New York State Senator Cecilia Tkaczyk (D) 46th Senate District
Though most people think of New York as a blue state, large sections of upstate NY are red. Right-wing Republicans have launched all-out, well-funded campaigns to defeat Democratic Party candidates running for state office. Nowhere is it more apparent than the case of one of our state senators, Cecilia Tkaczyk (she's my state senator), who is running for re-election in New York's 46th Senate District, which covers all of Montgomery and Greene Counties, and parts of Albany, Schenectady and Ulster Counties.
"CeCe,"as we call her—since as she says, most people can't figure out how to say her surname Tkaczyk (pronounced Ka-chick)—won her first election in 2012 by 18 votes, after going to court to get a recount and forcing inclusion of unopened ballots.
This time around her defeated opponent from the last time, George Amadore (R) is being backed by an anti-women's right to choose PAC, named "Chiaroscuro," which has launched lying ads about CeCe's pro-choice stance.
We don't have a lot of time left till the election, but CeCe's campaign could use your help to counteract Amadore's influx of anti-choice money.
Can you chip in $3 toward getting CeCe re-elected, and help her fight back against Chiaroscuro PAC?
Follow me below the fold for more.
The Albany Times Union wrote the editorial "An Attack Devoid of Facts":
THE ISSUE:
New attack ads misrepresent the New York Reproductive Health Act.
THE STAKES:
State Senate candidates should be evaluated on their record and position on issues, not false rhetoric.
Using inflammatory rhetoric to deliberately misrepresent the facts is a common way to win a political fight or take down a campaign opponent.
That's just what the Chiaroscuro PAC, the political arm of the anti-abortion Chiaroscuro Foundation, is doing with a new series of radio ads attacking three state senators who are seeking re-election. The first-term senators, all Democrats and all seen as vulnerable, are Cecilia Tkaczyk of Duanesburg, Terry Gipson of Poughkeepsie, and Ted O'Brien of Rochester. Their defeat is crucial to Republican efforts to retain the GOP's tenuous control of the state Senate.
That's politics, of course. Unfortunately, women's rights are caught in the middle of this battle, at the expense of the truth.
The
attack ad:
“I laugh. I kick. I smile. I am,” says the female voice. “You can see me. There. On the sonogram. That’s me! In a week, I’ll be there. With you. Seeing your smile. Feeling the sun, and your face.”...
The Foundation has been a leading voice in opposition to the Reproductive Health Act and the similar abortion plank of the WEA, claiming it would vastly expand late-term abortions. Reproductive rights groups call that analysis a gross mischaracterization of what the legislation would do, and insist the provision would do nothing more than codify current abortion protections in state law.
Right Wing Watch featured Chiaroscuro
recently in "Meet Sean Fieler, The Hedge Fund Manager Running Anti-Choice 'Talking Fetus' Ads In New York."
Fieler is the chairperson of the Chiaroscuro Group.
Although the Chiaroscuro Group appears to be a separate entity, it is clearly connected to two other Fieler-backed organizations, the Chiaroscuro Foundation and the Chiaroscuro Institute. The Buffalo News identifies Fieler as the chairman of the Chiaroscuro Group and lists its president as Greg Pfundstein, who also works for the foundation and the institute.
Fieler is a relatively little-known figure who seems to shy away from press and public appearances, but his money is behind a wide array of Religious Right campaigns on issues ranging from anti-choice initiatives to marriage equality opposition to rolling back the rights of transgender students. Fieler chairs and largely finances the Chiaroscuro Foundation, a large grant-making operation, and the related Chiaroscuro Institute, which runs a handful of anti-choice projects. Fieler’s $3 million in contributions to the Chiaroscuro Foundation in 2012 made up nearly all of the organization’s revenue that year (the foundation also holds shares in gold and silver, the gold standard being one of Fieler’s pet causes). In turn, the Chiaroscuro Foundation gave the Chiaroscuro Institute $76,000 in 2012, or about half its budget.
Through the Chiaroscuro Foundation, Fieler contributes to a wide variety of social conservative causes. In 2012, the foundation granted $125,000 to the Susan B. Anthony List’s education arm; $77,500 to Students for Life; $25,000 to Family in America, the journal run by the Howard Center for Family, Religon & Society, which also runs the World Congress of Families; and $20,000 to the National Organization for Marriage. Fieler himself has directly donated over $1 million to anti-marriage equality groups, including NOM. He also serves as the chairman of the American Principles Project, the group founded by former NOM chairman Robert P. George that now employs NOM co-founder Maggie Gallagher.
This is part of what we are up against.
CeCe wrote an op-ed, WEA will protect reproductive health, for the Albany Times Union making her position clear and refuted the lies and distortions. She concluded:
Why is this legislative action necessary? You need look no farther than the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby case. By finding in favor of Hobby Lobby, the court has allowed thousands of American women to be denied contraceptive insurance coverage. This case also sets a broad and dangerous precedent that can lead to further restrictions on women's fundamental right to access quality health care.
The conservative Supreme Court majority is demonstrating that it may overturn federal recognition of women's reproductive health care rights and allow states to determine their own statutes. And, because New York's abortion law was written in 1970, three years prior to Roe vs. Wade, women in our state would be subjected to an outdated law that does not include the protections women are currently guaranteed under Roe vs. Wade.
Perhaps the most disingenuous and disturbing lie being perpetrated by anti-choice Senate Republicans is that the WEA would reduce the standard of care for women and seriously jeopardize their health and safety. In fact, just the opposite is true. The WEA would protect women's health as well as their right to choose.
You can find out more about CeCe on her
campaign website, and
Facebook page.
Please donate what you can to help get CeCe re-elected.
Fight back against Chiaroscuro PAC!