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City's Largest Union Endorses Thompson For Mayor

By NY 1 News

August 13 , 2009

The city's largest public employee union has endorsed Democratic mayoral candidate William Thompson, striking a blow to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's reelection campaign.

Speaking at its Battery Park headquarters, District Council 37 officials announced today their support for the city comptroller.

DC 37, which represents 125,000 employees and 50,000 retirees, endorsed Bloomberg's 2005 campaign, when he ran as a Republican.

"District Council 37 knows that while New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson's opponents might be better financed at the moment, he has a weapon that is worth money in the bank," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, "DC 37's members and this union's commitment to work for his election as the next mayor of the City of New York."

"I can't tell you how pleased I am, how strong I feel with your support," said Thompson.

The mayor granted the workers a pay increase last fall, despite the economic crisis. But there have been recent spats with the Bloomberg administration, including issues with layoffs, proposed pension changes and the use of outside contractors instead of union workers.

Bloomberg brushed off the powerful endorsement, and said in his questionnaire for DC 37 that saying that contracting out work is acceptable if it saves money.

His campaign also implied that Thompson made promises to win the union's backing, something the Democratic candidate denied.

"The money isn't there in the tough times to do everything we want," Bloomberg said. "And I just will not make irresponsible promises to win an endorsement."

"No one asked for anything, or no one asked for commitments moving forward," countered Thompson. "No one asked for promises. People talked about, we all talked about the direction of New York City in the future."

Thompson also said he would not release his questionnaire he filled out for DC 37, as the Bloomberg campaign requested.

The comptroller's campaign manager said Bloomberg is trying to distract from the fact that he lost the coveted endorsement.