opportunity to protect Suffolk workers from unfair competition, fight worker exploitation, and improve overall safety through better immigration enforcement policies.

But that’s just the beginning. At Long Island Wins, we know that responsible immigration solutions should matter to all Long Islanders – maximizing the contributions of immigrations is good for our economy. It got us thinking: is it just immigration? Or are legislators also letting Long Islanders down on a range of other issues, too? We asked our friends at the Drum Major Institute to help us sort this out.

“As you can tell from the scorecard, most Suffolk County legislators fall woefully short when it comes to supporting the middle class residents in their districts,” said Long Island Wins director Maryann Sinclair Slutsky.

In 2008 and 2009, the majority of Suffolk County legislators cast votes that thwarted the growth of a robust middle class among their constituency, often failing on votes concerning immigration. The scorecard rates the legislators on a variety of middle-class issues, including bills to increase energy efficiency, to create more opportunities for first-time homebuyers, and to provide affordable health care to county residents. Legislative votes on bills related to immigration also had negative consequences for Suffolk County’s middle class.

Of the 18 Suffolk County legislators, 11 earned a grade of C, and only two lawmakers – Legis. Ricardo Montano (D-Central Islip) and Legis. Vivian Viloria-Fisher (D-East Setauket) – earned higher. Legis. DuWayne Gregory (D-Amityville), received an incomplete because of his limited time serving in the legislature, but voted strongly in favor of the middle class during his limited time in office.

“To strengthen the middle-class, expand it to include more working people, and build a society where we all rise together, immigration policies must bolster the economic contributions of immigrants and strengthen the workplace rights of immigrants,” said PJ Kim, executive director of the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy. “All Long Islanders, immigrants and native-born residents alike, are economically better off when immigration policies meet these pro-middle class criteria. It’s as simple as that.”

The goal of the “Suffolk County Legislative Scorecard 2009-2010” is to better educate Suffolk County residents about the voting patterns of their elected officials on middle class issues, which are often the issues that matter most in our communities.

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Long Island Wins (http://www.longislandwins.com) is a communications and organizing campaign focusing on immigration issues and working towards immigration solutions. Representing all Long Islanders of goodwill, we are concerned about the growing climate of fear among the immigrant community, and we aim to shift the debate about immigrants and immigration policy on Long Island in a more positive direction, towards sensible solutions that work for and will benefit everyone.

The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy (DMI) is a nonpartisan think tank that partners with advocates, organizers, elected officials, and other leaders to improve policymaking in cities and for cities. We firmly believe progressive urban policy expands the scope of what government can accomplish in the United States. Historically, the results have been seen and felt in better housing options, better safety net protections, better transit access, better workplace rights, better environmental regulations, better assimilation of immigrants, better infrastructure investments, and in many other areas. Our research, analysis, communications, and media efforts focus on how the biggest opportunities for addressing America’s current challenges can be found—and seized—in cities. We also train young people from diverse communities to become the next generation of urban policy leaders. Visit http://www.drummajorinstitute.org for more information.

Tags : dmi, drum major institute, immigration, middle class, scorecard, suffolk, suffolk county legislative scorecard, suffolk legislature