I'M VOTING NIXON, WILLIAMS, JAMES IN DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY THURSDAY (updated with UFT text)

This is not any kind of official endorsement from ICEUFT but in case anyone is interested, and I have been asked on several occasions, I will be voting in the Democratic Primary for Cynthia Nixon for Governor tomorrow, Jumaane Williams for Lieutenant Governor and Tish James for Attorney General .

Nixon is by no means a perfect candidate. She says some dumb things like she wouldn't run against Bloomberg. However, her pro-labor position calling for public employees to have the right to strike is the best position I have seen a major party candidate for high office take in a long, long time. It's also encouraging that she pledges to fully fund public education. If she were to pull off a major upset and knock off Cuomo and we got back our right to legally strike, that would be a big win. Andrew Cuomo's record of being anti-labor and anti-public schools is well known. I don't expect Nixon to win but if she can outdo Zephyr Teachout's 34% that she received in the 2014 primary against Cuomo, it would take Cuomo down a notch or two.

On Lieutenant Governor, I am on board with Jumaane Williams.Kathy Hochul has a poor record as Cuomo's right hand person. Williams opposes mayoral control of the schools. That sounds good.

This is from Ballotpedia:

Jumaane has been an opponent of mayoral control of schools, citing the lack of parent involvement and the failure in closing the achievement gap for students of more color and those with disabilities. He understands the importance of these issues intimately, having been a student with Tourette’s syndrome and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who had the support of family and teachers in order to succeed. Going forward, he believes a municipal model, which would incorporate greater oversight from the City Council, would be more effective in addressing local concerns and increasing accountability. Jumaane feels the charter school system, intended to be a laboratory for innovation to bring to public schools, has thus far been misused and is opposed to the forced school co-location and closure policy that has dominated the last decade. Locally, he has successfully fought back against a proposed co-location at IS 240 and is working with parents, students and teachers on a similar effort at the Tilden Educational Campus. Jumaane has also been an active supporter of his local parochial schools, helping to rally support to save institutions like Nazareth Regional High School from closure.

Attorney General is a very tough pick as there are two very good candidates and one is not running with the Democratic establishment. Zephyr Teachout would make an excellent Attorney General and I so want to vote for her but Public Advocate Tish James I believe has a better chance of winning. I have to hold my nose and forgive James for lining up with Cuomo as the Democratic machine candidate however I would hate to see James and Teachout split the progressive vote and someone else win the job so I am sticking with the favorite James here.

James was a real friend of Jamaica High School when she was on the City Council and we were fighting to remain open. A group of students and I went to testify before the Council and James treated the kids and me with the utmost in respect in supporting our school.

As Public Advocate, James has been a strong supporter of public education. Read her views opposing mayoral control and having School Leadership Teams select principals at the NYCKIDSPAC site. She has no problem suing the Department of Education and will continue as our advocate on the larger statewide stage. UFT is endorsing James. I got the robocall on Wednesday night from political director Paul
Egan yet I am still supporting her. (Sarcasm alert there, as the UFT endorsement helps in reality.)

UFT's snub for pro-education leader Robert Jackson in the 31st Senatorial district is kind of hard to believe. NYCKIDSPAC strongly supports Jackson who was head of the City Council's Education Committee. Jackson is one of a group of State Senate candidates the Kids Pac is endorsing. Here is what they say about Jackson:

One of them is a seasoned veteran, Robert Jackson, who has extensive experience as the chair of the NYC Council Education Committee and a twenty-five year history of education advocacy as a school board president and lead plaintiff in the CFE lawsuit to obtain fair funding for NYC schools. 

UFT is turning its back on a long time friend Jackson by endorsing Marisol Alcantara who is pro-union  but a big advocate for charter schools. Major Charter money helped back her initial senate run in 2016.

If you live in the 31st Senate District, please vote for Robert Jackson.

I'm sure my two cents will change the outcome. Maybe not.

Update-Text message from UFT Thursday morning:

We are supporting Tish James in today's Democratic primary for state attorney general. Remember to vote! -Rachel from UFT