There was also no consensus among union leaders about the effort to flip the Senate into Democratic hands – a push that largely originated with unions during the labor-backed Working Families Party’s debate over whether to endorse Gov. Andrew Cuomo or Fordham Law Prof. Zephyr Teachout. In a deal brokered by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, Cuomo ended up endorsing a Democrat-controlled Senate as well as the return of IDC members to the so-called regular Democratic conference.
But NYSUT members feel strongly that individual senators – both Republicans and Democrats – have been very supportive of their issues over the years, and they wanted to repay that loyalty with endorsements, Pallotta said. For example, NYSUT threw its support behind GOP Sen. Ken LaValle, longtime chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee; and another Long Island Republican, Jack Martins, who is among the Democrats’ top targets this year, even through it opted to take a pass in many of the Long Island districts – including the one represented by Senate GOP Leader Dean Skelos.
NYSUT also remained loyal to the Senate Republicans’ second-in-command, Sen. Tom Libous, of the Southern Tier, despite his indictment on charges that he lied to federal agents about helping his son get a job with a politically-connected law firm.
Okay, I get paying back Republicans like Martins, who has been good on education issues.
But why back the indicted Libous?
And the next time you hear jive about Working Families Party backing Cuomo so that the State Senate could be taken back by Dems, remember this sentence from Liz Benjamin:
There was also no consensus among union leaders about the effort to flip the Senate into Democratic hands – a push that largely originated with unions during the labor-backed Working Families Party’s debate over whether to endorse Gov. Andrew Cuomo or Fordham Law Prof. Zephyr Teachout.
I'm agnostic these days about Dems taking back the Senate - many of them are ed deformers and pro-Common Core, after all.
But I do want to point out the jive around the WFP endorsement.
PEF just endorsed Zephyr Teachout... smart move since Cuomo has made their lives miserable in the past 4 years.
ReplyDeleteTracie
Yes, my wife has a good friend in PEF - he shoved that bad contract down their throats, with threat of layoff if they didn't take it. But at least the R&F took it out on their union leadership and Cuomo himself. Unlike the UFT/NYSUT, which took it out on the leader who started to get aggressive toward Cuomo, rewarded Andy with WFP endorsement, then rewarded him again by sitting out an NYSUT endorsement (which effectively works as a Cuomo endorsement.)
ReplyDeleteyep I had a good friend in PEF who was affected by that horrible contract too... I heard all about that one..
DeleteTracie
"But NYSUT members feel strongly that individual senators – both Republicans and Democrats – have been very supportive of their issues over the years, and they wanted to repay that loyalty with endorsements, Pallotta said."
ReplyDeleteI am an active member of NYSUT and not one leader has asked for my opinion on endorsements. I have written letters and made calls to my NYSUT election district board member asking for rank and file input but nothing came of it.
Grass roots my Arsh!