Knows us. Fights for us. ALL of us.

Paul Newell is a proud product of New York City’s excellent public schools - from P.S. 41 to Stuyvesant High School. While many of our kids enjoy that excellence today, we are failing too many others. Newell will work to make excellent schools available to every New York family – regardless of zone or zip code. He’ll stand up for:

• Fighting School Overcrowding: It is an inexcusable failure of planning that allowed our communities to grow faster than our schools. Newell will ensure that school seats grow with our neighborhoods.
• Quality Middle Schools: Many parents feel that they have found a quality school for their children at the elementary level, but are concerned by the lack of quality options at the middle-school level. All neighborhoods – and all parents – have the right to an excellent, local public middle school.
• Fully Funding CUNY: World-class public higher education is an essential part of New York's success. Both Paul's parents graduated from CUNY - enabling them to break in to New York's middle class. Funding CUNY is a state responsibility. Newell will work to ensure that it remains so, and that state funds for CUNY grow along with New York's needs.
• Fighting the Privatization of our Schools: Too many of our public goods are under threat of privatization.  If we allow education to become the next, we lose our credibility to call ourselves a meritocratic society.  Newell will oppose further efforts to privatize or schools and undercut the education professionals who work in them.

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Albany’s culture of corruption can no longer be ignored. Our goal should be not to purge a few bad actors, but to end the culture of corruption – for good. Political graft is more than immoral. It impoverishes us all. The costs of corruption are higher rents, higher taxes, underfunded schools, and crumbling subways.

For years, Paul Newell has been a leading voice for ethics and honesty in our state government. Long before the recent convictions, Newell was calling out Albany legislators for secret outside income and unregulated campaign contributions.

Eqaully important is a Democratic Party that is effective and free of lobbyist control.

More than ever, New York needs a new approach to leadership. Paul Newell has proposed the following reforms:

• Ban Lobbyists from Democratic Party Leadership: There is a role in the world for lobbyists, but it is not in the leadership of the Democratic Party.  Rules must be changed at the County, State, and Federal levels returning the people's party to the people.

• Outside Income Caps: Keep Albany honest with strict limits on outside income for legislators and other policymakers.

• Publicly Funded Elections: Full funding of state elections – to make sure big developers, oil companies, and party bosses don’t control our government.

• Transparency and Accountability: Establish an open legislative process to end the corrupt rule of “Three Men in a Room” – and let all 20 million New Yorkers in on our state government.

• Campaign Finance Reform: Close the LLC and “Housekeeping” loopholes, through which real estate developers and other special interest funnel unregulated contributions to political parties and our legislators.

• Expand Voting Access: Make voting easier by establishing early voting, vote-by-mail, and same-day registration – maximizing participation in our political process.

• Special Election Reform: Newell will fight to stop the backroom party bosses in all political parties from locking out New York voters.

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