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campaign 2013

December 6, 2012

Instead of backing a mayoral hopeful, Mulgrew assists them all

by Philissa Cramer, at 6:14 pm

UFT President Michael Mulgrew's name appears on a fundraising letter for a mayoral candidate. Mulgrew has told all four likely Democratic contenders that they can use his name in their appeals.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew said today that he hasn’t picked a candidate for mayor to endorse. But he has decided that he will lend a hand to all four people vying for the Democratic nomination, at least for now.

For political candidates, the UFT’s endorsement is valuable. Landing it means an influx of funds, supporters in every neighborhood in the city, and an army of potential volunteers to fuel the political ground game.

So the four likely candidates for the Democratic nomination for mayor — City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Comptroller John Liu, former comptroller Bill Thompson, and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio — have been courting the union for some time.

At a panel discussion on education policy last month, each promised to depart from Mayor Bloomberg’s critical tone when talking about teachers. And each showed up to an event last week held by New Yorkers for Great Public Schools, a coalition formed to oppose Bloomberg’s education policies during the mayoral campaign, to emphasized where their policy positions line up with the union’s.

Today, the union announced that Mulgrew had given all four candidates the right to use his name in their fundraising appeals. When they send out invitations to fundraisers, for example, they can list him as being among the hosts.

The union is unlikely to endorse a single candidate until much closer to the Democratic primary, in September 2013, and whether it will issue an official endorsement even then is not at all assured. The union has not backed a mayoral candidate since 2001, when it endorsed candidates in the primary, runoff, and general election. None of those candidates won.

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  • Smith

    Even Quinn?  She’s against sick days for poor people.  I know we have to be practical, but please! 

  • ChildrenFirstAlways

    Just as long as the UFT doesn’t back Quinn, we’ll be ok. A lot of things like this will come out about Quinn as we get closer to the election; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uhR3-8xK6s&feature=youtu.be

    She’ll say anything to get elected. One might wonder which devil she made a deal with?

  • old teach

    This announcement delays the eventual endorsement that the UFT will have to make and their political strategy is questionable at best and devious and harmful at worse. Why? because if Quinn is the eventual winner of the democratic primary she will be bought and paid for by Bloomberg and her primary allegiance will be to his bucks and to secure his legacy. The UFT should distance themselves from Quinn unless she or any of the candidates clearly put forth their education position as diametrically opposed to the Bloomberg reforms.

  • A.S.Neill

     thanks for the link. very informative.

  • Clay

    Very informative link.

    Just say NO to Miss Piggy!

  • http://twitter.com/leoniehaimson leonie haimson

    the primary may be moved to June.

  • Guest

    “UFT President Michael Mulgrew said today that he hasn’t picked a candidate for mayor to endorse. “  And that is the problem right there!  How and why does Mulgrew have all this power?  Where is the opinion of the rank and file? 

  • SunshineSally

    There’s a Facebook page Defeat Christine Quinn: https://www.facebook.com/DefeatChristineQuinn

  • Former Turnaround Teacher

    To be fair, the delegates do have to vote to approve which candidates the UFT endorses, however it is only after the leadership makes “recommendations” which the majority of the delegates will blindly follow.  The DA is basically the PEP of the UFT, no proposal put forth by leadership ever gets voted down.  Also Leonie is right, in that they may push it up to June as they did with the congressional primaries this year.

    I don’t think the UFT should make an endoresmement this early on when the platforms have not been hashed out, however they should start surveying ALL members of the UFT, not just the delegates.

  • JJ

    Can the gotham schools start referring to New Yorkers for Great Public Schools as a coalition of groups funded by the teachers union? That’s who they are. They are mission aligned with the teacher’s union and have no independent voice in this conversation AT ALL.  Class Size Matters-funded by the teacher’s union. The papers love to get information about all these groups. They are one group-the teachers union. They look out for the interest of teachers not students. 

  • Nyr682

    jj, your commentary is interesting….ru working as a deputy mayor in bloomdoe office spying here on gotham stay away.you will be gone when bloomdoe and his doe birds flee the nest – city hall – so long charlie hate to see you go

  • Michael Fiorillo

    How about if GS also mentions that Educators for Excellence (E$ME), rather than being a group that “advocates” for teachers, is instead a front for the Gates Foundation and Wall Street interests that seek to impose their own agenda on the schools?

  • Arihsteinfeld

    We all know the issues at hand here. We have to support the union in this election for two primary reasons. Firstly, it is in our own self interest as union members to make sure the next mayor is more supportive of public education, in a real sense, and not bashing the hard work we do daily. Secondly, the future of New York City depends upon better educational policy being promulgated for the members of this city. Should we remain competitive in this ever changing global economy our city depends upon better educational outcomes for its youth and young adults.
    Having stated that we need to become part of the solution and that means having a real seat at the table with parents, community leaders, and political leaders who are ready willing and able to make real changes.Meaning placing “Children First” .
    Ari Steinfeld

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