D.C. Shift Also Helps
Spitzer Win: Better Climate for Unions

By RICHARD STEIER

Even as most public-employee unions celebrated the Democratic sweeps in Albany and Washington Nov. 7, the head of the state's labor movement cautioned that there were limits to how much workers would benefit from the new regimes.

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James 'A NEW BEGINNING': Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer, who told supporters he 'will never break faith with those who have invested their hopes and dreams in this great state,' is likely to create a more hospitable climate for state workers within their agencies, State AFL-CIO President Denis M. Hughes said.

State AFL-CIO President Denis M. Hughes, who met with Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer less than 24 hours after his landslide victory, said a short time later, "We have a relationship with him, and it is a much closer one than we had with Governor Pataki. Eliot has a track record and a commitment to fighting for the rights of workers."

A Change in Agencies

He emphasized, however, that he has received no commitments from the Governor-to-be on legislation, and that the most tangible difference when he takes office Jan. 1 is likely to be seen in the operation of state agencies.

The state Department of Labor under Mr. Spitzer figures to be more aggressive in addressing workplace complaints than it has been under the outgoing Republican Governor, Mr. Hughes said. He added that dispute-resolution panels appointed by the Public Employment Labor Relations Board are likely to "operate as the labor-relations professionals, more neutral than they've been" over the past 12 years.

The balance of power has not shifted in the Legislature, where state Republicans preserved their majority. Even there, however, the State AFL-CIO maintained good relations with Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno by backing incumbent Westchester State Sen. Nicholas Spano in what turned out to be his unsuccessful re-election bid. That support drew criticism from numerous progressive union activists who believed that the winning candidate, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, would be more pro-labor, but the State AFL-CIO had defended its choice by pointing to Mr. Spano's support on bills of prime interest to employees in recent years.

Banking on Congress

Developments in national elections created a mirror image of the results in Albany, with the dramatic changes occurring in the legislative rather than the executive branch. However conciliatory President Bush sounded the day after the election, Mr. Hughes holds out little hope that his administration will stray from long-held positions regarded as anti-labor during its final two years.

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James HERE'S TO THE WINNERS, MINUS ONE: Eliot Spitzer, right, shared the stage of his election night headquarters with, from left, his successor as Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo; Sen. Hillary Clinton; his wife, Silda Wall- Spitzer, and Lieut. Governor-elect David Paterson. Conspicuously missing from the group was State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, who despite ethical storm clouds bearing down on him was also easily re-elected.

"I don't see it," he said. "The things we were looking for - a more neutral [National] Labor Relations Board, fairer collective bargaining for Federal workers - we're not going to see. He doesn't have to deal with Congress on those things."

But the Democrats' success in gaining majorities in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives will bring legislation favored by the unions to the forefront and could pay big dividends when it comes to Federal funding, Mr. Hughes said.

Rangel a Major Player

The shift in power will lead to Democrats chairing Congressional committees, principal among them the likely ascension of Manhattan Rep. Charles B. Rangel to head the House Ways and Means Committee. New York State also saw three seats long held by Republicans swing to Democrats as well, increasing the strength of the state's Congressional delegation.

Until now, the best hope state labor interests had for addressing their concerns in Washington was upstate GOP Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, who was part of the Republican leadership in the House. However inclined he was to be helpful, Mr. Hughes said, "It was harder for Tom Reynolds [who won a close re-election race but will lose much of his power] to move the majority leadership in ways that helped the State of New York, or the whole Northeast."

Now, with the party that has always been most hospitable to labor in the majority, "The Charlie Rangels, the Jerry Nadlers are going to give us a lot more clout than we had with the Republicans in charge," Mr. Hughes said.

Economy Played Role

While exit polls indicated that voter sentiment turned against Republicans because of growing disillusionment with President Bush and his handling of the Iraq War, Mr. Hughes said he believed concerns about the nation's economic future figured prominently in a number of the key Democratic victories.

DENIS M. HUGHES: 'Results give you hope.'

"I think it sort of gives you hope that America in general wants to see a re-alignment, including when it comes to economic life," he remarked.

The popularity of Mr. Spitzer, who defeated Republican challenger John Faso by 40 percentage points, and Sen. Hillary Clinton, who had a 67-31 margin over John Spencer, had a spillover effect for the Democrats involved in what loomed as potentially closer statewide races.

Hevesi's Last Hurrah?

In the battle to succeed Mr. Spitzer as State Attorney General, Democratic nominee Andrew Cuomo got 58 percent of the vote compared to 40 percent for Republican opponent Jeanine Pirro. State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi, staggered by the State Ethics Commission's findings that he improperly used a staffer to chauffeur his ailing wife for much of the past three years and a resulting criminal investigation by the Albany County District Attorney, scored a surprisingly easy win over Republican challenger J. Christopher Callaghan, getting 57 percent of the vote to his opponent's 39.

Mr. Hevesi's legal problems - which include a possible attempt by the State Senate to remove him from office - led to his being shunned by the other Democrats on the ticket. While Mr. Spitzer, Ms. Clinton and Mr. Cuomo celebrated their victories with family members and supporters at the New York Sheraton, Mr. Hevesi did so more than a mile to the southeast in a hall off Madison Ave. When the other winning candidates paid tribute to each other, his name was not-so-curiously absent from their speeches.

'A Resurgent New York'

Mr. Spitzer, appearing just in time to lead the 11 o'clock news broadcasts, declared, "Today was not a victory of one candidate or one party but of all those irrepressible optimists who have dreamed of a resurgent New York."

He spoke of making it "once again the greatest state in the nation," adding, "Tonight we reclaim that passion, we renew that hope and we forge ahead with that vision." He campaigned on the slogan, "On Day One, Everything Changes," which he described as a plan to make state government more open and less-responsive to special interests.

"The New York we seek," he said from the stage of the Sheraton's Metropolitan Ballroom, "will require a new brand of politics."

'Asking More of You'

During the campaign, Mr. Faso had argued that many of Mr. Spitzer's proposals, including expanded health care and more aid to public schools statewide, would require sizable tax increases. The Governor-elect may have been alluding to that possibility when he told the crowd that once in office he would be "asking more of people."

Ms. Clinton, who is widely expected to be a leading contender for the Democratic nomination for President in 2008, tailored her speech for a national as well as a statewide audience.

With her husband, former President Bill Clinton, standing a few feet behind her, she told the crowd, "This is a big night for Democrats, isn't it?"

She spoke of moving "back to the vital, dynamic center to solve the problems of New Yorkers and all Americans." Both groups, she said, "want an end to the culture of corruption and the dominance of special interests."

In a barbed reference to recent comments by Vice President Cheney regarding the war in Iraq, she remarked, "Last week the Vice President said that no matter the outcome [of the election], the administration would go in the same direction, 'full speed ahead.'

"I think," Ms. Clinton continued, "the American people have said, 'Not so fast.'"