Sausages and Laws:Endgame in Albany

Nineteenth century German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck was supposed to have said: the two things you don’t want to see made in person are sausages and laws: a wise man.

New York has a lame duck Governor running for President, trying to move as far to the right as possible, more interested in the 2008 Republican Iowa caucuses than New York State. A Republican Senate positioning itself to hold on to its majority and an Assembly firmly in Democratic hands but sharply divided among a range of interests.

The UFT is part of a half million strong State organization, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), a major force in New York State politics. Political contributions by unions are sharply restricted by law; our influence comes from our endorsement of candidates and our ability to “get out the vote.” To provide the foot soldiers who win elections.

By the way, are you a registered voter? In the predominant party of your neighborhood?

The September primary winner oftentimes determines the general election winner and you must be registered in a party to vote in the primary.

We take the political endorsement process very seriously. Our Delegate Assembly has established guidelines for our endorsements. First, we endorse incumbents with good records on labor, education and human rights issues; next, we interview candidates for open seats, and, occasionally interview candidates running against incumbents. We are not a single issue organization; we look at a range of issues that are important to us.

In the pragmatic world of politics we need “friends” in both houses of the legislature and on both sides of the aisle.

The Albany legislative session opens in January with the first months dealing with the State budget, which by law must be in place by April 1. This year we gained a significant victory – the inclusion of funding for the Capital (construction) part of the Committee for Fiscal Equity (CFE) lawsuit remedy. The last few months the contending sides, Governor, Assembly and Senate, and the vast range of competing interests around the state position themselves for the “final days.”

Sometimes a victory is to stop dangerous bills, as well as to support our legislative objectives. We seek allies and alliances and the closing days of the session are 24×7 “wheeling and dealing,” totally disparate bills are linked, and unlinked, deals are made, and deals fall apart. And, with a lame duck Governor ready to veto anything that will make him look more conservative it’s a difficult year.

The dust is still settling … with the legislature probably coming back later in the year. Legislation to allow for the unionization of 50,000 day care workers passed, was vetoed by the Governor, and overridden in the Senate; with the Assembly very possibly coming back to also override the veto.

Thirty-five years after we organized paraprofessionals we’re on the verge of organizing extremely low wage employees, workers without health plans and without pensions, and perhaps beginning a movement to end the peonage of our workforce.

The New York Teacher will summarize the session.

Our success in Albany is based on our ability to influence elections – to mobilize our members throughout the city and throughout the state.

Candidates are currently circulating petitions to get on the ballot. You can get involved, volunteer for political action phone calls, help a local candidate, canvas, distribute flyers; it all starts with you getting involved in your neighborhood!! Call Bridget Rein, our UFT Political Action Volunteer Network Coordinator (212-598-6846). There are many “bad” people out there: as Ben Franklin said, “If we don’t hang together we will hang separately.”

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