The UFT MUST Endorse Andrew Cuomo For Governor

I am calling for the UFT to enthusiastically and vocally endorse Governor Andrew M. Cuomo for re-election this November.

Sure Cuomo has shown himself to be anti-union, anti-teacher and anti-traditional public schools during his tenure as governor.

And sure it makes no sense that a teachers union would continue to support a politician who hates unions, teachers and traditional public schools, as the UFT does with Andrew Cuomo (and the AFT and NEA do with Barack Obama.)

And really, another four years of Andrew Cuomo will probably be the final nail in the coffin of traditional public schools in NYC, since Cuomo has already forced into law a provision that forces the NYCDOE to take money and resources from traditional public schools and give them to charter school entrepreneurs like Eva Moskowitz and David Levin.

So you may be wondering, why am I calling for the UFT to endorse Andrew M. Cuomo for governor?

Well, it's quite simple really.

As I posted earlier this morning, pretty much every candidate the UFT endorses loses - the latest being Adriano Espaillat, the state senator who conceded to Representative Charles Rangel after losing a second close primary race for Congress.

Quite frankly, one of the better things that can happen if you're opposed to Andrew M Cuomo and corporate education reform in New York State is for the UFT to enthusiastically and vocally support Andrew M. Cuomo for re-election.

While the UFT's endorsement may not be the "kiss of death" for Cuomo, it surely means a lot less in real political terms than the UFT leadership would have the members and the public believe.

So go ahead, Mikey and Company - do the right thing and endorse Cuomo for governor.

And then we can hope for the kind of political results you got in the Espaillat/Rangel race, or the Thompson 2013 run or the backing of the Holy Triumvirate of Hevesi, Ferrer and Green in 2001...