Bring Democracy to '372'

A longtime political opponent of Veronica Montgomery-Costa, the president of Department of Education Local 372 of District Council 37, has begun a petition drive to pressure her to hold a democratic election next year.

As it stands, Ms. Montgomery-Costa plans her usual small-tent version of voting, forcing members who work at schools scattered throughout the city to come to DC 37's lower Manhattan headquarters to cast their votes. This has allowed her to twice win re-election with the support of just two percent of her rank-and-file, averaging about 500 votes out of a membership of more than 25,000.

The man she defeated in the 2002 and 2005 elections, Larry Davis, challenged both the conduct of the vote and the fact that it was limited to a four-hour period at a single location. Ms. Montgomery-Costa's enablers at DC 37's international union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, rejected his complaints on dubious grounds but ruled that in the future voting should be held over a nine-hour period.

Given how spread out Local 372's membership is, this is hardly a fair solution or a way to ensure significantly greater voter participation. Mr. Davis has obtained 2,000 petition signatures calling for the election to be run by mail ballot.

The entire New York City labor movement should be using moral persuasion - and muscle, if necessary - to convince DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts that the situation needs rectifying.