UFT/NYSUT NYSUT: History of Cozying Up to Anti-union Politicians is not new

How Revive NYSUT lies:

The tax cap was a terrible mistake. NYSUT waiting almost two full years, just two days prior to the expiration date, to file a lawsuit was irresponsible at best and did great harm. We will fight to get rid of the tax cap completely.  

Who was in charge of the NYSUT legislative program? Exec VP Andy Pallotta. Sure, he will NOW fight.

Andy Pallotta, NYSUT Exec VP, cozied up to the awful John Flanagan. Why is the Port Jefferson Station NYSUT local so vehement about opposing the Mulgrew/Pallotta coup and leading the opposition? While not entirely thrilled with the Iannuzzi performance over the last few years, they see the UFT coup as a worse option. The Flanagan story is one aspect -- see links below.

PJSTA was fine when Alan Lubin ran the political operation because they say he was effective (I don't always agree with that assessment). Pallotta has been totally ineffective, doing nothing to oppose the Cuomo property tax freeze which has crippled those locals that depend on that tax to fund education (the overwhelming majority in the state).

That has fueled the enormous pressure by these locals on Iannuzzi, who comes from one of those locals, to put curbs on the ineffective and incompetent Pallotta operation. That curb by Iannuzzi is what inflamed the UFT crowd -- Mulgrew and Weingarten because they controlled the VOTE COPE money since NYSUT was formed. How important an issue is this to the UFT? Al Shanker held the Pallotta position for over a decade as did Lubin, who at one pre-Randi point was viewed as a Shanker successor.

Andy Pallotta? A Bronx District 10 rep (not the head of the UFT Bronx as posted in some press reports) going from that position to replacing the likes of Shanker and Lubin? Clearly a case of the Peter Principle, now to be dubbed the "Andy" principle.

I and my fellow MOREistas do not excuse NYSUT President Dick Iannuzzi's actions over his years in office (and his years as a NYSUT VP before that). But now that he seems to have grown a set - (well maybe not a complete set) -- he is being challenged by the same crew led by the Pallotta/Mulgrew/Weingarten team that is critical because Dick is not cozying up to Cuomo. Why is he not cozying up to Cuomo? Let's start with the Property tax. Is Revive (Rebury) NYSUT putting that issue on the table?

But this is not new. We've seen the UFT supporting the most awful politicians since I became active in the early 70s. To me the epitome came when the UFT wouldn't support fellow teacher Gene Prisco when he ran against right winger Vito Fascella for Congress, who ended up leaving in disgrace.

The PJSTA version of Fascella is Flanagan.

Check how Andy Pallotta cozied up to the awful John Flanagan on the PJSTA blog in these posts sent to me by the crew over there.

• This post details the story about Flanagan complaining to NYSUT and the district about Dimino.
• This post tells about Flanagan's top campaign contributor, Rhee's Students First.
• This post is when we held a rally outside Flanagan's office and he cowardly hid inside his office (the one where the Suffolk PAC tried to undermine us).
• This post quotes a great editorial about Flanagan that was behind a paywall.  It does a good job pointing out how he is attached to the reform agenda.
• Finally, this post shows Pallotta cozying up to Flanagan and tells how he used VOTE COPE funds to contribute to Flanagan even though NYSUT voted not to endorse Flanagan.

NYSUT Update: Kiev on the Hudson as Randi Plays Role of Ukraine President Yanukovych

Randi is behind the so-called NYSUT insurgency multiple and trusted sources have informed us. I don't have particulars but this info came in response to my comments the other day in this post (The Battle for NYSUT: Ebbs and Flows)

While some think Randi must be behind the move of the UFT to take over NYSUT completely and totally (they pretty much have a lot of control now) this doesn't have her fingerprints. What does she have to gain from trying to push out Iannuzzi - who she helped put in? Or pushing out Maria Neira who she promoted from the UFT Exec Bd to a NYSUT VP?

You know, I should have trusted my instincts all along but the total level of how nonsensical this is in terms of Randi's own self-interest led me out of the real world into fantasy land -- that Mulgrew might have stepped out on his own. These quotes from Reality-Based Educator:

Literally up is down and black is white. The less aggressive "challengers" are getting supported because the Iannuzzi regime hasn't been aggressive enough.....Orwellian beyond belief - but par for the course at the AFT/NYSUT/UFT. ...  Reality Based Educator at PerdidoSS

My sources say that Randi could not accept Iannuzzi and crew's blatant rejection of Cuomo which would leave her without a role to play with the big boys on the state Democratic Party level. My sources say that it more important to her than even considerations of splitting NYSUT.

