MOREistas Kevin Kearns and DOENUTS on UFT Mayoral Endorsement

One of the real treats of staying involved is getting to meet these guys, both activists in the true "emerging from the rank and file" style I am so impressed with. When there are hundreds of them doing this kind of work we will see a sea-change in the UFT.

In today's blog post DOENUTS posts Kevin's important piece on the mayoral race where he puts forth bottom-line requirements for a UFT endorsement after first doing a root analysis where he raises the specter of Anthony Weiner being in a run-off with Quinn, currently a not unlikely event, with Thompson being in the best position to stop him. But oh the problems with Thompson, from Tisch to D'Amato.

While many of us believe Thompson is a poor choice due to his connection with Merryl Tisch, I am starting to second guess that notion due to the rise of Anthony Weiner.  The prospect of a Weiner/Quinn runoff is a very real, and downright scary, possibility, and Thompson would be far more likely to ease up on the Bloomberg reforms than either of the two.  For months I have said that Liu is the best candidate, and on principal I do believe he deserves the UFT endorsement.  He is the most labor friendly and the most progressive, and if we really believe we can “make a winner” then he should be our guy.  If you are not going to endorse the candidate who you believe is the best, why endorse at all?  Still, Liu’s chances of making a runoff even with the UFT endorsement are very slim, and if the UFT wants to pick a winner he is not the best choice, DeBlasio is.  He is the second most labor friendly/progressive and with a hard enough push could make it into a runoff.  However, endorsing Liu, DeBlasio, Thompson, or Albanese could all be for naught if a) they can’t win the race, b) they really are just pandering to us c) if elected they won’t follow through on many of their promises.  Maybe it is time for the UFT to stop talking about an endorsement of a candidate and really push what is most important: The issues that affect their members and the students in NYC.

Kevin goes on to list the issues:

• An immediate and permanent moratorium on school closings/colocations.
• A complete end to mayoral control. 
• A fair contract with no givebacks and back pay: In a way this last one is a bit comical.  We cannot have a contract with no givebacks, since we just gave up a ton of rights last weekend, without a new contract.

Yes, a new contract was just imposed and the UFT is making sure to duck the required vote by the members.

Read the entire piece at DOENUTS:

January 1st 2014: The Day After No Future