Public Employee Press

Delegates unanimous for Liu

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

The DC 37 Delegate Assembly voted unanimously May 28 to back New York City Comptroller John C. Liu for mayor in the Democratic Party primary election scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 10.

Tremendous enthusiasm for Liu's candidacy was palpable in the meeting room as one-by-one local leaders spoke out for endorsing Liu and received widespread applause.

"I think it's time we elect a mayor who respects the hard-working people of this city," said Political Action Committee Chair Dennis Ifill.

"We couldn't ask for a better friend than John Liu," said Local 372 President Santos Crespo.

The union's endorsement came after a thorough evaluation of all of the mayora lcandidates by the delegates and by the DC 37 Screening Committee, which interviewed the candidates who sought DC 37's endorsement and recommended Liu. Almost 1,000 members of DC 37 and 15 partner community organizations heard from the candidates May 16 at the union's mayoral forum at Borough of Manhattan Community College.

"We can count on Liu"

"We saw Liu's consistent track record of curtailing contracting out, overspending and waste of taxpayers' dollars throughout his tenure as comptroller," said Dc 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. "Our members have been able to count on his support during our fight to protect vital community services and our jobs."

A key piece of that record was Liu's aggressive role in ending the mayor's out-of-control spending on the contractedout CityTime payroll project, which was marked by widespread fraud and costs that ballooned from $73 million to $700 million. After investigations by Liu and the federal government, the private contractor as forced to pay back $500 million to the city to avoid criminal charges.

Throughout the meeting local leaders told of Liu's support in their battles against the mayor's plans to privatize members' jobs out of existence, slash services and lay off workers.

"He was there for us when the mayor wanted to privatize the parking meters," said Traffic Employees Local 1455 President Michael DeMarco. "Now we will be there for him."

"This gentleman has stood with us through everything, now the task is to get him elected," said Lifeguard Supervisors Local 508 President Peter Stein. "He's been with prevailing wage workers every step of the way," said Local 1320 President James Tucciarelli. "Let's put him over the top, we can do it!"

The following morning, DC 37 leaders stood with Roberts and Liu at a City Hall news conference as she announced that DC 37 was supporting him.

"Change is on the way," said Roberts. "With this endorsement comes a pledge that our army of volunteers will work hard to elect John Liu as New York City's next mayor."

Liu told the unionists and assembled media representatives that Bloomberg had "abdicated his responsibility" to negotiate pay increases for city employees and vowed to "get the city out of the hands of billionaires and mega-corporations and put it back into the hands of workers."

If no candidate wins 40 percent of the vote in the primary, a run-off will be held Sept. 24. Political Action Director Wanda Williams urges all DC 37 members to make sure they and their families are registered to vote. The final day to register to be eligible to vote in the primary is Aug. 16. For help registering, call the DC 37 Political Action Dept. at 212-470-8527 or 212-815-1550.