But my guess is that she didn't think it would go this far and that Iannuzzi would cave or play ball. The interesting story is NYC Unity Caucus member and former UFT Exec Bd member Maria Neira, who was promoted and pushed into the NYSUT VP position by Randi, now feels she represents the interests of the teachers in the state and keeping NYSUT united is in their interests. The Andy slate came up with newly minted UFT VP and Teacher Center head Fortina to go up against Neira.

Neira was a popular person in Unity and I imagine many of them will have to swallow to vote against her. But they will. Swallow, I mean.

What this means in the long run is this: in the 35 years or so of NYSUT history -- where Shanker and Hobart merged the AFT and NEA on the state level -- Shanker's way of going around the enormous national NEA hostility directed at him and his dream of running one national teachers union -- there has NEVER -- Say it again - NEVER - been a contested election for NYSUT state office. That is because there is only one statewide caucus - Unity. There is no equivalent of MORE at the state level ---- and now one may very well emerge. And even if it is relatively small on the level of MORE that is major.

First of all I should point out that these are not rank and filer union members but union presidents and their elected delegates who we are talking about. So this is an entirely different kettle of fish and something MOREista observers, committed to rank and file organizing have commented on. Other MOREistas are supportive, especially given the increasingly close relationship we have been developing with Port Jefferson Station TA --

Me and my adopted political son Mike

The official website of the PJSTA over the past few months -- thanks to the work of Mike Schirtzer in MORE who has worked with the great crew over there.

At issue is an increasingly widening rift between the UFT leadership and the smaller locals who have gotten chopped by Cuomo with the other big cities up for grabs by both groups over time. Thus even if they go with the Pallotta/Mylgrew/Randi side this time they will be looking for results, results that Andy can't deliver on.

Cuomo's pre-k support plan robs Peter to pay Paul given that many if not most small locals don't even have full-day kindergarten, let alone pre-k. Thus, Cuomo's plan to take state money and pour it into NYC pre-k while upstate and Long Island poorer locals get less state aid has caused a major divide. Thus, the De Blasio plan to raise taxes on the rich inside NYC to pay for the plan makes perfect sense to them -- but not to the UFT/Revive NYSUT crew. I'll get more into those weeds in another post. (And also talk about the role MORE might decide to play in all this.) The Cuomo property tax cap is a killer for small locals.

The incumbents and their growing allies are the real insurgents in NYSUT, not the Mulgrew/Alan Lubin/Andy Pallotta "Revive NYSUT" make-believe. It is funny to call the incumbents led by Dick Iannuzzi the insurgents but as time goes on you will see what I mean. Once he was freed from the UFT muzzle he has shown some chops - and clearly had the support to push forth the headline breaking news of withdrawal of support for John King and an attack on the common core, which Randi tweeted in her usual manner, she was so "thrilled" at -- while that entire incident only helped STRONGER TOGETHER.

When Mulfrew and crew call themselves insurgents just go back and read RBE at Perdido Street School

And Yet Three More Oldies But Goodies: Michael Mulgrew Defends John King's APPR Teacher Evaluation System - Because I'm in the mood for oldies this afternoon, here's three more UFT gems coming to you from back on September 4, September 5, and September 13.

 

Looming Battle: Mulgrew vs Iannuzzi For NYSUT Leadership - Split Over Cuomo Endorsement?

Oh, the tangled web at NYSUT and the UFT. A very intriguing story is emerging in what has been viewed as a monolithic UFT dominated NYSUT (NY State United Teachers). Some of this is hearsay and we may have follow-ups with new information and new interpretations over the next few days. But here is what we have heard so far. (WARNING- YOU MAY HAVE PROBLEMS WADING THROUGH THIS WEB -I'M STILL WORKING MY WAY THROUGH IT ) BUT IF YOU HAVE INFO LEAVE A COMMENT).

Few have questioned that the UFT/Unity Caucus has been running the state teachers organization, NYSUT, since it was founded in the 70's and Al Shanker installed Tom Hobart as a front for President, with himself as Exec VP. The UFT/Unity leadership has always wanted the NYSUT president to be someone from outside NYC to give the impression that the UFT isn't in complete control -- Unity Caucus in NYC has about one third the total NYSUT delegates -- the very same 7-800 Unity people that were elected in the winner-take-all UFT election in March 2013.

I should point out something I recently learned: that the statewide caucus is also called Unity - the only game in town - in other words, there is no equivalent like MORE to run against it in elections. This is similar to the national AFT where Unity is known as the Progressive Caucus, also pretty much the only game in town.

When Hobart retired Dick Iannuzzi was installed as President and the UFT's Andy Pallotta, a Bronx Unity Caucus staffer, as Exec VP. The other 3 VPs are split with 2 from outside NYC and one from the local NYC Unity. The other NYSUT VP from the local NYC Unity Caucus is Maria Neira, who has always garnered the respect of most UFT members, even those from the opposition.

