UFT endorses 5 in Sept. 13 elections

Bruce Cotler

Preparing to door-knock in support of David Weprin (left in foreground), the Queens assemblyman who is running to fill the open Queens/Brooklyn congressional seat in the Sept. 13 special election, are (from left) Vincent Vaccaro, Long Island City HS; Colleen Chiauzzi, PS/IS 295; Hannah Fiasconaro, PS 18; Allan Grabkowitz, MS 67; Mary Vacarro, UFT District 26 UFT representative; Joe Kessler, UFT District 25 representative; Patrice Crowley, PS 115;  Isabella Caputo, PS 107; and  Dermot Smyth, the Queens political action coordinator. Next to Weprin is City Comptroller John Liu, another Weprin supporter.

This fall’s election cycle features no major national, statewide or even citywide races, but it does offer an opportunity for UFT members in four contested races to elect a Congress member and three state Assembly candidates endorsed by the union to open seats in special elections on Tuesday, Sept. 13.  The union also endorsed one City Council hopeful in a district primary. 

“With so few major races at stake, balloting is expected to be light, so a big push by UFT members can swing the election for our chosen candidates,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said. 

In the Brooklyn-Queens 9th Congressional District, Assemblyman David Weprin, a past City Council Finance Committee chair, is the Democratic Party candidate running for the vacant House seat formerly held by Rep. Anthony Weiner, who resigned his post earlier this year in the wake of a sexting scandal. 

“Weprin’s consistent support for better school funding and teachers’ rights as a public official on the city and state levels makes him a worthy candidate to get our union’s backing,” Mulgrew said.

With Queens Assembly members Nettie Mayersohn and Audrey Pheffer recently vacating their posts, the union is endorsing in their respective special elections two Democratic candidates seeking to succeed them in Albany. 

The candidates who got the UFT’s nod are (clockwise, starting at top left) David Weprin, for the Brooklyn-Queens 9th Congressional District; Philip Goldfeder, for the 23rd Assembly District in Queens; Michael Simanowitz, for the 27th Assembly District in Queens; Dan Quart, for the 73rd Assembly District in Manhattan; and Ruben Wills, for the 28th City Council District in Queens.

Within the 9th Congressional District in the Rockaways and parts of southeast Queens, Philip Goldfeder, a senior aide to U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, is running in a hotly contested race to replace Pheffer, the 30-year Assembly veteran who stepped down as the representative for the 23rd Assembly District after being named Queens County Clerk. Goldfeder previously worked as a staff member for two Council members.

In Flushing’s 27th Assembly District, Michael Simanowitz, Mayersohn’s chief of staff for some 15 years and an area district leader, got the Democratic Party nod to succeed Mayersohn, who is retiring. In addition to his work as Mayersohn’s top aide, the candidate is the commanding officer for the 170th Police Precinct’s Auxiliary Unit. 

“Both these candidates will make excellent legislators and continue their predecessors’ solid backing for union members and public education,” Mulgrew said.

On the Upper East Side of Manhattan, attorney Dan Quart, a member of Community Board 6 and the head of a pro bono legal clinic for tenants, is the Democratic candidate to succeed Jonathan Bing in representing the 73rd Assembly District. Bing  resigned to become an official with the state Department of Financial Services. Quart’s parents are 42-year UFT veterans and career educators.   

“Unlike Bing, who sponsored repeal of seniority provisions in making layoff decisions, Quart understands the importance of unions in representing teachers and other public employees,” Mulgrew said, explaining the union’s endorsement. 

The UFT is also backing Council Member Ruben Wills in the Democratic primary in the 28th City Council District in southeast Queens. Wills, a former chief of staff to state Sen. Shirley Huntley, won a special election last November to succeed Thomas White, who died that summer, but he must win re-election this year to serve the remainder of White’s four-year term. 

“Wills was a reliable ally during our battle with the DOE over closing schools last year,” said Mulgrew.

During the summer when it does not meet, the UFT Delegate Assembly authorizes the union’s executive board to make political endorsements.