'372' Vote: Taylor Outpolls Ferina;

Reformers Come Up Short
'372' Vote: Taylor Outpolls Ferina


District Council 37 Local 372 executive board member Lily Taylor repelled challenges from Tony Ferina and Barbara Richardson in a Feb. 11 re-run of an election that was ordered after Mr. Ferina was improperly removed from the initial ballot in November.

TONY FERINA: Not enough horsepower.

Ms. Taylor received 124 votes while Mr. Ferina and Ms. Richardson got 56 and 23 respectively in the race to lead the 14,000-member School Aides chapter.

Transport the Key

The majority of the 203 members who cast ballots were transported to DC 37's downtown Manhattan headquarters by vans and buses supplied by candidates' campaigns on one of the coldest days of the year.

"I am grateful to the members for making me their chapter chair," said Ms. Taylor in an e-mail. "I plan to do everything in my power to service them by focusing on issues that affect them and their quality of life on the job. They know that; that's why they elected me."

Ms. Taylor's campaign provided two 48-seat buses, which dropped off members at the voting site in the evening. Mr. Ferina rented vans that shuttled most of those who voted for him to the union's headquarters throughout the day.

"Mr. Ferina lost by a more than two to one margin despite the fact that THE CHIEF gave him coverage completely disproportionate to his level of support in the union," said Ms. Taylor.

Ms. Taylor refused to speak with the Chief for articles about the election on several prior occasions.

'Need a Better Plan'

"A lot of supporters told me I should continue to go forward," said Mr. Ferina, who is running on a slate to unseat Local 372 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa later this year. "I'm going to work a better strategy to defeat [Ms. Montgomery-Costa] in June."

Mr. Ferina added that the experience made him more intent on winning the right to have a mail ballot for elections, arguing that the sub-zero temperatures on the day of the election kept members, who work in schools scattered throughout the five boroughs, from coming out.

Ms. Taylor disagreed that there was a flaw in the electoral process. "This was a democratic election open to members of Local 372," she said. "If Mr. Ferina has as much support in the union as he claims, why didn't his supporters come out to vote for him?"

Mr. Ferina and Larry Luther Davis, who is challenging Ms. Montgomery-Costa for president, are planning to file a class-action lawsuit in an effort to get a mail ballot. About 200 members have signed on, according to Mr. Ferina, alleging that holding the vote at one location in Manhattan deprives them of their right to vote.

A total of 33 members voted in the School Aide chapter chair election held Nov. 13, 2007 without Mr. Ferina's participation. DC 37's parent union ruled that Local 372 had improperly removed him from the ballot.