Newsroom

Soured on Mayor Bloomberg, DC 37 union taps William Thompson with endorsement

By ADAM LISBERG

August 14 , 2009

The city's biggest municipal union gave Mayor Bloomberg a lemon on Thursday - so he tried to turn it into lemonade.

"I will not make irresponsible promises to win an endorsement," Bloomberg said after District Council 37 voted to endorse Controller William Thompson for mayor.

"While I respect their views, I certainly am not going to change ... for political purposes."

Thompson claimed the endorsement in front of a cheering crowd at the 125,000-member union's headquarters.

"Working New Yorkers are what makes New York City great," Thompson said. "We're going to take City Hall back for working and middle-class New Yorkers."

DC37 endorsed Bloomberg four years ago, and got generous 4% raises last year in what some saw as a bid to win favor.

Union head Lillian Roberts said Thompson has the city's working class at heart - and Bloomberg lost their nod by giving $9 billion in city work to outside contractors.

"He changed! he changed!" Roberts said.

Bloomberg's campaign said Thompson must have promised the union more, and demanded he release a questionnaire he submitted to its leaders.

Thompson said he promised nothing, but refused to release the questionnaire.

"No one asked for promises," he said. "There were no fiscally irresponsible requests made in our discussion."

Earlier Thursday, Bloomberg proposed a $50 million expansion of the city's community college system that would add more classes, raise graduation numbers, offer more on-campus child care and give extra money and guidance to students who need it the most.