Samuelsen Only Viable Candidate in 'Primary' To Take on Toussaint

The organizer of a "primary election" in Transport Workers Union Local 100 for an opposition presidential candidate has announced that New York City Transit Track Inspector John Samuelsen is the winner by default.

JOHN SAMUELSEN: Wins Toodle-oo Toussaint primary.

Conductor Lee Ireland had organized a primary election so that President Roger Toussaint would face only one opponent in the general election in June 2009, rather than benefit from several candidates splitting the opposition vote. He distributed a flyer last week encouraging members to unite behind the candidacy of Mr. Samuelsen.

Two Dropouts, One Kickout

Local 100 members Anthony Griffith and Benita Johnson had previously announced their intentions to run and participate in the primary, which would have included debates among the candidates, but have since dropped out, according to Mr. Ireland. Cleaner Anthony Staley, who ran for president in the 2006 election, was disqualified from the primary for being behind on dues payments.

In the 2006 Local 100 election, Mr. Toussaint was re-elected with just 45 percent of the vote as the dissident support was split among several candidates, including Ainsley Stewart of the union's Car Equipment Division, and Barry Roberts, who with Mr. Samuelsen as his running-mate headed the Rail and Bus United slate.

Mr. Samuelsen is a former protégé of Mr. Toussaint. Their alliance came to a halt in 2005 when Mr. Toussaint fired the Track Inspector as the appointed vice president of the union's Maintenance of Way division after Mr. Samuelsen urged that discussions of selling the union's Manhattan headquarters be tabled until after a contract was settled.

Since then, Mr. Samuelsen has voiced criticism of track safety rules that have been created by a partnership between the union and NYC Transit, as well as Mr. Toussaint's decision to take elected Track Division officers off employer-paid release time and delegate their representative duties to appointed staff members.

It is not yet clear whether Mr. Toussaint will face other opposition next year.