Dear friend,
You’ve been with me for a long time, and we’ve done great
work together for the state of New York—passing marriage equality,
implementing safe and sane gun control laws, and doing what everyone said
was impossible—passing balanced, on-time budgets.
Thank you for all for your help. We’ve done a lot, and we should
be proud of what we’ve accomplished.
However, there’s a lot left undone. We were unable to get the full
Women’s Equality Agenda through Albany. It would have mandated pay
equity for women, put an end to discrimination against pregnant women,
cracked down on sexual harassment, and codified Roe vs. Wade into New York law.
When I proposed this agenda, I thought it would sail through the Legislature.
Boy, was I wrong.
That’s why I’m asking for your help today to come together,
because it’s going to take something else to get this done.
And that something else is the Women’s Equality Party.
When I was growing up my father always had a saying: “In politics,
it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.” I never understood
what he meant. When I finally worked up the courage to ask, he told me,
“It’s the people that make the noise that get the attention.”
But sometimes, no matter how much noise they make, women’s voices
get drowned out. We have heard the anger of women who see their concerns
disregarded time and time again. We have had to face the frustration of
women whose daily challenges and struggles are never addressed.
That’s why we need to work together to make history on Tuesday.
We must take our frustration and anger, channel it into action, and together
ensure that no one will ever be able to disregard the needs of women and
girls again.
We have demanded equal rights at the top of our lungs. But the Conservative
party and other ultra-right-wing forces are out there shouting at the
top of theirs to drown us out. Together, we need to speak loudly enough
to cut through the clamor.
That’s why we need the Women’s Equality Party.
Let me address the obvious: yes, I happen to be a man. And I can see how
it might seem strange for a man to stand up as the candidate for a party
devoted to women’s equality.
I have three girls, Mariah, Cara, and Michaela, who I love more than anything.
And I have a loving partner, Sandra Lee. And I tell you, the way I see
it, equality is not a women’s issue, it is a human rights issue
and a simple matter of justice. Yes, I’m a man. I’m a man
who has seen Albany disregard women, and I’m sick of it. I have
made it my mission, as a father, as a governor, and as a human being,
to do everything I can to make sure the women I love, and every woman
or girl in New York, is every bit as equal under the law as any boy or
man anywhere.
That’s why Kathy Hochul and I are putting our names on the ballot
on the Women’s Equality Party line. It’s time for a party
whose singular goal is equality for women, a party that knows women work
as hard as men do and is committed to getting them equal pay. A party
where protecting a woman’s right to choose is a priority, not an
afterthought. A party that believes women deserve to stand at the front
of the line.
On countless issues, New York has been the progressive leader, a model
for the other states. What we do here has a ripple effect: where New York
leads, the nation follows.
This should be an issue where New York stands up. We should have the honesty
to stand up, and point to the problem, and say: this is not working. The
things we are doing are not getting the job done.
We have a chance to put women’s issues front and center where they
belong. Let’s seize the moment.
If at least 50,000 of us vote on the Women’s Equality Party line
on November 4th, together we will ensure that women’s issues are
no longer something politicians think they can disregard.
Please pledge to vote for me and Kathy Hochul on the Women’s Equality
Party line on November 4th and together we’ll make history.
If you want change, you have to make noise—and you have to vote.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo