PEP, October-November 2009: Bill Thompson and DC 37 green machine win primary

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

The powerful DC 37 Green Machine helped Bill Thompson charge to victory as the Democratic candidate for mayor, winning 70 percent of the vote in the Sept. 15 primary.

“Bill Thompson’s primary victory brings him one step closer to being New York City’s next mayor,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. “It also brings New York City’s working men and women, including the 125,000 members and 50,000 retirees of District Council 37, one step closer to having a mayor who puts them first.”

Thompson gave an intense victory speech at District Council 37 headquarters: “After eight years of a mayor who has looked out for the rich and powerful, isn’t it time we had a mayor who looked out for the rest of us? It’s time for a change in New York. Eight years is enough.”

DC 37’s winning team

DC 37 volunteers helped two other citywide candidates — John Liu for Comptroller and Bill de Blasio for Public Advocate — place first in run off elections Sept. 29. With 56 percent of the vote, Liu became the first Asian American to win a citywide election; De Blasio garnered 67 percent in the runoff.

More than 90 percent of the candidates DC 37 endorsed won their primaries, including several in hotly contested City Council races. In Brooklyn, incumbents Darlene Mealy and Diana Reyna trounced their opponents and newcomer Jumaane Williams defeated incumbent Kendall Stewart to represent the 45th District (Flatbush).

DC 37 volunteers helped Debi Rose change the face of politics on Staten Island; she is the first woman to represent the borough on the City
Council and Staten Island’s first African American representative. In the Bronx, Ydanis Rodriguez took District 10 and Fernando Cabrera defeated incumbent Maria Baez in District 14. All the defeated veteran Council members voted last fall for Mayor Bloomberg’s extension of the two-term limit (see Bloomberg vetoes the voters).

Eight is enough!

“Those contests were as much about the candidates as they were a declaration of unity in the Democratic Party and support for the new Bronx District Leader, Assembly member Carl Hastie,” said DC 37 Political Action Chair Len Allen. Winners of local Democratic primaries usually are projected winners of their races.

The primary-night crowd of DC 37 political activists and Thompson supporters cheered and chanted “Eight is enough!” as Thompson entered the DC 37 union hall with Executive Director Lillian Roberts. The event marked the first time in recent history that a mayoral candidate celebrated victory at a union headquarters, a symbol of the candidate’s strong labor base.

Before a swarm of television cameras, Thompson took on his opponent directly, blasting Bloomberg for “hijacking democracy and overruling the will of the voters” on term limits.

Thompson’s speech (see details) ripped the mayor for mismanaging the public schools, losing tens of thousands of affordable housing units and doing nothing to stop rising unemployment.

Listing the multiple blows to the middle class on the mayor’s watch — including real estate and sales tax hikes, excessive water charges, parking ticket costs that orbit $100 million a year and multiple transit fare hikes — Thompson charged that “You still refuse to make the wealthy pay their fare share. Mike Bloomberg, your five-borough economic plan is squeezing our middle class straight out of town.”

He challenged Bloomberg to stop hiding behind a $200 million campaign of glossy mailings and TV ads and hold debates in every borough. The mayor agreed to just two debates.

Ms. Roberts said, “Bill Thompson shares our vision of a government that creates jobs and protects workers as opposed to one that squanders taxpayers’ dollars on private contracts, slashes vital services and sends jobs out of state while our communities suffer double-digit unemployment. He puts working people’s needs before wealthy corporate interests, and he has earned our trust.”

In the days that followed the primary, Thompson joined Roberts at community association meetings citywide and addressed the political action committees of Local 1549 and other DC 37 locals.

“Bill Thompson knows we worked hard to help him win today and District Council 37 will work doubly hard for him to win on Election Day,” Ms. Roberts added. “Bloomberg has his billions but we have something better, we have people power — volunteers and voters who will elect Bill Thompson the next mayor of New York.”

A Mayor for ALL New Yorkers

Running with DC 37’s endorsement in the Sept. 15 primary, Bill Thompson was the overwhelming choice of New York City Democrats as their candidate for mayor in the Nov. 3 election.

In eight years as comptroller, Thompson rooted out waste, fought contracting out and pressed for “fair share” taxes on the wealthy to prevent layoffs.

“As mayor, I will continue to fight for fairness and opportunity for all New Yorkers,” Thompson said. “Our city must remain a beacon of opportunity, a city of compassion for the vulnerable and hope for the future, a city that offers the young the means to realize their dreams and provides competent, efficient public services.”

His audits exposed flaws in the Off-Track Betting distribution formula and helped save 1,500 members’ jobs. He uncovered overpriced no-bid contracts in the Dept. of Education and exposed hidden funds at the Transit Authority, preventing larger fare increases. Thompson has joined DC 37 in fighting the vast waste in the city’s $9 billion giveaway of public funds through contracting out. As the city’s chief labor law enforcer, he worked with DC 37 to raise the living wage to $14.82 for office workers at contract firms.

As chief investment adviser to the city’s pension funds, Thompson safeguarded the retirement assets of 640,000 working people, tripled the assets managed by firms owned by minorities and women, and pressed for corporate responsibility in protecting the environment, divesting from terrorist nations and safeguarding human rights.

Thompson attended city schools, graduated from Tufts University, and served as deputy borough president of Brooklyn and president of the Board of Education, where he worked to expand after-school programs and the arts curriculum and improve teacher quality and management efficiency.

“Fighting to increase public school funding, create affordable housing, protect senior services and advance economic development in our communities, Bill Thompson shares our vision for the future of the city,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

— Diane S. Williams