Most of Slate Re-Elected
Tech Guild's Fort Prevails in Runoff

By RICHARD STEIER

Civil Service Technical Guild President Claude Fort Jan. 29 repelled a challenge by Mitchell Feder to win re-election to a third term in a runoff vote by a tally of 1,601 to 1,185.

CLAUDE FORT: Charge didn't resonate.

Those running on Mr. Fort's slate captured 11 of the other 13 board positions as well in a union, which is Local 375 of District Council 37, that is known for its fractiousness.

One exception involved the race for labor and political chair, where incumbent Fred Newton, running on Mr. Feder's slate, defeated past union officer Mike Gimbel by 322 votes.

Win One, Lose One

Mr. Fort picked up a seat on the board when Michael Rosenberg defeated incumbent Civil Service Chair Joshua Barnett, who ran on the slate headed by Behrouz Fathi, the third-place finisher in the original vote for president in December. He lost one as well, however, when the union's incumbent leasing chair gave up his post and Barbara Abramson from Mr. Fathi's slate prevailed over Khursheed A. Siddiqi.

The widest margin of victory came in the runoff for first vice president, with incumbent Jon Forster prevailing by 733 votes over Uma Kutwal, the former Tech Guild president whom Mr. Fort unseated in 2001.

MITCHELL FEDER: Says he was smeared.

Mr. Feder, who had expressed optimism during the balloting when it was clear that hundreds more members were voting than did so during the initial election, described himself as "somewhat surprised and disappointed" by the outcome.

Promotion Controversy

"How they could elect a president who took a bribe or a gift is beyond me," he said in a Jan. 30 phone interview. He had made that charge early in the runoff period regarding a promotion Mr. Fort received in his city job at the Department of Design and Construction - accompanied by a raise of more than $10,000 - two years ago even though he has been on leave from that position for the past six years.

Mr. Feder asserted that the upgrade, which was unusual for an employee on leave, was a quid pro quo for Mr. Fort's expressing only token opposition to DDC's farming out of $112 million in design and construction management contracts that would otherwise have been overseen by Tech Guild members.

Mr. Fort said during a Feb. 2 phone interview that he would not respond to Mr. Feder's charge except to note that his challenger had been fired from a Tech Guild committee post for allegedly billing the union for lost work time while collecting a $3,000 stipend for the committee work.

'They Don't Want Him'

"The members have spoken, and they don't want this guy - they want me to get restitution from him," Mr. Fort said.

Mr. Feder accused the incumbent of running a campaign consisting of attack ads, citing flyers that he said falsely accused him of being "anti-immigrant and anti-woman."

Mr. Fort responded that it was Mr. Feder who had made the tone of the race negative, saying, "The man has been attacking me throughout the campaign."

His priorities in his new term, he said, will be to "continue doing what I've been doing." His campaign over the past several months against the use of palm-scanners for time-keeping purposes in city agencies has already paid dividends, Mr. Fort said: the Department of Finance and the Department for the Aging recently announced that their programs will be voluntary.

No Major Shift

Runoff figures showed that more than 400 Tech Guild members who did not cast ballots in the original election voted in this one, but their votes, and the ones cast by supporters of the two losing candidates in the first race for president, appear to have been equally split between the candidates. Mr. Fort had finished 429 votes ahead of Mr. Feder in the four-person race in December; he got 416 more in the runoff.

The other incumbents re-elected were: Second Vice President Michelle Keller-Ng, Secretary Ahmed Shakir, Recording Secretary Leela Maret, Sergeant at Arms David Grant, Executive Chair George A. Lawrence, Membership Chair Gerald Lezeau, Public Relations Chair Vincent Sawinski, and Safety Chair Bobby Shah.

Thomas M. Constantine of Mr. Fort's slate was elected treasurer, succeeding Ron Vega, who gave up the position to run for first vice president as an independent.