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The Attorney General of New York is the elected attorney
whose duty is to represent the People of the State of New York.
The Attorney General is not the attorney for the corporations
chartered in the State of New York or the foreign corporations
who do business in New York.
The Attorney General of New York has the ability to rein in
corporate abuse and help return control of corporations to the
People of the State of New York. How? The Attorney General of
New York is the ONLY person with the authority to REVOKE A CORPORATION'S
CHARTER. What's that? A corporation is not a person. The way
it is created is that a state allows it to exist by recognizing
its corporate charter, which states its business purpose. New
York State incorporates many of the biggest corporations in the
world and its Business Corporations Law §1101 gives the
Attorney General of New York State the power to sue to revoke
that charter and a jury of the People of New York to decide if
(1) the corporation did business in a persistently fraudulent
or illegal manner or (2) abused its powers contrary to the public
policy of the state. If the corporation's charter is revoked,
its assets can be given to entities that will use them for the
original purpose of the corporation.
When these big corporations are taking people's pension funds
and investment savings by fraudulently stating corporate profits,
the Attorney General should be bringing lawsuits to end that
practice by revoking the corporation's right to exist. When big
corporations persistently violate clean air, clean water and
other anti-pollution laws which are the public policy of the
state, the Attorney General should be bringing lawsuits to end
that practice by revoking the corporation's right to exist. But
the Republicans and Democrats don't do that. Why not? They claim
that putting a corporation out of business will hurt jobs. They
claim that they can pass Corporate Responsibility Laws that will
regulate corporations to do better. They claim that it is just
a few bad apples and not the system of corporate dominance of
our politics, economy and culture that is wrong. The Republican
and Democrat Parties do not want to talk about corporate abuse
because they have participated and benefitted from the present
way of doing business.
I am an attorney who has been representing people against
corporations for 25 years. I have never represented a business
corporation. And I want to represent the People of the State
of New York against the big corporations who have been stealing
money persistently and fraudulently as a way of doing business.
I am not anti-business because, as a self-employed attorney,
I know that small businesses have been the backbone of the economy
until the large corporations began squeezing them out. Small
businesses are hampered by the large multinational corporations
who have gotten so-called "free trade" laws which are
only helpful to large corporations. Small businesses never get
corporate welfare from state and federal government the way big
corporations do. The interests of the WalMarts of the world are
to close all the mom and pop stores so that there is no competition.
Small business are hurt by corporate rule as much as people are
hurt by it.
I decided to run for office because of insurance corporation
abuse which I deal with in my representation of injured workers
in workers compensation cases. Everyday I see insurance corporations
deny and delay medical care and benefits to my clients who have
been injured on the job. Insurance corporations were originally
created to serve people by pooling resources and using those
pooled resources to provide prompt help when workers are injured
on the job. But that purpose, for which the People allowed these
corporations to exist, has been corrupted. Now the purpose of
the insurance corporations is to make as much money as possible.
One of the easiest ways is to deny or delay benefits to those
who are supposed to be helped. These insurance corporations don't
care that their denial or delay in providing medical care and
lost wages will result in more disability to my clients, maybe
the loss of their home, delay the recovery and return to work
of these individuals. They don't care if this person worked for
the company for 30 years and wore out her back, her hands or
her eyes to help the employer make money. I've seen small businesses
try to help their injured employees to get the workers compensation
benefits they deserve and I've seen insurance corporations deny
and delay those benefits anyway. These insurance corporations
have changed their corporate purpose from providing benefits
to paying big corporate executive salaries and bonuses.
These insurance corporations are persistently violating the
public policy of the State of New York. The Republican and Democrat
Parties claim to care about people but their actions show they
care about corporate profits. The Green Party and I put people
before profits and patient need before corporate greed.
The Republican and Democrat elected officials claim that these
insurance corporations are regulated by the State Insurance Department
and by the Workers Compensation Board. But these state agencies
should be named the Insurance Corporations Protection Board since
the fines (which are few) imposed by State Agencies are so low
that the Corporations make more money violating regulations and
paying the fines.
These corporations are friends of the Governor, the Comptroller
and the Attorney General. These corporations finance the campaigns
of the two major parties. And the elected officials appoint people
who are friends of the big corporations to run these agencies.
The threat of regulation is no threat.
The Attorney General of New York State represents these State
Agencies. If I were Attorney General, I would be the advocate
for the People's Needs and make these agencies responsive to
People's Needs.
While other political parties may claim a willingness to restrain
corporate rule, their actions speak louder than their words.
The Democrats and Republicans have facilitated and supported
corporate rule of this state. Only the Green Party refuses corporate
contributions, and only the Green Party will make sure that people's
needs not corporate greed will be the standard for elected State
officials.
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