Remarks by Zephyr Teachout (as prepared) Working Families Party Convention

Desmond Hotel, Albany, NY

May 31, 2014
1


My name is Zephyr Teachout. Im a Working Families Democrat!

This is a big moment. We all feel it. And we all should celebrate it.

We are right now at the center of a national debate: about whether Democrats should represent
Main Street or Wall Street. Whether to be with the 99 or the 1 percent.

Everyone in this room is on the side of the 99 percent: the workers and small businesses and
parents and teachers. You are the best New Yorkers I know.

I just finished a history book for Harvard about corruption. You know what the opposite of
corruption was for the founders? The opposite of corruption is love of the public. You all look
into your hearts and know that you love the public, and you are fighters in the cause of that love.
And I love you for it.

The only question tonight is what is the best way to fight for our great New York public.

But lets step back. A lot of you are surely wondering, Who the hell is Zephyr Teachout?

I grew up in rural Vermont. I went to Duke and Yale and teach at Fordham law.

What I do what I believe my job is is to fight corruption and the concentration of economic
and political power that is choking off our economy and choking off our democracy.

I fight in the courts. My work was cited by the Supreme Court in the Citizen United case.

I fight through campaigns. I was head of organizing for Howard Dean in 2004.

I fight by organizing. After the Wall Street crash of 2008 I created a group to break up the banks
that within weeks attracted thousands of followers.

And I fight with my pen.

I fight, ultimately and always, for an America that lives up to the promise of liberty true liberty
not just to vote, but to have real control over your own life and the life of your children and the
life of your community.

The reason I entered this campaign for the nomination of the Working Families Party is that I
believe we have to aim for more, much more. New Yorkers, and the American people, have to
learn how to demand much more.

Today we see the worst inequality in America in 100 years.


Remarks by Zephyr Teachout (as prepared) Working Families Party Convention
Desmond Hotel, Albany, NY
May 31, 2014
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And yet right now the powers have us fighting for scraps.

My goal in entering this campaign is to launch an entirely different argument about what sort of
America we want to live in.

One where the people serve the rich and powerful? Or one where the people rule?

I dont want us to ask only for campaign finance reform. I want to stand with you tonight and
demand economic democracy.

I do not want to ask only for good jobs and fair pay. I want to stand with you and demand a
Citizens Economy, where every worker and every family business has the opportunity to thrive.

I do not want to ask only for a rejiggering of tax policies. I want to stand with you and
redistribute real power within our economy.

Thats why I believe that this campaign must be about the rise of a new political vision in
America, a new idea of America.

The last 24 hours have been extraordinary.

This is old-fashioned democratic politics. And anyone who knows me knows that I love
democracy.

We should all of us in this room be immensely proud.

We have argued and fought and cried and hugged.

And now we still stand together as a single party.

In all these years, theres only one thing Ive learned for certain. If you are going to take on
power you have to concentrate power and you need good friends good fighting friends to do
that. I look forward to fighting alongside you all, my new friends.

Yesterday a number of leaders in the Working Families Party struck a deal.

I was not part of that deal. And that is still true today. I am not part of any deal.

I understand that the decision my friends made yesterday was a very difficult decision. I respect
their decision. I trust their motives. I know they are always fighting for what they believe.

I understand that the decision my friends made yesterday has made many people unhappy.

I want to make clear to all of you. The grand debate over the last 24 hours was not about me.
Remarks by Zephyr Teachout (as prepared) Working Families Party Convention
Desmond Hotel, Albany, NY
May 31, 2014
3


This grand debate we have all lived through is about this party. It is about our hopes and dreams
as a fighting community.

And I believe that any agreement that raises minimum wages for working New York families is
worth celebrating.

Everybody believes that. Again, our only debate is about the best way to get there.

I do want to say a few words tonight about what I, Zephyr Teachout, also want to see in the days
and years ahead.

I want to see a New York with the best public schools in the nation.

I want to see New Yorkers with the best and freest access to information in America.

Yet we all know there is an effort right now by a giant corporation called Comcast to take over
both our television and our broadband and to use that power not only to charge us more but also
to deliver us less.

That must end. I will fight to end it. The governor of New York can fight to end it.

I want to see a New York that is home to the richest family businesses and lushest family farms
in all America.

But we all know what is happening in our state today. We all know that companies like Walmart
and Tyson have monopolized Main Street and bankrupted our farming families.

That must end. I will fight to end it.

I dont know what will happen tonight. But if I ever get to stand before you again, I will never
ask you to compromise your principles or values.

I believe that no matter what the decision tonight, we have to take pride in how we have turned
the state to pay.

We have already made a difference this year.

Whatever the decision tonight, tomorrow we wake stronger, with an extraordinary show of what
working families in New York and across America can achieve.

Thank you for your love of New York and of our nation.