Let me give you some more background. When Randi Weingarten emerged as Sandy Feldman's successor c. early 1990's, the highly respected Alan Lubin (many of us in the opposition also liked him) who was the Brooklyn Borough head and a popular choice for Sandy's heir apparent was "kicked" upstairs to NYSUT as Executive VP. But it turns out this position is the real power in many ways in NYSUT in that the person in charge controls the massive amount of COPE money going to politicians. More important than the president in some eyes, Lubin had free reign on the use of this money so he was a major power broker in Albany.

But Alan had a heart condition I believe and retired -- (I saw him at the AFT convention in Seattle and he looked great and here's to continued good health to him.) So that was how Andy Pallotta was elected Exec VP - the NYSUT elections are every 3 years with the next one taking place this April at the NYSUT convention which will be held here in NYC at the Hilton April 4-6, 2014.

With Lubin no longer riding herd and Andy Pallotta viewed as somewhat of a weak link, Dick Iannuzzi assumed a stronger role in managing the COPE money and didn't give Andy the same unlimited range Lubin enjoyed. Lubin supposedly despises Iannuzzi and remained a prop to Andy as resentment soared. The story is that Dick put a 50 grand limit to Andy's spending.

Then there was what seemed some head-scratching differences between NYSUT and the UFT arising when Dick Iannuzzi began to take some positions against the evaluation system, common core and raising a greater share of criticism of the State Ed Department - Tisch and King in particular with his call for "no confidence -- while Mulgrew was relatively silent. In essence, Mulgrew has been forced to take a more critical stance than he might have wanted to. (See Eterno's DA report on the MORE and ICE blogs where James' call for a non-endorsement of Cuomo was rejected by the Unity faithful - and to see just how bad Cuomo is for us read the daily reports at Perdido Street School.)

Then there's the Cuomo endorsement factor. Iannuzzi seems flat out opposed to a naked Cuomo endorsement. Then this came in over the transom.

On November 21, 2013, Andy Pallotta, in charge of legislative action, used Vote Cope money to make a $10,000 donation to "Cuomo 2014". The purposes of this was to purchase an entire table at Cuomo's birthday celebration.  An entire table, in lieu of just sending one or two people (or none!).  This was done without Iannuzzi's knowledge.

Word is that Mulgrew is backing a slate to run against Iannuzzi and all the VPs (including the UFT's own Maria Neira who seems to be backing Iannuzzi with the exception of Andy Pallotta. They have a hand-picked candidate to oppose Dick (more on all that in a follow-up.)

Then the other day an anonymous Twitter account and Facebook page was created with the handle @ReviveNYSUT.  They are calling for a change in NYSUT leadership. The tweets are anti-Iannuzzi and seem to be coming from people who would normally be allied with us but insiders have challenged them for being phony shills for the Mulgrew/Pallotta team since they attack Dick but not Andy. We received this message:

THE ACCOUNT IS ANDY PALLOTTA.  The Mulgrew/Pallotta crew is behind it.

With tweets like this:

1. Sashammy ‏@Sashammy 2h

   @CNYTeacher @ReviveNYSUT & because they call for change yet leave one of our most ineffective "leaders" in place
2. Sashammy ‏@Sashammy 12h

   @ReviveNYSUT @NYSUnionTeacher @nysut nice try. take pallotta off your slate then come talk to me about grassroots.

And to top it off, a new Facebook page appeared called  ReviveNYSUT Lies which is calling out the supposed Mulgrew choice to oppose Iannuzzi, Karen Magee:

At tonight’s ED 15-16 meeting NYSUT Presidential candidate Karen Magee said nothing to her constituents about running for NYSUT President. Nothing! Does this mean she is afraid that she doesn’t have the support of her region?? Maybe she feels that she doesn’t need it because she has the support of the UFT or maybe the UFT has not given her permission to talk about it yet.

And this:

Good News: There are some independent candidates looking to run for the Executive Vice President position if he does not resign soon.

There could be a contested election for NYSUT leadership with Mulgrew leading the charge against Iannuzzi.

Officers and Board Of Directors

Officers At Large

• 
  Richard C. Iannuzzi
  President
  Executive Board Member
• 
  Andrew Pallotta
  Executive Vice President
  Executive Board Member
• 
  Maria Neira
  Vice President
  Executive Board Member
• 
  Kathleen M. Donahue
  Vice President
  Executive Board Member
• 
  Lee Cutler
  Secretary Treasurer
  Executive Board Member 
   
  NYSUT Election District Directors:
   

  NYSUT Election District Directors

  Of 84 election districts -- 53 plus 31 at-large, UFT connected - the names I recognize - and I may be missing some -- total 21 - all of them the usual suspects. Those who won't support the Unity move against Iannuzzi may face opposition for their position.
  

