Strike-Planning 101
The current leadership of the PSC, which took over in 2000, has established a pattern of endorsing the most extreme candidate in Dem primaries and then going out of its way to antagonize likely winners in the fall election. In 2001, the PSC endorsed Freddie Ferrer for mayor and Norman Siegel for Public Advocate, NYC's number-two elected position. (Ferrer and Seigel both lost the primary.) In the fall, the PSC rallied behind Mark Green. (Green lost.) In 2002, as politically savvy unions either endorsed George Pataki's all-but-certain reelection or stayed neutral in the contest, the PSC enthusiastically backed Democrat Peter Vallone. (Vallone lost.) And then the union leadership expresses wonderment when Bloomberg and Pataki don't back the PSC agenda for CUNY.
It's widely expected that for this year's mayoral contest, the PSC will again endorse Ferrer, who few expect to unseat Mike Bloomberg. (According to a Timespoll out today, half of NYC's Dems favor a Bloomberg re-election.) The PSC already has made an endorsement in the race for Public Advocate (though the union seems confused about the job's title, since the endorsement page calls the position" city advocate.") Incumbent Betsy Gotbaum has been endorsed by all five borough Dem Party organizations, all four Dem borough presidents, former mayors Ed Koch and David Dinkins, and such liberal luminaries and Congressman Jerry Nadler and Assemblyman Scott Stringer. With such a force behind her, she seems all but assured of victory. (She leads by 13 points in the latest Quinnipiac poll.) Moreover, Gotbaum is the city's highest-ranking female officeholder. Given the PSC's oft-stated commitment to"diversity" and overt celebration of indentity politics, Gotbaum would seem like the obvious choice.
Guess again. The PSC has instead gone with a white male--Seigel. Maybe the union's political antennae has suddenly improved. Or maybe Gotbaum, after winning renomination as the city's highest-elected Dem officeholder, won't be terribly enthusiastic if the PSC decides to break the law and call a strike.
This isn't the first time that the PSC has chosen a course that would seem to play into the hands of its opponents. The union is currently facing a lawsuit from Brooklyn professor David Seidemann, who claims that the PSC has under-reported the amount of funds it has devoted to political lobbying, and thereby shortchanged the rebate it owes to agency fee payers. The PSC tried to have the lawsuit thrown out on summary judgment--but lost. So the case will go to trial.
So, of all the lawyers in the country, who does a union facing allegations of concealing political expenses hire as its chief counsel? Nathaniel Charney, a former lawyer for Ron Carey at the Teamsters who pleaded guilty to fraud and had his license to practice law suspended for 18 months--for improperly concealing political expenses.
If the PSC leadership wasn't in a position to wreak havoc with the University, this Keystone Kops record would almost be amusing.