ALBANY, July 18 — State Comptroller H. Carl McCall picked up the endorsement of a powerful union today in his quest for the governor's office: the Civil Service Employees Association. þþThe endorsement from the state's second largest union gave much-needed help to Mr. McCall, a Democrat. He is trailing both the Republican incumbent and his Democratic rival in fund-raising and in opinion polls. The 265,000-member union of government workers has a formidable electioneering organization and can put thousands of workers on the streets during an election to encourage Democrats to vote.þþÿThey are all over the state in all the key places,ÿ Mr. McCall said this morning after delivering his stump speech to the union's board of directors and receiving boisterous acclamation. ÿThey are going to be out there working for me. This is the kind of army you need to bring out the vote.ÿþþThe union, known as C.S.E.A., is generally regarded as having one of the three most effective political operations in the state, along with the New York State United Teachers and 1199/S.E.I.U., New York's Health and Human Service Union.þþThe labor movement has become seriously splintered in the governor's race. The hospital workers' union, 1199/S.E.I.U., with 210,000 members, is supporting Gov. George E. Pataki, a Republican, in a surprising alliance given it is led by a prominent Democrat, Dennis Rivera.þþIn January, the governor pushed through legislation that provided $1.8 billion for raising the pay of health care workers over the next three years, and Mr. Rivera has repaid him with an endorsement. Mr. Pataki has also garnered the support of the Teamsters union, which has 200,000 members in New York.þþMr. McCall's rival for the Democratic nomination, Andrew M. Cuomo, a former federal housing secretary, has attracted support from the New York State chapter of the Communication Workers of America, with 86,000 members. He also has the backing of three other smaller unions, representing sheet-metal workers, steelworkers and mail carriers.þþMany of the largest unions have yet to announce their intentions. United Teachers, the umbrella organization of teachers' unions, with 480,000 members, will not endorse anyone until mid-August. The state AFL-CIO voted to postpone making an endorsement until after the Democratic primary on Sept. 10.þþDanny Donohue, the president of the civil service union, said polls of his members showed they overwhelmingly supported Mr. McCall. As comptroller, Mr. McCall oversees the state pension fund that most of the civil servants rely on.þþHe beat back attempts by the last two governors to use the fund to balance the budget. He also played a pivotal role in getting a permanent cost-of-living increase for state pensioners and supported legislation to allow women on maternity leave to return to their civil service jobs without losing seniority.þþMr. Donohue said the government workers in his union, both state and local, have been through enough fights with Mr. McCall on their side that the endorsement was never really in doubt. ÿOur members don't look at the governor as a governor; they look at the governor as the boss,ÿ he said. ÿWe want a boss who understands our positions.ÿþþMr. McCall played down the significance of his rivals' leads in fund-raising, saying the support of unions like C.S.E.A. was more important on Election Day. Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Pataki have begun running television commercials, but Mr. McCall has so far conserved his money.þ
Source: NY Times
