Tuesday, July 8 -- a day I have to leave the beach and shlep into Manhattan for the DA.
Today is an emergency Del Ass to endorse a mayoral candidate and there is some speculation of some kind of deal between Mulgrew and Mamdani. Remember the Unity attack on DSA? I posted about this possible endorsement last week and speculated about how the UFT kiss of death may cause Mamdani to lose.
The orthodox Jewish group, which boycotted voting for ABC or ARISE because of Amy and MORE sympathy for Palestinians and chose Unity, is certainly not happy. They put out a statement somewhere but I can't find it.
ABetterContract.org put this out yesterday:
We need a member-led process with transparency, healthy debate, and accountability. We stand on our platform position that members should vote for major political endorsements.This is not a democratic process. It’s a performance. And it’s insulting....
The UFT’s Endorsement Process Is Broken:
ABC who show up are going out after so why not jump on the ferry?
I missed most of the retiree town hall yesterday because I didn't get the time right and logged on around 3:25 and by 3:35, it clearly ran out of steam. Some focus on the stuck para bill. I give Unity credit -- pushing a campaign for 10k para bonus worked to drain potential para votes from ABC -- our chance to win would have required a big para turnout for ABC. But that gambit won't work again. I compare the success of the Mamdani campaign to pull out new voters. And that was the same idea of the ABC campaign - not to rely on the usual suspects from legacy caucuses, which have shown no real growth over decades of so-called organizing. Their 14% was even worse than the Cuomo campaign. We can all learn from Mamdani -- and a key is people in the schools. ABC ran 520 out of the 560 who ran with us in schools while ARISE ran around 350 in school people plus 140 retirees. My advice to ABC is to start asap to build an even firmer base, not just for elections but to become a constant force in the UFT. Recent firings by Unity will help in that effort, as I will point out in an upcoming post on the Unity purges.
Some comments on the town hall related to the stalled para bill.
He’s right this had to do with politics. Him wanting to get re-elected and him willing lie to get votes.Everyone else’s fault.Politics got involved in a bill??? Dumb.He comes up with the hair brained idea. Tells the paras it is as good as done, so the paras can have a vacation on the money coming their way, tries to sell it to the City Council with a massive $ tab and gets 47 to agree to it theoretically in the middle of an election but their bluff isn’t called because they only needed the election to be over, and then blames them for not doing as he said (forgetting that the City Council isn’t the Unity caucus). Did I miss anything??Mulgrew has found a way to piss off the billionaire oligarchs and lowest paid rank and file unionists in the City with one bill. Truly remarkable.
And a poem:
Ode to Hot Air Mike
President of Piffle, Sultan of Spin, Lord of the Loophole
Oh Hot Air Mike, thou mighty breeze,
Who fills the halls with empty pleas,
Your town halls soar with pomp and flair—
Yet leave us gasping for real air.
Great Chancellor of Chatter Vague,
Your titles mount like anti-union plague:
“Commander of Circular Replies,”
“Baron of Bureaucratic Lies.”
At 52 Broadway you reign,
With crafted scripts and well-worn strain.
We ask for truth—you dodge and dance,
A master of the vacant stance.
You float above with bloated grace,
Your words: a cloud, your tie: a face.
Beneath, the Unity crew looks glum—
Each nodding head, profoundly dumb.
So here’s to you, oh winded knight,
Who turns each grievance into light.
Our questions burn, our hearts are sore—
You answer us with metaphor.
Long may you drift, ballooned and bold,
Your speeches tepid, stale, and cold.
But know this well, dear Mike of Mist:
The rank and file are getting pissed.
