Sal Albanese

Sal Albanese ...

New Party builder

New Party News Fall 1994 listed over 100 New Party activists-"some of the community leaders, organizers, retirees,, scholars, artists, parents, students, doctors, writers and other activists who are building the NP" the list included Sal Albanese, New York City Council.

1998 Working Families Party co-chairs

Working Families Party co-chairs in 1998 were former New York mayor David Dinkins, Brooklyn Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez, former New York City Councilmember Sal Albanese, UAW Region 9 Director Tom Fricano and UNITE leader Ernesto Jofre.

Muslim Democratic Club of New York

New York City’s first Muslim club is looking to have an impact on the mayor’s race. And organizers of the group, the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, cited current Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s policies–notably, the city police department’s controversial Muslim surveillance efforts–as a key motivating factor as they seek to ensure his successor follows a new path.

Founders

“The mayor has been a problem for this community,” one club leader, Ali Najmi, said. “We want to send a message to City Hall that the next mayor needs to treat us differently.”

But the club’s first ever meeting, held in a posh Midtown lounge March 2013, also focused on even more local political issues. Mr. Najmi, along with Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour and other organizers, led a PowerPoint presentation for the dozens of attendees about the untapped voting strength of Muslim Democrats in the city, keying on City Council districts in Brooklyn and Queens where Muslims live in significant numbers.

The ultimate goal of the club, which will begin fundraising soon, is to build a field operation powerful enough to influence elections throughout New York City. Influence for its own sake, though, is not the goal. In addition to the surveillance issue, MDCNY is currently pushing for the inclusion of Muslim holidays in the public school calendar. Foreign policy issues are not on the agenda.

“Those are the two main issues that we hear already on Twitter, on Facebook, from our community and the centers that we work for. As you know, many of us are in the grassroots community. Those are going to be our two big issues and the usual, health care, immigration,” Ms. Sarsour said.

Two Democratic mayoral candidates, Comptroller John Liu and Sal Albanese, addressed the club, as well as the city’s only Muslim elected official, Councilman Robert Jackson, also a Manhattan borough president candidate. Mr. Liu in particular has been a vociferous critic of the NYPD.

“I think more than any other community, the Muslim community has some very severe challenges and important issues the city has to deal with,” Mr. Liu said. “We have ongoing issues of surveillance of people just because of their religious faith- that’s not right, we should put an end to that. Kids and families have to choose between going to school and observing important holidays in the Muslim faith- that has to change also.”

References

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