The lefties are coming!
After two decades of fighting City Hall, the leaders of the Working Family Party are giddy that their candidates will control the levers of power at virtually all levels of Gotham’s government.
“We expect real change, real results,” declared WFP co-founder Bertha Lewis, a longtime pal of Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio.
“There are very high expectations.”
The labor-backed party hit the trifecta this election season.
De Blasio, long a WFP favorite, will be running the government.
Letitia James, who was first elected to the City Council a decade ago on the WFP line, is the new public advocate.
She’s so loyal to the party that she urged supporters to cast their ballot for her on the WFP line instead of the more mainstream Democratic line.
The city’s third citywide official, Democratic Comptroller Scott Stringer, also came into office with WFP backing.
In the City Council, at least a dozen members lined up with the party and are prepared to push its agenda.
Communication Workers of American boss Bob Master — a co-founder of the WFP 15 years ago — marveled that the progressive agenda is on the new mayor’s to-do-list after being resisted for a generation.
“We are thrilled that this day has come,” said Master, who likened the election of de Blasio to a “New Deal” for the 21st century.
“We will partner with the new mayor and forge a new direction for the city. We will look forward to working with Bill to achieve our goals.” said Master.
For him, de Blasio’s ascendance is personal as well as political.
A Park Slope neighbor of the mayor-elect, the union leader handed out pamphlets to get the up-and-comer elected to the council in 2001.
Lewis, who is the former ACORN chief, said she’s thrilled at having a seat at the table.
“We’ve been out in the wilderness for 20 years,” she said.
But Lewis stressed that observers have to look beyond de Blasio to understand the success of the WFP and the progressives.
She said the election of James as public advocate and the addition of allies in the council would help propel the progressive agenda in a de Blasio administration.
“Our ties in the government run deep,” Lewis boasted.
Like Master, the self-described street organizer expects to have the ear of the de Blasio administration.
But she said de Blasio won’t get a free pass from her if he deviates from the progressive reservation.
“When we disagree with Bill, we’re going to say it. We’re not letting people off the hook,” Lewis said.
De Blasio on Wednesday announced the first appointments to his transition team, which will be co-chaired by Jennifer Jones Austin and Carl Weisbrod.
Despite de Blasio’s criticism of Mayor Bloomberg during the campaign, both have ties to Hizzoner.
Jones Austin, CEO of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, previously served as Bloomberg’s family services coordinator.
Weisbrod, who served in both city and state government, is a Bloomberg’s appointee to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation and the Trust for Governors Island.