The cabal of New York state senators who, despite being elected as Democrats, caucus with Republicans and consequently give the GOP an artificial majority in the chamber, has reached a new nadir.
These eight senators call themselves the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), and because of their betrayal of the party they purport to represent, many progressive agenda items have been halted by Senate Republicans—including legislation protecting and expanding reproductive rights. The IDC’s collusion with the party responsible for attacking women’s health care makes its recent deployment of an outrageous campaign tactic all the more disgusting.
Near the end of last month, several IDC members sent out campaign-style mailers to their constituents touting their alleged support of reproductive rights and Planned Parenthood. The mailers include Planned Parenthood’s logo and heavily imply that the IDC has the backing of New York’s Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts, a nonprofit organization.
The notion that the IDC is supported by Planned Parenthood is false, and the IDC did not have Planned Parenthood’s permission to use the organization’s logo in their promotional materials. Even worse, however, is the fact that the IDC is responsible for blocking “every reproductive health bill in the state Senate,” according to the president of Planned Parenthood of New York City. Just this summer, the IDC and their Republican Senate cronies allowed both the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act and the Reproductive Health Act languish in committee, never making it to the floor for a full vote. Yet in these dishonest mailers, the IDC falsely indicated that they had helped both of these measures pass.
On top of misleading New Yorkers about their nonexistent support for these crucial pieces of legislation, the mailers further suggest that IDC members support “investing in Planned Parenthood,” when, in fact, they refused to vote for a budget amendment that would have actually protected the organization’s funding.
A spokesperson for the IDC attempted to defend the misleading mailers as “issued-based” and meant to indicated that the IDC “universally supports a woman’s right to choose.”
If these turncoats really support women’s reproductive health rights and choices, they sure have a funny way of showing it.
Want to help take one of these sham Democrats down? Donate $3 to help real Democrat Robert Jackson!
