By LILLIAN ROBERTS
Executive Director
District Council 37, AFSCME

The New York Democratic Primary is Tuesday, Sept. 12, and we will have an opportunity to change the face of government by voting for the best-qualified team to lead our state and nation.

By casting our votes for Democratic candidates Eliot Spitzer for governor and David A. Paterson for lieutenant governor, we will choose leaders who will have a positive impact on our jobs, our communities and the future of our state.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has a longstanding record of fighting for social justice, and he stands with labor as a friend of DC 37 and working families. We can look to Eliot Spitzer’s leadership to correct some of the state’s woes we have had to endure.

For a dozen years, we have dealt with a governor who was dubbed “King George” in the media for his myopic handling of government. Pataki butchered programs for the state’s poor and working families and blundered chances to enhance state revenues by favoring tax cuts for the rich over job creation and economic revitalization for our city and upstate regions.

Pataki’s policies of corporate welfare for the rich have given a select few a free ride on our backs. As municipal employees we have had to work harder and longer to service a complex population of more uninsured and chronically ill New Yorkers on a budget of less. We get less funding, less staff and fewer programs to help those who need it most.

Primary Day and the November elections present a chance to say good riddance to those bad days and usher in days of hope.

A bold critic of corporate corruption
In his eight years as state Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer took on big businesses that defrauded and stole millions of hard-earned dollars in pension and other investments from thousands of working people. He took risks, used the law and won.

Two years ago, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer approached us at our AFSCME convention in Anaheim, California, and let us know his intentions to run for governor. He met with our leaders and members, sought out our opinions, and asked for our help.

On the recommendation of the DC 37 Screening Committee, we are proud to endorse Eliot Spitzer for governor. The DC 37 Delegates Council and the Executive Board both voted unanimously to give him our union’s endorsement.

We are confident that as governor, Eliot Spitzer will address issues such as the Campaign for Fiscal Equity’s school funding proposal and do the right thing for our city’s 1.1 million public school children.
David A. Paterson, the state Senate minority leader, is an outstanding candidate. Over the years, he stood up to the Republican leadership in Albany. He has sided with DC 37 to restore funding to state budgets for programs that preserve jobs and the services our members provide.

Spitzer and Paterson are each brilliant leaders in their own right. Together they are the best team on which to build a brighter future for our state.

A recent Marist College poll confirms what we’ve known all along: Eliot Spitzer is the formidable frontrunner in the 2006 gubernatorial race. He substantially outdistances potential opponents: 68 percent of registered voters would support Eliot Spitzer, while just 18 percent would vote for a Republican candidate, with 14 percent of voters undecided.

But we cannot rest on polls. Please register to vote and make sure your family members and friends who are eligible to vote register by Aug. 18 and vote on Tuesday, Sept. 12. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. This opportunity to elect new leadership in Albany, to choose a new boss who listens and understands our issues, cannot be a missed opportunity.

This year members of the state Legislature and the U.S. Congress are up for re-election. We can support AFSCME’s political campaign to take back America with a new, worker-focused national agenda.

By turning out in high numbers, we can send a powerful message to Albany and the White House that our families, our jobs and our communities matter.

Support your union by supporting the candidates it has endorsed. This election we will have a unique opportunity to elect one of our own members, Morshed Alam of Local 375, to the New York State Assembly representing Queens.

We also urge DC 37 members to volunteer for phone banking, petitioning, door-to-door, and voter registration. Call the DC 37 Political Action Dept. at 212–815-1550 to get involved.

As always on Primary Day in addition to voting, I will be out visiting election sites in all five boroughs where our Green Machine of volunteers will be. I hope to see you there.