Roger Toussaint

Before we rush headfirst into 2008, there's still at least on more race this year to get through: Transport Workers Union Local 100's presidential election. Chuck Bennett unearthed this a video of the Nov. 16 debate between the union's four presidential candidates.

The clip is more than an hour long -- consider yourself warned -- and the election results won't be tallied until Dec. 15.

The vote is basically a referendum on incumbent Roger Toussaint's handling of the contract negotiations which led to a Christmas-time transit strike last year, and single-digit raise for members (who came back to work before a contract was finalized).  read more »

In what looks like a conscious echo of Ned Lamont's attention-grabbing literature in Connecticut, here's part of a campaign flyer being handed out by one of the opponents of Transport Workers Union president Roger Toussaint opponents showing him hugging MTA Chairman Peter Kalikow.  read more »

For more information on the flyer, or the union's election later this year, check out Chuck Bennett.

-- Azi Paybarah

Chuck Bennett, who is keeping his eye on the TWU election, has some good new for union president Roger Toussaint. There is another candidate in the race to beat him: Ainsley Stewart

"He plans to hammer Toussaint on calling off the strike after 60 hours and, of course, the 1.5% of gross wage health insurance premiums that was in the rejected contract."

Also running against Toussaint is Barry Roberts who, according to this hand-written letter, may have supported the strike at one point.

-- Azi Paybarah

A reader send along this link to TWU President Roger Toussaint's campaign website - complete with "My mom is no thug," picture and a link to some obscure news about his re-election.

Note: Toussaint turns 50 years old in one week. Party! http://www.rogertoussaintvictory2006.com/events.html

Speaking of campaign websites, there still is not one from state comptroller Alan Hevesi. I'm still waiting on a call back from a campaign contact for more information. So far, the unusual AlanHevesi.com is still up, and AlanHevesi.net, which a supporter created, is down.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

And now, news from another kind of campaign...

A reader familiar with transportation politics adds a little background to that story about Transport Workers Union Local 100 President Roger Toussaint's re-election challenge.

Heading the opposition to Toussaint is Barry Roberts, a bus driver aligned with the former TWU president Sonny Hall.

Hall and Roberts were part of TWU Local 100's old guard, which Toussaint's political apparatus, New Directions, challenged. Joining the opposition to Toussaint is one of his former allies, John Samuelsen, who was once described as one of Toussaint's "yes men" but was later fired for criticizing Toussaint's handling of last year's contract negotiations with the MTA.

This may be a sign of two opposing factions (Hall's old guard and part of New Directions) coming together to oppose Toussaint, my source said.

But as the picture above shows, Toussaint still has some notable allies. Also, Chuck Bennett has emails from some Amalgamated Transit Union members who like how Toussaint handled the contract negotiations...they got raises and a pension refund.

The election takes place in December.  read more »

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's part of an actual conversation I had this morning with Eliot Spitzer and Roger Toussaint at the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn:

Spitzer: I'm standing here next to my friend Roger Toussaint and we're having a great parade and I couldn't be happier.

Toussaint: Beautiful ladies.

Spitzer: Yeah, as Roger will tell you, we're going to figure out how to manage the MTA so that we're not going to give away a billion dollars.

-- Jason Horowitz

As the labor dispute afflicting the city’s transit system trundles on—yes, the subways a  read more »

As the labor dispute afflicting the city’s transit system trundles on—yes, the subways and buses  read more »

• Having just completed his truncated jail sentence, Roger Toussaint is fired up once again. The Transport Workers Union is suing the MTA for not accepting the contract the two feuding sides worked out after the strike. Well, it should be noted that the TWU had voted against this contract, before voting for it. Peter Kalikow now says it's off the table. (The New York Post)
• About 500 surveillance cameras are about to be installed throughout the city. First stop: Hot 97's Hudson Street building. Even with yet another shooting, the radio statio still has a lease until 2012. (Daily News)
• Sopranos star and lad mag pin-up Jamie-Lynn Sigler has just signed a contract for a Tribeca loft that's a bit under $3 million. Alas, she decided against the Urban Glass House. (New York)

-Michael Calderone

If all goes according to plan, Ruth Messinger will be cuffed and booked in a matter of minutes in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington for protesting genocide in Darfur. Unlike Roger Toussaint's anticlimactic march to the pen, it's hard to find fault today with Messinger, President of the American Jewish World Service, co-founder of the Save Darfur Coalition and sacrificial lamb to Rudy in the 97 mayoral election. This time Messinger is sacrificing herself to perhaps a nobler cause, as the incessant tragedy in the Sudan too often falls off our radar screens.

"We must not stand idly by and let the violence continue," Messinger said in a statement. "We are a community that knows well the dangers of silence. We're here today to demand that America pays attention."

—Jason Horowitz

It has been a big day in MTA-world. First the Transit Workers Union Local voted to approve the contract they nixed in a January vote -- though it is not clear whether the MTA will accept the re-vote. And now we find out that transit union leader Roger Toussaint will be appearing on "Inside City Hall" tonight -- and making some big claims. Among the juiciest? That Governor George Pataki had a hand in his jail sentence:

"I would say there was political interference," he tells Dominic Carter. "Political pressure was applied to the courts, the process was predetermined."

So grab your popcorn, kids. It's going to be a fun night.

-- Lizzy Ratner

Mike Wallace: A Class Act    read more »

Mike Wallace: A Class Act  read more »

Today's stroll kicks up a lot of posts on Mike's recent win in the Court of Appeals--the subject over at Gothamist.

Gothamist also links to a Intelligencer clip from New York Magazine about Jonathan Tisch as the next billionaire mayoral candidate.

Freshman council member Darlene Mealy talks to City Limits about crippling the Boyland legacy and the difficulties of City Hall politics.

And finally, The Neighborhood Retail Alliance picks up the latest on Roger Toussaint.

—Nicole Brydson

Transit Union’s Toussaint: Time to Go    read more »

Transit Union’s Toussaint: Time to Go Now that members of the Transit Workers Union have foolishl  read more »

Adrianne Shropshire, the head of New York Jobs with Justice and a Roger Toussaint ally, makes the case that the city, and the city's political left in particular, failed the strikers.  read more »

After digging himself out of financial difficulties in the 1990’s, Peter Kalikow thought there  read more »

The Transit Workers Union, consisting of some 34,000 or so lawbreakers and led by an arrogant boss n  read more »

After digging himself out of financial difficulties in the 1990’s, Peter Kalikow thought there was  read more »

Matt Schuerman and I argue that the transit strike is less about dollars and cents and more about the character of the two men at its center, Roger Toussaint and Peter Kalikow.

Jess Bruder profiles sack-racing champion Joe Crowley.  read more »

And Jason Horowitz finds turmoil at the city ballet.