October 20, 2009 @ 11:31 am
CWA Local 1180 to Bloomberg: NYC is Not for Sale
‘Ugly Side’ - CWA Local 1180 Ad from Elizabeth Benjamin on Vimeo.
Here is one of the anti-Mayor Bloomberg TV ads that will be hitting the airwaves tomorrow as part of CWA Local 1180’s $500,000 campaign to assist Democratic mayoral nominee Bill Thompson by giving heft to his claim the mayor is an out-of-touch billionaire.
At a rally later this morning, the union will be handing out “Bloomberg Bucks” that feature a photo of the mayor wearing a (drawn-on) crown and read: “This note is legal tender for buying votes, third terms and the City of New York.”
There’s also a Web site: NYCisnot4Sale.com.
As the Times points out this morning, the union (which has some 10,000 city and non-profit workers, as well as 6,000 retiree members) is spending more at this point than the $325,000 Thompson himself has spent on TV ads and mailings to date.
It’s the first time Local 1180 has spent this much, according to its president, Arthur Cheliotes. The union backed Freddy Ferrer in 2005 and Mark Green in 2001.
Cheliotes acknowledged Local 1180’s anger with Bloomberg is based in part on his proposed cuts in health care for its membership, support of a fifth tier in the pension fund and push to overturn term limits.
But he also believes there’s a larger issue at play in the mayor’s race, a “national tone here that can’t be ignored.”
“We had thought that if you’re rich you must be smart, but we found out after the Madoff scandal that might not be the case,” Cheliotes said.
“You have to begin to wonder just how smart these people are, or do they think they’re so smart they can continue to undermine the middle class?…That’s where the mayor is from, and that’s what he’s about.”
“There’s a general sense Wall Street can’t keep the chains on this country. It thinks it can and not be accountable to the American people. Bloomberg is part of that whole group.”
“I think this will be a referendum on: Do we want Wall Street to control our government, or do we want the people to control our government? Bill’s election has a lot to do with that.”
Filed under In the Trenches, News, Reading List, Unions, term limits Permalink
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October 21, 2009 @ 12:15 pm
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Posted by New York City is not For Sale
October 21, 2009 @ 12:15 pm
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