  • Janet Utz

    E.D. 2

  • Thomas Parker

    E.D. 3

  • Joseph Sweeny

    E.D. 4

  • Adam Urbanski

    ED 5
    Executive Board Member

  • Michael Herlan

    ED 6

  • Sylvia Matousek

    E.D. 7

  • Diana Giffune

    E.D. 8

  • Jeanette Stapley

    E.D. 9

  • Anthony McCann

    E.D. 10

  • Kenneth Smith

    E.D. 11

  • Stacey Caruso-Sharpe

    E.D. 12
    Executive Board Member

  • Kathleen Taylor

    E.D. 13

  • Paul Ellis-Graham

    E.D. 14

  • Karen Magee

    E.D. 15

  • Jeffrey Yonkers

    E.D. 16

  • Kenneth Ulric

    E.D. 17

  • Barbara Hafner

    E.D. 18

  • Christine Vasilev

    E.D. 19

  • John Mansfield

    E.D. 20

  • Tim Southerton

    E.D. 21

  • Paul Pecorale

    E.D. 22

  • Antoinette Blanck

    E.D. 23

  • Karen Blackwell Alford

    E.D. 24 (UFT)

  • Jose Vargas

    E.D. 25 (UFT)

  • Evelyn DeJesus

    E.D. 26 (UFT)

  • Rona Freiser

    E.D. 27 (UFT)

  • Arthur Pepper

    E.D. 28 (UFT)

  • Emil Pietromonaco

    E.D. 29 (UFT)

  • Anthony Harmon

    E.D. 30 (UFT)

  • Bob Astrowsky

    E.D. 31 (UFT)
    Executive Board Member

  • Catalina Fortino

    E.D. 32 (UFT)

  • Paul Egan

    E.D. 33 (UFT)

  • Michael Mendel

    E.D. 34 (UFT)
    Executive Board Member

  • LeRoy Barr

    E.D. 35 (UFT)

  • Iris DeLutro

    E.D. 37 (City & Private Higher Ed.)

  • Steven London

    E.D. 38 Steven London

  • Ellen Schuler Mauk

    E.D. 39 (Community Colleges)
    Executive Board Member

  • Edward Quinn

    E.D. 40 (State Higher Ed. – UUP)

  • Rowena Blackman-Stroud

    E.D. 41 (State Higher Ed. – UUP)

  • Thomas Matthews

    E.D. 42 (State Higher Ed. – UUP)

  • Philip Rumore

    E.D. 44

  • Catherine Savage

    E.D. 45

  • Matthew Hill

    E.D. 46

  • Loretta Donlon

    E.D. 51 (Retiree)

  • Joan Perrini

    E.D. 52 (Retiree)

  • Thomas Murphy

    E.D. 53 (Retiree)

  At Large Directors

  • Kristin Sterling

    E.D. 1 & 3

  • John Burns

    E.D. 2 & 44

  • Eileen Healy

    E.D. 4 & 46

  • David DeFelice

    E.D. 5 & 6

  • Paul Farfaglia

    E.D. 7 & 8
    Executive Board Member

  • Rod Sherman

    E.D. 9 & 10
    Executive Board Member

  • Dona Murray

    E.D. 11, 12 & 45

  • Carla McLaud

    E.D. 13 & 14

  • Patricia Puleo

    E.D. 15 & 16
    Executive Board Member

  • Selina Durio

    E.D. 17-20

  • Edward Vasta

    E.D. 18-19

  • Nadia Resnikoff

    E.D. 21-22-23
    Executive Board Member

  • Richard Farkas

    E.D. 24-25

  • Howard Schoor

    E.D. 26-27

  • Carmen Alvarez

    E.D. 28-29

  • Michael Mulgrew

    E.D. 30-31
    Executive Board Member

  • Janella Hinds

    E.D. 32-33

  • Sterling Roberson

    E.D. 34-35

  • Barbara Bowen

    E.D. 37-38-39
    Executive Board Member

  • Phillip H. Smith

    E.D. 40-41-42
    Executive Board Member

  • Joseph McLaughlin

    E.D. 51-52-53

  • Shelvy Young Abrams

    At-Large
    Executive Board Member

  • Margie Brumfield

    SRP At-Large

  • Sandra Carner-Shafran

    SRP At-Large
    Executive Board Member

  • Catherine Rienth

    SRP At Large

  • Deborah Paulin

    SRP At-Large

  • Anne Goldman

    Health Care At-Large

  • Stephen Rechner

    Private Sector Higher Ed At-Large

  • Andrew Sako

    Community College At-Large

  • Morton Rosenfeld

    At-Large National Unification