ALBANY, N.Y. August 13, 2014 — The 600,000-member New York State United Teachers today endorsed a bipartisan array of candidates for legislative, statewide and federal office.
During a three-day conference devoted to election-year politics, hundreds of grassroots activists and local union presidents pored over candidate statements, voting records and “scorecards” that rated incumbents and challengers on their accessibility to NYSUT members and advocacy on important education and labor issues. Participants arrived at consensus in about 200 legislative, statewide and congressional races and did not endorse in others. The NYSUT Board of Directors finalized the endorsements at a meeting Wednesday.
The NYSUT Board had previously endorsed state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and a handful of Senate, Assembly and congressional candidates from both major political parties.
NYSUT President Karen E. Magee said: “Those who earn endorsements are friends of public education and labor. Over the last two years, they earned our support by advocating effectively for our public schools, colleges and health care institutions; listening intently to the concerns and aspirations of our members, and voting consistently the right way.”
NYSUT Executive Vice President Andrew Pallotta added: “NYSUT members and their families live — and vote — in every zip code of the state. They are passionate about the issues and they have strong feelings. That translates into a willingness to work hard on behalf of those who earn a NYSUT endorsement.”
Pallotta said that in addition to financial support from voluntary contributions for candidates’ election campaigns, NYSUT’s endorsement translates into thousands of activists who hand out campaign literature on street corners; go door-to-door to speak to voters; attend rallies and campaign events, and make calls from the largest phone-banking operation in New York state. “Our members and their families work for — and vote for — those candidates who support them on the issues they care about,” he said.
New York State United Teachers is a statewide union with more than 600,000 members in education, human services and health care. NYSUT is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association and the AFL-CIO.
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