Miles Rapoport

While studying at Harvard in the late 1960s Miles Rapoport was in the radical Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Harvard SDS campaigned in opposition to U.S. Military involvement in Vietnam and the presence of the Reserve Officer Coaching Corps (ROTC) on campus. Writing within the Huffington Post of September 8, 2008, in a write-up entitled “From Organizer To Elected Official” Democratic Socialists of America member Peter Dreier listed several former US politicians who had started their careers as “community organizers”. They were late Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, the late Ed Roybal (California’s initial Latino member of Congress, elected in 1963), previous mayors Tom Murphy of Pittsburgh and Andrew Youthful of Atlanta, Bev Stein, former chair of Multnomah County in greater Portland, Oregon, previous Connecticut Secretary of State Miles Rapoport, previous state legislators Gonzalo Barrientos of Texas and John McDonough of Massachusetts, and the late Sally Shipman, an tankless water heaters Austin City Council member. During the 1970s Rapoport worked for Boston based Massachusetts Honest Share. Miles Rapoport and Demos are each deeply linked to the radical Washington DC based “think tank” Institute for Policy Study(IPS). The IPS web site names Demos as a “partner” business and many Demos personnel come from IPS backgrounds, including founder Charles Halpern. One of Rapoport’s first acts on becoming Connecticut Secretary of State in 1995 was to employ Merrillee Milstein as his Deputy Secretary. In 1996 Miles Rapoport, President of Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action, Former Connecticut Secretary of State was one with the original 130 founders of Campaign for America’s Future. In 2000 Rapoport became president and CEO of Demos. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine was the steadicam site of New York City DSA’s 1996 May Day “bash”. New York City Council member Guillermo Linares received the Paul Dubrul award for community action and leadership whilst UAW Region 9A Director Phil Wheeler received the Debs/Thomas award. Barbara Ehrenreich, a DSA founder and honorary chair, was the recipient of a special award honoring her for her contributions as a leading feminist, cultural critic, and political satirist. Over 150 people joined in the celebration, which includes special guests Dolores Huerta with the United Farm Workers, DSA Vice Chair Jose LaLuz, Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, and Connecticut Secretary of metal detector State Miles Rapoport. On September 20 2001 Miles Rapoport addressed a memorial service at CUNY for Richard Cloward-originator, with his wife Democratic Socialists of America member Frances Fox Piven of the famous Cloward-Piven Strategy. Several DSA members spoke which includes Barbara Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Gus Newport and Piven, plus New Party founders Joel Rogers and Howard Zinn and two since deceased socialist activists June Jordan and Tim Sampson. In 2002 Democratic Socialists of The United States organised a September 20-22 event in Washington DC entitled “Confronting America’s Low-WageEconomy.” The conference also kicked off DSA’s national campaign to focus attention on the problems of low-wage workers with a series of presentations and workshops setting forth the issues and possibilities for activism. Saturday presentations featured such speakers microdermabrasion machines as author Holly Sklar, Wade Rathke, Chief Organizer of ACORN, Wendell Primus of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Miles Rapoport of Demos and DSA vice chair Harold Meyerson. In 2004 Rapoport represented Demos at the DSA organised Socialist Scholars Conference held in New York City. Rapoport has written several op-eds supporting Obama and has campaigned strongly in support of applying a “progressive” agenda through the new administration. In December 2008 Rapoport addressed at forum organized by Fenton Communications, with panelists Michael Vachon, an advisor towards the chairman at Soros Fund and personal spokesman for George Soros and Laura Flanders of GritTV. The forum entitled “Making Your Issue Heard in the Dawn of the Obama Era” centered on helping “progressive” groups to successfully pressure the Obama administration into making needed hard money lenders changes. In 2009 Miles Rapoport was listed as being a member with the Board of Directors of the American Prospect.