When SEIU 1199 rolled out their endorsements last week, they noticeably turned their backs on a handful of City Hall incumbents seeking a third term. To Bronx Councilman G. Oliver Koppell, who saw the health care workers’ union endorsement slip away to challenger Tony Perez Cassino, their choice was a brazen snub.

At first the major union claimed that the two-term councilman never expressed an interest in their election-time embrace, saying that he never requested an interview for an endorsement, a point that the councilman disputes.

“That’s an outright falsehood,” Koppell alleged. “It’s clear that the fix was in because they never even interviewed me”…

Koppell said that his campaign reached out to 1199, along with many of the city’s other unions, starting in January.

SEIU 1199 spokeswoman Leah Gonzalez, who was unaware of that letter, said that so early on endorsements were far from the union’s focus. “We were in the throes of a very contentious budget fight on the state level during that time,” she said.

Source: Village Voice Continue Reading This Article Here