|  Working
with a coalition of city unions, the PBA used mailings, phone
banks and word-of-mouth to get out the vote against the proposed
referendum, which would have done some good things like keep
guns away from schools, but would have also implemented other
measures that would have made it difficult - if not impossible
- for us to get a decent raise in our upcoming contract. On
the City Hall steps Nov. 3, the day after Election Day, I
joined with other leaders in a press conference to celebrate
the referendum's defeat. "You cannot change the Constitution
in the dark of night," I told the conference (as quoted in
The New York Times). "We want a say in how this city
is run. We're here, and we're not going away."
The provisions we objected to
in this attempt at charter revision was a change that would
require a two-thirds vote of the City Council to approve most
tax increases and another that would impose a city spending
cap based on the inflation rate. These proposals would have
weakened the city's ability to raise money and made it harder
for us to win the raises we deserve. For some unions, it could
have even meant layoffs.
As far as the candidates we supported
are concerned, James Oddo, the Republican we endorsed for
the City Council seat in Staten Island, beat his Democratic
opponent by a 55-to-42-percent margin. Eva Moscowitz, the
candidate we endorsed for the Council seat on Manhattan's
Upper East Side, defeated her rival 69-31. Christine Quinn,
another Council Member we endorsed also won; and William Murphy
was re-elected Staten Island District Attorney, also with
our support. Fifteen other candidates that we supported in
various suburban counties were also victorious.
These Election-Day successes
show what our union and members can do when we are politically
active, work for candidates and causes we care about and speak
our minds in the polling booth.
The lessons we should learn from
this experience are many: If we are active politically we
can help our cause - in the arena of public opinion and in
the voting booth. There are times when it is in our interest
to join in common cause with the city's other unions. We should
remain vigilant so that in lobbying, voting and other demonstrations
of our power, we can ensure our members the wages and working
conditions they deserve.
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PBA
To Gov.: Commute Rosario's Sentence
On Nov.11, the PRA hand-delivered
the following letter from PRA President Patrick Lynch to Gov.
Pataki. Its content speaks for itself:
Dear Gov. Pataki:
Your recent commutation of the
sentence of Lt. Patricia Feerick was a compassionate, humane
and appropriate exercise of your duly vested powers.
However, we believe that an injustice
still exists in this controversial case, one that we respectfully
ask you to address.
In view of the fact that Lt.
Feerick has been freed after serving only a few weeks, in
view of the fact that Police Officer Myra Schultz was sentenced
to probation and never had to suffer the indignity of spending
time behind bars, and in view of the fact that Police Officer
John DeVito is also free, it would seem that a basic precept
of fairness is being violated in the case of Police Officer
Orlando Rosario.
Officer Rosario is currently
serving a work-release sentence under which he is obliged
to spend four days out of every week incarcerated and will
have to do so for many more months. We believe that none of
these officers did anything wrong but even considering the
crimes they were convicted of, it appears to be a violation
of the basic principle of equal treatment for Officer Rosario
to be spending so much time in jail while his co-defendants
are free.
Therefore, in the interest of
upholding this basic principle of equal treatment, we respectfully
ask you to show compassion once again and commute Officer
Rosario's sentence.
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PBA
Halts Plan to Issue Free Metrocards to Fugitive Felons
The press last week credited
the PBA with halting a Police Department plan to mail wanted
murderers, rapists and other criminals free Metrocards in
the hopes of catching them when they tried to use them.
PBA President Patrick J. Lynch
was quoted in the Daily News calling the plan "idiotic."
The article
in The Chief-Leader of Nov. 12, best expresses
Pat Lynch's position on the plan.
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How
to Claim Your
X-Rays
The NYPD's Medical Division has
informed us that it will be destroying all X-rays of police
officers taken by the Department before 1991. It is our understanding
that active members have already been informed of this by
their commands, but the PBA would like to make sure everyone
is aware of this opportunity. We will also be informing our
retired members.
Therefore, if you would like
to claim your X-rays before they are destroyed, you must do
so in writing - and only in writing - before Jan. 1, 2000.
You should prepare a brief UF49
to Capt. Ernest Naspretto, C.O. of the Medical Division. The
request should include name (including maiden and married
names), tax registry number and home/work phone numbers. Also,
since the X-rays are filed primarily by civil service list
and exam numbers, the request should include the number of
the exam from which the member was hired and the list number.
Requests should be mailed to
the attention of P.O. Bartilucci at the Medical Division,
One Lefrak City Plaza, 59-17 Junction Blvd., Corona, NY 11368.
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Do
Your Part to Defeat Police Discipline Bill
By Robert W. Zink
PBA Recording Secretary, COPE Director
The so-called City Council Discipline
Bill is rearing its ugly head again and we've got to make
sure it is defeated. To do this, we must reach out to Council
Members in our respective districts to urge them to vote against
this political, unfair and unnecessary measure.
To accomplish this, I recently
sent you a letter enclosing a comprehensive list of each and
every Council Member, their phone numbers and addresses, and
the districts they represent. From this list, you should easily
be able to identify the one who represents your district and
let that Council Member know how strongly you feel about this
issue. You can download the letter
and find your representative
from this Web site.
Please take immediate action.
This is an extremely important issue and we must make our
voices heard on it.
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