Jonathan Tasini
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Yoav Tasini is a strategist, organizer, activist, commentator and writer, primarily focusing his energies on the topics of work, labor
and the economy
. On June 11, 2009, he announced that he would challenge New York
U.S. Senator
Kirsten Gillibrand
in the Democratic
primary for the 2010 U.S. Senate special election in New York
. However, Tasini later decided to run instead for a seat in the House of Representatives in 2010.
He was the president of the National Writers Union
from 1990 to 2003. In 2006, he unsuccessfully challenged incumbent U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
in the Democratic primary.
He is currently president of the Economic Future Group, a national consulting group in the United States
. He also writes frequently for a labor and economy blog
Working Life.
. Tasini's late father, Betsalel Tasini, was a computer scientist who was born in Palestine
and fought in the Haganah
, Israel's pre-state army, and its strike force, the Palmach
. Tasini lived with his father and stepmother in Israel for 7 years and speaks fluent Hebrew. He completed high school in Israel and continued his studies there at Tel Aviv University
. While there, he was also involved in the powerful labor movement in Israel, Histadrut
. He also holds a degree in political sciences from UCLA.
(UAW
Local 1981). During Tasini's tenure as NWU president, it was discovered that the union's health insurance provider, Employers Mutual Insurance, was a fraudulent operation and had been wrongfully denying claims.
Members were divided over Tasini's leadership during the insurance crisis, with some accusing him of failing to notice the concerns of members and act quickly. Others pointed out that he appointed a committee to address concerns after the fraud was discovered; ultimately the panel released two opposing reports.
Tasini remains the president emeritus of the NWU, which has suffered a decline in membership in recent years. The candidate he supported to replace him as president was defeated.
Tasini was the lead plaintiff in the case of New York Times Co. v. Tasini
, in which the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled (in June 2001) in favor of the copyright
claims of writers whose work was republished in electronic databases without their permission. He is also the president and executive director of the Creators Federation.
with Clinton, submitted approximately 40,000 of them on July 13.
Tasini was endorsed by a number of prominent political activists, including Susan Sarandon
, Cindy Sheehan
, Barbara Ehrenreich
, and Howard Zinn
. On September 7, 2006, The Gay City News
endorsed Tasini's Senate candidacy, citing his support for same-sex marriage
, and Clinton's stated opposition to legalizing same-sex marriage
. In his campaign, Tasini emphasized his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
and called for universal health care
and curbs on corporate power as part of what he termed "New Rules For the Economy". He wrote a book called It's Not Raining, We're Getting Peed On: The Scam of the Deficit Crisis in 2010, voicing his opinions about the current debt crises.
Clinton for the most part ignored Tasini's candidacy, refusing to debate him or acknowledge his presence in the race. She won the primary easily with 83% percent of the vote to Tasini's 17%. Afterward, she decided not to have a victory party, which analysts interpreted as a sign of "how she portrayed her opposition as not worthy of serious attention".
and Armand Assante
.
On September 14, 2010, Tasini finished fifth in the Democratic primary garnering 2,389 votes, or 5% of the total vote.
Labour economics
Labor economics seeks to understand the functioning and dynamics of the market for labor. Labor markets function through the interaction of workers and employers...
and the economy
Economy
An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
. On June 11, 2009, he announced that he would challenge New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Gillibrand
Kirsten Elizabeth Rutnik Gillibrand is an attorney and the junior United States Senator from the state of New York and a member of the Democratic Party...
in the Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
primary for the 2010 U.S. Senate special election in New York
United States Senate special election in New York, 2010
The 2010 United States Senate special election in New York took place on November 2, 2010, concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections...
. However, Tasini later decided to run instead for a seat in the House of Representatives in 2010.
He was the president of the National Writers Union
National Writers Union
National Writers Union , founded on November 19, 1981, is the trade union in the United States for freelance and contract writers: journalists, book and short fiction authors, business and technical writers, web content providers, and poets...
from 1990 to 2003. In 2006, he unsuccessfully challenged incumbent U.S. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
in the Democratic primary.
He is currently president of the Economic Future Group, a national consulting group in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He also writes frequently for a labor and economy blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
Working Life.
Background
Tasini was born in Houston, though he would spend much of his late childhood in IsraelIsrael
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Tasini's late father, Betsalel Tasini, was a computer scientist who was born in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
and fought in the Haganah
Haganah
Haganah was a Jewish paramilitary organization in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine from 1920 to 1948, which later became the core of the Israel Defense Forces.- Origins :...
, Israel's pre-state army, and its strike force, the Palmach
Palmach
The Palmach was the elite fighting force of the Haganah, the underground army of the Yishuv during the period of the British Mandate of Palestine. The Palmach was established on May 15, 1941...
. Tasini lived with his father and stepmother in Israel for 7 years and speaks fluent Hebrew. He completed high school in Israel and continued his studies there at Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...
. While there, he was also involved in the powerful labor movement in Israel, Histadrut
Histadrut
HaHistadrut HaKlalit shel HaOvdim B'Eretz Yisrael , known as the Histadrut, is Israel's organization of trade unions. Established in December 1920 during the British Mandate for Palestine, it became one of the most powerful institutions of the State of Israel.-History:The Histadrut was founded in...
. He also holds a degree in political sciences from UCLA.
