Give Michael Mulgrew credit for one of the few honest assessments about what’s going on in this year’s mayoral race.
“We’re not about picking a mayor,” the union boss told the New York Observer. “We’re about making a mayor, making the winner. And that’s what we’re gonna do.”
“We” being the United Federation of Teachers. To most New Yorkers, the UFT is a teachers union. But Mulgrew presides over one of the city’s most powerful political machines.
And one of the best-financed, too. Mulgrew reportedly plans on spending in the high seven figures (close to $10 million, in other words) to crown the next mayor. He won’t yet say who that candidate might be. But he notes ominously: “They all get that things have to change dramatically.”
That’s a sobering thought. Because when Mulgrew speaks of dramatic change, you can bet he’s not talking about ensuring that kids leave our public schools with a decent education. He’s talking about making life better for his union.
Like renegotiating the new teacher evaluations so that it remains well nigh impossible to fire a bad teacher. Or ending mayoral control altogether. Or getting a good chunk — if not all — of the $3.2 billion Mulgrew is seeking in back wages since the last teachers contract expired.
Not to mention putting the brakes on the growing charter-school movement, where non-union teachers have been showing up their union counterparts.
The Democratic candidates have all let it be known each desperately wants Mulgrew’s backing. At least he’s making clear the price.