United Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Mike Mulgrew gave an honest assessment of the union's role in the upcoming New York City mayoral election, according to the New York Post:
"'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.'"
Mulgrew's demands in backing a mayoral candidate are steep. According to the New York Post, the union's demands in a candidate will include stopping the charter school movement, renegotiating the teacher evaluation system, seeking back pay and possibly ending mayoral control of the City's public schools.
