Faith Power List

City & State magazine, which describes itself as “the premier media organization dedicated to covering New York’s local and state politics and policy,” offers a regular feature called The Power List. In its inaugural Faith Power 100, which is tilted heavily toward the New York City region, there are three individuals might be familiar to people in the Capital District who are involved in the connection between religion and politics. Their ranking and description are as follows: 

48. Rev. Peter Cook
Executive Director, New York State Council of Churches
The Rev. Peter Cook, who represents 7,000 congregations across the state, has pushed Gov. Kathy Hochul to transfer incarcerated people out of Rikers and rallied with home care workers to boost their wages in the state budget. Cook rose to national prominence by using his platform to drive a wedge between gun ownership and Christianity after a gunman killed 10 Black people in a Buffalo supermarket in May. Cook argued for stricter gun control legislation, including an assault weapons ban and a national red flag law.
 
83. Richard Witt
Executive Director, Rural & Migrant Ministry
For over three decades, Richard Witt has helmed The Rural & Migrant Ministry, standing firm behind state legislation, such as the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act of 2019. The ordained Episcopal priest recently threw his support behind New York’s first farm-worker union, Local 338, as its negotiations stalled with the Long Island winery, Pindar Vineyards. Witt acknowledged influence among farmworkers, Radio that there’s possible pressure on Pindar by the industry to not to settle a contract due to a fear of empowerment that could influence other farmworkers.
 
84. Rev. E. West McNeill
Executive Director, Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State
Since 2014, the ordained United Church of Christ minister has worked to unite faith and labor leaders in a statewide movement for racial and economic justice. The Rev. E. West McNeill has been on the forefront of a $15 minimum wage campaign, extending a pandemic-era moratorium on evictions, improving living conditions in corrections facilities and shielding undocumented immigrants from deportation. McNeill gave a sermon on social justice work at a Peace With Justice conference in June and stood with the Shinnecock Indian Nation on Indigenous Peoples Day.