Career at National Writers Union
From 1990 to April 2003, he served as president of the National Writers UnionNational Writers Union
National Writers Union , founded on November 19, 1981, is the trade union in the United States for freelance and contract writers: journalists, book and short fiction authors, business and technical writers, web content providers, and poets...
(UAW
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
Local 1981). During Tasini's tenure as NWU president, it was discovered that the union's health insurance provider, Employers Mutual Insurance, was a fraudulent operation and had been wrongfully denying claims.
Members were divided over Tasini's leadership during the insurance crisis, with some accusing him of failing to notice the concerns of members and act quickly. Others pointed out that he appointed a committee to address concerns after the fraud was discovered; ultimately the panel released two opposing reports.
Tasini remains the president emeritus of the NWU, which has suffered a decline in membership in recent years. The candidate he supported to replace him as president was defeated.
Tasini was the lead plaintiff in the case of New York Times Co. v. Tasini
New York Times Co. v. Tasini
New York Times Co. v. Tasini, 533 U.S. 483 , is a leading decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of copyright in the contents of a newspaper database...
, in which the U.S. Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
ruled (in June 2001) in favor of the copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
claims of writers whose work was republished in electronic databases without their permission. He is also the president and executive director of the Creators Federation.
Campaign for U.S. Senate 2006
On December 6, 2005, Tasini officially announced his bid to challenge Senator Clinton for the Democratic nomination in the New York 2006 Senate election. Tasini, who needed to collect 15,000 valid signatures to force a primaryPrimary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
with Clinton, submitted approximately 40,000 of them on July 13.
Tasini was endorsed by a number of prominent political activists, including Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon
Susan Sarandon is an American actress. She has worked in films and television since 1969, and won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the 1995 film Dead Man Walking. She had also been nominated for the award for four films before that and has received other recognition for her...
, Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Sheehan
Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan is an American anti-war activist whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended anti-war protest at a makeshift camp outside President...
, Barbara Ehrenreich
Barbara Ehrenreich
-Early life:Ehrenreich was born Barbara Alexander to Isabelle Oxley and Ben Howes Alexander in Butte, Montana, which she describes as then being "a bustling, brawling, blue collar mining town."...
, and Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn
Howard Zinn was an American historian, academic, author, playwright, and social activist. Before and during his tenure as a political science professor at Boston University from 1964-88 he wrote more than 20 books, which included his best-selling and influential A People's History of the United...
. On September 7, 2006, The Gay City News
Gay City News
Gay City News is an award-winning, free weekly newspaper based in New York City that focuses on local and national issues relating to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. It was founded in 1994 as Lesbian Gay New York, later LGNY, and was sold to Community Media LLC in 2002,...
endorsed Tasini's Senate candidacy, citing his support for same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
, and Clinton's stated opposition to legalizing same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....
. In his campaign, Tasini emphasized his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq
2003 invasion of Iraq
The 2003 invasion of Iraq , was the start of the conflict known as the Iraq War, or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations...
and called for universal health care
Universal health care
Universal health care is a term referring to organized health care systems built around the principle of universal coverage for all members of society, combining mechanisms for health financing and service provision.-History:...
and curbs on corporate power as part of what he termed "New Rules For the Economy". He wrote a book called It's Not Raining, We're Getting Peed On: The Scam of the Deficit Crisis in 2010, voicing his opinions about the current debt crises.
Clinton for the most part ignored Tasini's candidacy, refusing to debate him or acknowledge his presence in the race. She won the primary easily with 83% percent of the vote to Tasini's 17%. Afterward, she decided not to have a victory party, which analysts interpreted as a sign of "how she portrayed her opposition as not worthy of serious attention".
Campaign for the 15th District Congressional seat in 2010
On May 13, 2010 Tasini announced that he would now be running for Congress, hoping to win the seat held by Charles Rangel, who has been a representative of the 15th district for 17 years. According to a press release announcing his candidacy, Tasini stated that he plans to "remain entirely energized about our mission to change the country". Tasini is being heavily endorsed by prominent actors and political activists, such as Richard DreyfussRichard Dreyfuss
Richard Stephen Dreyfuss is an American actor best known for starring in a number of film, television, and theater roles since the late 1960s, including the films American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goodbye Girl, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, Stakeout, Always, What About...
and Armand Assante
Armand Assante
-Personal life:Assante was born in New York City and raised in Cornwall, New York, the son of Katherine , a music teacher and poet, and Armand Anthony Assante, Sr., a painter and artist. His father was Italian and his mother was Irish, and was raised in a devoutly Roman Catholic family...
.
On September 14, 2010, Tasini finished fifth in the Democratic primary garnering 2,389 votes, or 5% of the total vote.
See also
- New York Times Co. v. TasiniNew York Times Co. v. TasiniNew York Times Co. v. Tasini, 533 U.S. 483 , is a leading decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of copyright in the contents of a newspaper database...
- United States Senate election in New York, 2006
- United States Senate special election in New York, 2010United States Senate special election in New York, 2010The 2010 United States Senate special election in New York took place on November 2, 2010, concurrently with other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections...
External links
- Congressional campaign website
- Working Life biography
- The Nation profile of Tasini
- Q&A with Tasini in Guernica Magazine (Guernicamag.com)
- Statement on policy re Israel
- Jonathan Tasini HuffingtonPost archived essays
- Tasini on "The Audacity of Greed: Free Markets, Corporate Thieves and the Looting of America" - video by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...