Public Employee Press

12 REASONS DC 37 MEMBERS BACK
JOHN LIU FOR MAYOR

BY ALFREDO ALVARADO

New York City Comptroller John C. Liu is running for mayor in the Democratic Party primary election on Tuesday, Sept. 10. DC 37's 300 member Delegate Assembly voted unanimously May 28 to endorse him. Liu was elected to the City Council in 2001, representing the 20th CD in Queens, and in 2009 he was elected to citywide offi ce as comptroller. "As comptroller he's had a consistent track record fighting contracting out, waste and fraud, saving public workers' jobs and saving taxpayers millions of dollars," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. "John Liu is the only mayoral candidate who has consistently supported public employees and DC 37."


1) Liu is the only candidate who has pledged to give retroactive pay raises to city workers, who have suffered for four to six years with no increases.

2) With Liu in charge as City Comptroller, the assets of the city's pension and retirement funds have amassed 40% in cumulative returns within three years.

3) Liu fought against the mayor's plan to replace the de fined-benefit pension plan with risky individual investment accounts.

4) Liu wants to increase the minimum wage to $11.50 an hour. He protected wage standards and recouped back wages for workers cheated by private contractors.

Contracting out

5) As Comptroller he has been an ag- gressive watchdog, protecting taxpayers' money by halting some of Mayor Bloomberg's wasteful contracting-out schemes. His audit uncovered the mas- sive overspending in the CityTime project, which led to criminal indict- ments of contractors and a half-billion- dollar repayment to the city.

Budget issues

6) His office has established unprec- edented public access to the city's financial records and $70 billion an- nual spending by creating the website www.checkbooknyc.com


7) He wants to end illegitimate property tax exemptions and reinstate the commuter tax. This would create huge new revenues for public services.


8) With the city spending only 1 percent of its budget on transportation, Liu would increase the city's contribution to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to improve public transpor- tation. He would offer toll discounts to Staten Island residents

Education

9) With up to 25 percent of families still lacking access to the internet, Liu aims to close the digital liter- acy divide by investing in computers and technology programs for public school students.


10) Liu calls for cutting City University of New York tuition and wants to offer free tuition to the top 10 per- cent of public high school graduates.


11) He opposes letting charter schools take over space in regular public schools


12) Liu backs support service workers in the public schools and wants to improve the "discipline culture" by having safety personnel report to the principal instead of the Police Dept.