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UFT-backed Council candidates in virtual sweep
Nov 12, 2009 1:12 PM
Nov. 3 was a good day for UFT-endorsed candidates in New York City races — and a good day for the schools.
Of 49 City Council hopefuls endorsed by the union, 47 were elected to four-year terms. Eight of those candidates who won were in key races that the UFT targeted.
Things went less well in New Jersey where Gov. Jon Corzine, despite full-bore volunteer support from the UFT and the state’s teacher unions, narrowly fell to former federal prosecutor and Republican candidate Chris Christie, losing by just 4 percentage points.
As expected, the union’s choices for city comptroller and public advocate — Councilmen John Liu and Bill de Blasio, respectively — romped to victory.
“These races were very important to us and that these two candidates won is great news for education,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said of Liu and de Blasio.
John Liu: Next city comptroller.
Bill de Blasio: Wins race for public advocate.
Among the winners in the City Council races the union focused on, both Diana Reyna and Vincent Gentile in Brooklyn won with 60 percent of the vote. Staten Island incumbent Vinny Ignizio won with 66 percent, while Dan Garodnick and Jessica Lappin in Manhattan, James Vacca and Fernando Cabrera in the Bronx, and James Oddo on Staten Island coasted to victory.
However, two candidates also especially supported by the UFT, Kevin Kim and Yen Chow in Queens, fell short by 5 percentage points to GOP opponents Daniel Halloran and Peter Koo in their races for two open seats.
Among the other victorious UFT-backed candidates were two who appeared to face stiff competition in their races, but beat their GOP opponents by double digits. In Queens, Elizabeth Crowley fended off a fierce challenge from former Council Minority Leader Thomas Ognibene, as did Al Vann against Mark Winston Griffith in Brooklyn. Also victorious was the UFT’s own veteran teacher and chapter leader, Daniel Dromm, who beat his Queens-district competitor by a hefty 3-to-1 margin.
In the race for mayor, where the UFT made no endorsement, incumbent Michael Bloomberg defeated Comptroller Bill Thompson by less than 5 percent of the vote.
UFT Legislation and Political Action Director Paul Egan called Corzine, who has served as New Jersey governor since 2006, “a solid and vocal backer of increased education spending, women’s rights, access to excellent affordable health care and other progressive issues,” which is why the union got so involved in that race. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton also stumped for Corzine.
Christie, however, took 13 of the state’s 21 counties as he won with 48.9 percent of the vote to Corzine’s 44.5 percent. Independent Chris Daggett failed to win any counties and received 5.7 percent of the vote.
The union’s efforts in the city primaries were key for Liu and de Blasio, both of whom won runoffs before defeating their opponents on Election Day by better than 3-to-1.
Turnout for the election was relatively low, with just 1.1 million voters taking part. In the 2005 mayoral election, nearly 1.3 million voters cast ballots.
