Reminder:
The third regional Democratic National Committee (DNC) Future Forum will be livestreamed here beginning 9 a.m. ET on February 4th.
Focused read in 5 to 8 minutes
"The Subtle Force of Tom
Perez
The labor secretary, a son
of Dominican immigrants, has used his power to make real gains
for workers—so successfully that he’s become a vice presidential
prospect.
By Justin Miller
June 22, 2016
... As Perez has steadily risen through the ranks of government, he has effectively shifted the trajectories of the institutions where he’s worked—from Montgomery County Council and the Maryland state government to the Justice Department’s civil-rights division and now the DOL—in a more progressive direction. At each stage, he’s won admirers—from civil-rights and immigrant-rights advocates to labor activists.
An institutional ball of energy, Perez comes to meetings armed with data, facts, and ideas, but he aims to listen more than speak. He is a quick study; a wonk able to quickly grasp the granular details of an issue and their potential consequences, but also zoom out and see the big picture. “He has a real curiosity, which is very good in a leader. In all my interactions with him, I’ve never felt like he’s come in to just make a speech and leave. He’s really wanted to engage people and ask a lot of questions,” says Sarita Gupta, head of the worker advocacy organization Jobs With Justice. “It’s never the Tom Perez show.”
Perez has proven himself a highly effective public face for the department. He often takes his office on the road to lift up the struggles of those he can’t necessarily help with the current rules and regulations. He’s constantly traveling across the country to meet with low-wage workers fighting for a $15 minimum wage, state and local policy-makers considering paid family leave laws, and business leaders who have enacted “high road” policies.
... “He did masterful work hearing out business groups, concerned Democrats, and Republicans,” says AFL-CIO Government Affairs Director Bill Samuel. “They’re not going to be able to reverse this.” Despite a steady drumbeat of criticism from The Wall Street Journal, the Chamber of Commerce, and Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, Perez announced the DOL’s fiduciary standard on April 6, 2016, before a packed room at the liberal think tank the Center for American Progress. “The regulatory structure that protects people’s investments has not kept up with the changing landscape,” Perez said. “In a world where people are more on their own in making financial decisions, financial advisers are not required to give advice that is in their clients’ best interest.”
The new rule, he said, “really puts in place a fundamental principle of consumer protection into the American retirement marketplace, which is that consumers’ best interests must now come before the adviser’s financial interest.”
In a testament to how heavy a political lift the rule was, he was prominently joined by Senators Warren and Cory Booker, and notably, the White House’s Zients. He also made sure to credit DOL staffers at the Employee Benefits Security Administration, including Borzi, calling on them to stand amid a wave of applause.
Perez, labor leaders say, was also critical in getting the White House to issue the executive orders, formulated but not promulgated in Obama’s first term, to lift up the millions of low-wage workers employed by federal contractors.
... His family’s history has instilled within him a deep devotion to easing immigrants’—and all Americans’—struggles. “This country gave so much to my parents,” Perez said in the Brown Alumni Magazine interview, “who were exiled from the Dominican Republic, so they didn’t have a country. And in turn they made sure that their kids understood that the ladder of opportunity should always be down.”
You can read the story here
Focused Thought 15 seconds
1st Focused Action in 5 minutes ↓
Perez wants to hear your voice:
What are the most urgent
challenges?
What should our party’s
overarching priorities be?
What specific, tactical
recommendations do you have for our party as we move forward?
What else do you want us
to know?
You can respond via survey here
2nd Focused Action in 30 seconds ↓
You can share the DNC chair candidate's Tweet here
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Other candidates for the 2017 Democratic National Committee chair position are pictured here with Interim Chairperson Donna Brazile and moderator Jon Ralston at the 1st Forum in Phoenix, AZ on January 14th!
(L-R)Pete Buttigieg, Keith Ellison, Jehmu Greene, (Perez, Brazile, Ralston), Jaime Harrison, Sally Boynton Brown and Raymond Buckley
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Direct source information for Democrats:
The Democratic Party Website
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Thank you for Networking for Democrats today!
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(Remember 2018...)
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Curated by Gail Mountain, Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Democratic Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided! You can read more Network For #StrongerTogether posts here: https://networkstrongertogether.blogspot.com/
( You can also find me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GKMTNtwits )
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