Ever wonder why a party you probably know the least about seems to have so much influence on the city’s politics?
Look no further than at how the Working Families Party, the unions’ political arm, is pressing the leading candidate for mayor, City Council Speaker Chris Quinn, on a bill to mandate paid sick leave for workers.
Quinn is trying not to alienate the city’s business community, so she’s been blocking a vote and preventing the bill’s passage (at least until after the mayoral election). In response, the WFP last week aired a radio ad in Spanish asking Latinos to call Quinn’s office and tell her to support the bill.
Though a Democrat, Quinn can’t ignore the Working Families Party. That’s because the WFP’s power goes well beyond the additional ballot line it offers candidates. For one thing, the party’s support signals which candidate enjoys the blessing of public-employee unions, an important bragging point for Dems. For another, it can provide valuable resources for its favored candidates, whatever their party affiliation.
How the WFP provides such resources has become a criminal question. A few years ago, The Post exposed how party officials used a for-profit subsidiary, Data & Field Services, to game the system — by using this company to supply WFP candidates services for which they didn’t pay full market price. That allowed them to make an end run around campaign-finance laws.
Ultimately a judge forced the WFP to shut the company down. But there are still questions. And they’re now being asked by a special prosecutor, who recently issued subpoenas to both the party’s treasurer and its lawyer about a Staten Island race for City Council won by the WFP-backed candidate, Debi Rose.
It sounds complicated, but basically it’s a straight shot from labor’s wallet to the Working Families Party to campaign accounts of Democratic politicians who — surprise! — turn out to be only too happy to do just as the unions want.
Quinn is all too aware of this. Let’s hope she can take the heat without buckling.