FOR THE RECORD

FOR THE RECORD

One of Chris Policano's friends recently proposed that he be appointed "hostage negotiator to the world" because of his skill at using reason to persuade unreasonable, sometimes unstable people to act in their own best interests.

Given the relative tranquility at the moment between the United Federation of Teachers and city school officials, it might seem that his talents won't be quite as necessary when he becomes the new UFT communications director next week.

But Mr. Policano, who sandwiched two stints as the chief spokesman for Phoenix House around time spent as a New York Post reporter and communications director for District Council 37 and the City Council, will be a welcome addition, UFT President Randi Weingarten said Aug. 2.

"I think it's great for the labor movement that Chris is coming home to his roots," she said of the man who did much to restore DC 37's image when then-Administrator Lee Saunders hired him in the wake of a major corruption scandal that unfolded in late 1998, in the process providing the slogan "Everyday Heroes" to describe the union's members.

"I also think it's great for the UFT," she continued, "and the school system and the kids that such an accomplished communications person wants to be the voice of Teachers."

Mr. Policano, who noted that his mother and sister were both Teachers, said in a statement, "Over the past 20 years I have been fortunate to work for organizations and institutions that strive to improve the quality of life in New York City [Just a hunch, but we don't think he was counting the Post in that description]. None is more significant than the United Federation of Teachers, whose members bear the awesome responsibility of helping to shape the future for hundreds of thousands of New York City schoolchildren, including mine. I look forward to being part of Randi Weingarten's team and helping the UFT make the case that improving the school system should be a collaborative effort."

He is replacing Stu Marques, another former Postie who recently returned to his own roots to take a job as a managing editor at the Daily News.

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Our condolences to the family of Joe Fitzpatrick - who founded the City Council Public Information Office 40 years ago and headed it for the next two decades - on his death Aug. 2 at age 82.

Mr. Fitzpatrick was one of the great characters to grace City Hall, first as the bureau chief for the Associated Press and later as the Council's chief spokesman. He was also, until his health began failing in recent years, a writer and performer for the Inner Circle Show, one who looked to perpetuate its raffish past by puffing on cigars during rehearsals at City Hall long after smoking had been banned in the building.

During a 1983 interview, the Harlem-born son of a janitor - who said that the job security his father got when he finally became a member of the Teamsters union made that day, along with V-E Day, the two biggest events of his youth - summed up what he believed had made him a good newspaperman and Council spokesman. "I always had a penchant, which sometimes got my nose bloodied, for seeing through the bull," Mr. Fitzpatrick said. He fondly recalled creating a radio station in Africa during World War II "after we got the materials, most of which we stole from the French."

"He was a very good reporter; he had a very good news instinct," said political consultant George Arzt, whose tenure as the New York Post's City Hall bureau chief largely overlapped Mr. Fitzpatrick's time in the Council. "He knew city government and politics extraordinarily well, and kept [Council Majority Leader] Tom Cuite and the Council out of trouble for a long time. He was a very savvy strategist."

Mr. Fitzpatrick's second wife, Jean, had his body cremated; a funeral mass will be held at a later date. He is also survived by a son, Sean; a daughter, Kathy; and a granddaughter, Shelby. His wife said he had asked to be sure to mention that he was predeceased by three of his dogs, and survived by a fourth, an Airedale terrier named Cara.