According to a Politico Playbook report, New York City Mayor, and rumored presidential hopeful, Bill de Blasio is set to unveil a progressive version of the “Contract with America.” Politico reports:
FIRST LOOK – De Blasio to unveil a progressive version of the “Contract with America”: “On Tuesday, May 12, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio will convene progressive leaders from across the country at the U.S. Capitol’s … House Triangle in support of The Progressive Agenda to Combat Income Inequality. The Progressive Agenda … builds upon the work of dozens of economists, lawmakers, and … activists.”
–BACKSTORY: De Blasio convened a group of a dozen national progressives at Gracie Mansion on April 2, and they discussed ideas for addressing income inequality. Then the conversation extended to others — economists, electeds, activists.
More than 60 big names have signed on, including Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.); Reps. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.); Marian Wright Edelman and Howard Dean; national labor leaders; and actors Susan Sarandon and Steve Buscemi.
–Rolling Stone’s May 21 issue has a 7½ page spread, “The Mayor’s Crusade: Bill de Blasio is trying to remake America’s biggest city – and he doesn’t plan to stop there,” by Mark Binelli: “de Blasio convened a closed-door meeting of national thought leaders and elected officials … to begin work on a new version of the ‘Contract With America,’ only this one would be a product of the left, focusing on economic policies … Looking to rejuvenate the Democratic Party, he’d turned not to Bill Clinton, whose strategy of triangulation the mayor openly repudiates, but Newt Gingrich.”
Joshua Pinho works for American Principles in Action.
