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UFT helps push Liu, de Blasio to runoff victories
Oct 15, 2009 12:21 PM
City comptroller, public advocate candidates say union support made difference
UFT President Michael Mulgrew raises City Councilman John Liu’s hand in victory after he was declared the winner in the Democratic race for city comptroller on Sept. 29.
The UFT’s two endorsed candidates for citywide office, John Liu for city comptroller and Bill de Blasio for public advocate, easily defeated their opponents in the Democratic Party primary runoff election on Sept. 29 in a low-turnout election where the organization and enthusiasm of UFT members made a huge impact.
Fewer than 230,000 New Yorkers — 7.5 percent of registered Democrats — voted in the runoffs for public advocate and comptroller, the second- and third-highest offices in the city.
“Small turnouts can work in favor of those candidates with the most grassroots, motivated support,” said Paul Egan, the UFT director of legislative and political action. “The key to victory is who can get their supporters to the polls. In this election, with UFT volunteers pulling hard for our candidates, it worked for us, too.”
City Councilman Bill de Blasio, for whom the UFT campaigned vigorously, pledged that he would continue serving as an advocate for working people and the poor.
UFT members staffed phone banks, went door to door, leafleted at transportation hubs on runoff day, e-mailed friends and talked to colleagues and neighbors, all to ensure that Liu and de Blasio would emerge as the Democratic Party’s nominees in the Nov. 3 general election.
“This shows why politics matters. Now they are poised to deliver for the schools and the kids,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said as the results became known on election night.
Both candidates scored double-digit victories over their opponents in the runoffs. Brooklyn City Councilman de Blasio won the public advocate race with 63 percent of the vote to former public advocate Mark Green’s 37 percent. Green, with the greater name recognition, had been considered the early favorite.
In the comptroller’s race, Queens City Councilman Liu, with 56 percent of the vote, defeated his Brooklyn colleague, David Yassky, who received 44 percent. If elected on Nov. 3, Liu will be the first Asian-American to hold citywide office.
Both winning candidates spoke effusively about the role that the UFT played in their victories.
The party for Liu is on at UFT headquarters on the night of the primary runoff.
Liu, who held his victory party at UFT headquarters, said, “We won this campaign in the streets.” He singled out the UFT as central to his victory.
De Blasio, at his campaign celebration, pledged that he would continue serving as a tribune for working people and the poor, and that he wouldn’t be shy about taking on City Hall “when a mayor ignores the little people. This means supporting senior citizens and the working poor, supporting the homeless and the hungry. And more than anything, it means protecting our children.”
The comptroller, along with the mayor, controls billions of dollars in city pension funds and also has the authority to audit any city agency, including the Department of Education. If elected in November, Liu will be a trustee of the Teachers’ Retirement System.
The public advocate is the city’s ombudsman, a role that was created by a City Charter referendum in 1976, and entails acting as a go-between for citizens claiming that mayoral agencies leave problems unattended. The office can also review the performance of city agencies.
The public advocate also appoints one member of the City Planning Commission and is a trustee of the New York City Retirement System. In the event of the resignation, death or removal from office of the mayor, the public advocate becomes mayor for 60 days until a special election is held.
